Effect of environmental contexts pertaining to different sound sources on the mood states

Abstract For the improvement of emotional experience in buildings and environments, this study investigated the effect of different non-urban contexts on urban sounds in terms of change in mood state. The current model used to evaluate emotional response in soundscape (Principle Component Model) makes limited consideration of the formation process of emotional responses and lacks ability to evaluate distinctive moods or emotions. This study adopted the emotional process as a methodology and enabled the analysis of distinctive moods and emotions presented in the subjective evaluation of soundscapes. Three sound types (street music, traffic sound, and fountain sound) and three environmental contexts (courtyard and monk chanting scenarios, specific to a Buddhist temple, and alpine meadows) were combined to create 12 groups of visual and audio stimuli. Multiple audio playbacks were performed for 300 participants. The results indicated that the context significantly influenced the mood scores in combination with the urban sounds. However, the effects varied across different sound types, contexts, and mood categories. Certain common trends were observed: The negative mood scores were reduced when the traffic and fountain sounds were combined with the contexts, while the combination of the considered contexts with street music did not affect the mood states. The results of this study provide several applications in building and environmental design. For example, introducing human activities can significantly improve the mood states (specifically, reducing anger and depression) of users of a space.