AUTHOR=Zhang Shilun , Chen Lin 

TITLE=Acoustic information masking effects of natural sounds on traffic noise based on psychological health in open urban spaces

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 11 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1031501

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2023.1031501

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=Utilizing existing resources such as natural sounds to promote citizens’ mental health is a research area of increasing focus. To contribute to the knowledge on this, this research combined a field psychological walk method and an experimental acoustic control method to compare the acoustic information masking effects of water and birdsong sounds on traffic noise based on 30 participants’ psychological health responses to such effects. This influence of traffic noise and contextual sounds on participants’ psychological health identified the potential of natural sounds in the acoustic information masking of traffic noise. Further, we found that 65.0 dBA water sounds do not mask 60.0 dBA traffic noises. However, 45.0 dBA birdsong sounds masked it, though this effect was not significant. Additionally, contextual factors with and without sounds of crowd activity were not significant in influencing psychological health by birdsong. This study is conducive toward saving public health costs. It may also guide the development of new ideas and methods for configuring open urban spaces based on public health needs.