Walk and listen: A multidimensional study on the soundscape of a University District.

Participants showed a consistent preference for green areas in the university district soundscape.

• Five soundwalks were conducted in the university district of Milano-Bicocca in Milan.
• Green areas were both preferred in subjective emotional response surveys and statistically clustered based on psychoacoustic indices.
• The clustering aligned subjective responses with the psychoacoustic structure of the environment.
• Squares and the two sites most exposed to traffic also formed distinct clusters.

Sites with comparable A-weighted sound pressure levels (dBA) elicited different perceptual evaluations depending on sound source characteristics.

• Environments featuring water sounds were systematically perceived as less noisy despite similar dBA levels to other sites.
• Sites with the highest dBA levels were perceived either as chaotic or monotonous depending on the listener's subjective interpretation.
• The perceived meaning of the dominant noise source influenced perceptual evaluation independently of the measured sound level.
• This finding reinforces that conventional acoustic metrics alone are insufficient to fully capture sound perception.

Psychoacoustic parameters derived from binaural recordings were statistically aligned with subjective emotional responses from participants.

• Binaural recordings were used to determine psychoacoustic parameters at each soundwalk site.
• Statistical clustering of sites based on psychoacoustic indices corresponded to groupings emerging from subjective survey responses.
• The study compared subjective emotional responses with objectively measured psychoacoustic parameters across all five soundwalk sites.

Focus group discussions revealed participants' in-depth perceptions, everyday life accounts, geographical backgrounds, and habitual and preferred soundscapes.

• A focus group discussion was conducted at the end of each of the five soundwalks.
• Discussions explored participants' accounts of everyday life in the neighbourhood.
• Participants' geographical backgrounds and habitual soundscapes were collected as contextual factors.
• Preferred soundscapes were also documented through focus group methodology.

Sound perception in urban environments is shaped by contextual and semantic factors beyond what conventional acoustic metrics can capture.

• The study used a multidimensional approach combining soundwalks, surveys, binaural recordings, psychoacoustic analysis, and focus groups.
• The same dBA level produced systematically different perceptual outcomes depending on the semantic content of the soundscape.
• Water sounds reduced perceived noisiness relative to measured levels, while traffic noise produced either chaotic or monotonous perceptions.
• The results reinforce 'the hypothesis that sound perception is shaped by contextual and semantic factors, and cannot be fully captured by conventional acoustic metrics alone.'