Determination of perceptual auditory attributes for the auralization of urban soundscapes

In order to accurately auralize an urban space, it is important to determine the key perceptual auditory attributes that characterize the space. This paper presents the results of a series of subjective experiments that aim to determine and evaluate the perceptual attributes of various urban sound environments. The experiments were performed under laboratory conditions using recorded audio and video information from real urban environments. The results showed that the number of discovered attributes varied depending on the method of presentation, namely, with audio stimuli or audiovisual stimuli. In the case of presentations with audio stimuli, the key perceptual attributes of urban spaces are openness/closeness, reverberance, echoing, pleasantness, annoyance, and immersion into spaces, while the attributes related to sound source features are timbre, distance and clarity. With audiovisual stimuli, these are, respectively, reverberance, fullness, pleasantness, annoyance and immersion; and clarity, distance, size and dynamics.