Psychoacoustic metrics and affective responses in indoor soundscapes: Implications for restorative soundscapes

This study investigates the links between psychoacoustic metrics and affective responses in indoor soundscapes, guided by the ISO/TS 12913 standard. Through the analysis of an indoor soundscapes dataset, we examine how various psychoacoustic metrics, namely sharpness (S), fluctuation strength (FS), and roughness (R), influence affective responses such as pleasant and eventful. Our research reveals that eventful and annoying soundscapes show higher values of (S), (FS), and (R). Conversely, pleasant soundscapes tend to show lower values in these metrics. The findings suggest that while these metrics can be effective in designing eventful soundscapes, they may be less useful for creating pleasant acoustic environments. This study contributes to the understanding of the applicability of current psychoacoustic metrics for the type of soundscape intervention and calls for the development of new psychoacoustic metrics to design restorative soundscapes that enhance well-being.