A cross-cultural comparison in sound perception between Chinese and Russian students in urban open spaces in China

In recent years, soundscape studies have been a topical issue in urban sound envi-ronment. However, there are only few cross-cultural researches in present studies, since cross-cultural characteristics may lead to the different soundscape design. Therefore, the main goal of this study is to find out if there is any significant dif-ference in the perception of sound characteristics according to different cultural experiences, how big is this difference, and how to take it into account in design stage. This study examines the effects cultural factors on the perception of sound environment in Harbin city, China, based on sound sources and the level of sound pressure. Semantic sound characteristics, such as calm-vibrant, pleasant-unpleasant, natural-artificial, have been assessed in this study, which involved 15 Russian and 15 Chinese participants. The results showed that Chinese felt less sat-isfied Harbin's soundscape than Russians. The strongest Correlation was seen be-tween Interesting-Boring rate and Natural-Artificial rate. These findings provide empirical evidence of socio-cultural differences in soundscape perception and re-veal the importance of considering cultural factors in urban and architecture de-sign.