Study on the Correlation Between the Temporal Factors and the Soundscape Excerpts Assessment

Multiple dimensions are known to be involved in the perception of soundscape. The tempo in the soundscape is the factor that has attracted relatively less attention to date. In this paper, totally 17 temporal parameters were extracted from the temporal fluctuation spectra and the autocorrelation functions of short-time intensity and pitch sequences of 81 soundscape excerpts, which were then classified into nine clusters. Several representative samples in each cluster were selected and were reproduced for 50 subjects who were instructed to assess a set of attributes of the sounds that they heard. The first four principle components of the data were examined, and their correlations with temporal parameters were then studied. The result shows that some of the parameters were proven to be significantly correlated with the component scores, which denotes the considerable status of the temporal aspect in the soundscape assessment, and the necessity of introducing corresponding indications.