Key Facts
- Funding Body/Client: European Research Council
- Project Collaborators: French Institute of Science and Technology for Transport, Development and Networks (IFSTTAR), University of Granada, Polytechnic Institute of Turin, University of Roma Tre, University of Zagreb, Noise Abatement Society, Shenyang Jianzhu University, Harbin Institute of Technology, Chongqing University
- Duration: 2018-2023
The SSID project aims at providing new perception-oriented indices to complement the existing set of decibel-based metrics, for a better characterization, design and management of urban soundscapes.
SSID Overview
Eighty million EU citizens are suffering from excessive environmental noise and billions of euros are being spent on noise control, under the EU Directive on Environmental Noise. Unfortunately, the conventional approach, i.e. reduction of ‘sound level’, simply does not deliver the required improvements in quality of life. The growing field of ‘soundscape studies’ is addressing this gap by considering sound environment as perceived, in context, with an interdisciplinary approach. However, soundscapes are hugely complex and measuring them as a basis for environmental design requires a step change to the discipline. This research aims to achieve a ground-breaking development through the establishment of ‘soundscape indices’ (SSID), adequately reflecting levels of human comfort, the impact of which will be reminiscent of that of the Decibel scale created by Bell Systems a century ago. This will provide the underpinning science for soundscape in the field of built environment, with wider intellectual goals of moving from noise control to soundscape creation. Key objectives, as coherent steps for achieving the main aim, are: (1) To characterise soundscapes, by capturing soundscapes and establishing a comprehensive database, which will be a cornerstone for the proposed analysis and an invaluable resource for scientists for years to come. (2) To determine key factors and their influence on soundscape quality based on the database, by conducting laboratory psychological evaluation, physical/psychoacoustic factors analysis, and more importantly, to research at a physiological/biological level, including the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging. (3) To develop, test and validate the soundscape indices, through analysing the influences by various factors, using a number of inter- & trans-disciplinary approaches. (4) To demonstrate the applicability of the soundscape indices in practice, by establishing frameworks for soundscape prediction, design, and standardisation.
Impact
The outcomes of the SSID project are informing the activities of the working group ISO/TC 43/SC 1/WG 54 about the ISO 12913 standards series on soundscape. The SSID project team was involved in the organization of the UKAN Soundscape Workshop – a one-day workshop on practical applications of the soundscape approach that took place in June 2018 in London and was attended by 120+ participants from academia, industry and public sector.
Publications
| Type | Title | Authors | Publications |
|---|---|---|---|
| Article in Journal | Towards an Urban Vibrancy Model: A Soundscape Approach | Francesco Aletta, Jian Kang | International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health |
| Article in Journal | Associations between Positive Health-Related Effects and Soundscapes Perceptual Constructs: A Systematic Review | Francesco Aletta, Tin Oberman, Jian Kang | International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health |
| Article in Journal | Acoustic Design Criteria in Naturally Ventilated Residential Buildings: New Research Perspectives by Applying the Indoor Soundscape Approach | Simone Torresin, Rossano Albatici, Francesco Aletta, Francesco Babich, Tin Oberman, Jian Kang | Applied Sciences |
| Article in Journal | Exploring the compatibility of “Method A” and “Method B” data collection protocols reported in the ISO/TS 12913-2:2018 for urban soundscape via a soundwalk | Francesco Aletta, Claudia Guattari, Luca Evangelisti, Francesco Asdrubali, Tin Oberman, Jian Kang | Applied Acoustics |
| Article in Journal | Historical Acoustics: Relationships between People and Sound over Time | Francesco Aletta, Jian Kang | Acoustics |
| Article in Journal | Promoting Healthy and Supportive Acoustic Environments: Going beyond the Quietness | Francesco Aletta, Jian Kang | International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health |
| Article in Journal | The Impact and Outreach of Soundscape Research | Jian Kang, Francesco Aletta | Environments |
| Article in Journal | The Psychophysiological Implications of Soundscape: A Systematic Review of Empirical Literature and a Research Agenda | Mercede Erfanian, Andrew J. Mitchell, Jian Kang, Francesco Aletta | International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health |
| Article in Journal | The Soundscape Indices (SSID) Protocol: A Method for Urban Soundscape Surveys—Questionnaires with Acoustical and Contextual Information | Andrew Mitchell, Tin Oberman, Francesco Aletta, Mercede Erfanian, Magdalena Kachlicka, Matteo Lionello, Jian Kang | Applied Sciences |
| Article in Journal | Soundscape evaluation: Binaural or monaural? | Chunyang Xu, Jian Kang | The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America |
| Article in Journal | Effect of a fragrant tree on the perception of traffic noise | Meihui Ba, Jian Kang | Building and Environment |
| Article in Journal | A model for implementing soundscape maps in smart cities | Jian Kang, Francesco Aletta, Efstathios Margaritis, Ming Yang | Noise Mapping |
| Article in Journal | Associations between soundscape experience and self-reported wellbeing in open public urban spaces: a field study | Francesco Aletta, Tin Oberman, Andrew Mitchell, Mercede Erfanian, Matteo Lionello, Magdalena Kachlicka, Jian Kang | The Lancet |
| Article in Journal | Exploring associations between soundscape assessment, perceived safety and well-being: a pilot field study in Granary Square, London | Francesco Aletta, Luca Molinero, Arianna Astolfi, Sonja Di Blasio, Louena Shtrepi, Tin Oberman, Jian Kang | Proceedings of the 23rd International Congress on Acoustics |
| Article in Journal | Influence of distance from traffic sounds on physiological indicators and subjective evaluation | Zhongzhe Li, Jian Kang, Meihui Ba | Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment |
| Article in Journal | Indoor soundscape assessment: A principal components model of acoustic perception in residential buildings | Simone Torresin, Rossano Albatici, Francesco Aletta, Francesco Babich, Tin Oberman, Stefano Siboni, Jian Kang | Building and Environment |
| Article in Journal | Assessing the changing urban sound environment during the COVID-19 lockdown period using short-term acoustic measurements | Francesco Aletta, Tin Oberman, Andrew Mitchell, Huan Tong, Jian Kang | Noise mapping |
| Article in Journal | Acoustics for Supportive and Healthy Buildings: Emerging Themes on Indoor Soundscape Research | Simone Torresin, Francesco Aletta, Francesco Babich, Ethan Bourdeau, Jack Harvie-Clark, Jian Kang, Lisa Lavia, Antonella Radicchi, Rossano Albatici | Sustainability |
| Article in Journal | The future of urban sound environments: Impacting mobility trends and insights for noise assessment and mitigation | A. Can, A. L'Hostis, P. Aumond, D. Botteldooren, M.C. Coelho, C. Guarnaccia, J. Kang | Applied Acoustics |
| Article in Journal | A systematic review of prediction models for the experience of urban soundscapes | Matteo Lionello, Francesco Aletta, Jian Kang | Applied Acoustics |
| Article in Journal | On the relationship between land use and sound sources in the urban environment | Efstathios Margaritis, Jian Kang, Francesco Aletta, Östen Axelsson | Journal of Urban Design |
| Article in Journal | Building performance evaluation: Balancing energy and indoor environmental quality in a UK school building | Nishesh Jain, Esfand Burman, Craig Robertson, Samuel Stamp, Clive Shrubsole, Francesco Aletta, Edward Barrett, Tin Oberman, Jian Kang, Peter Raynham, D Mumovic, Mike Davies | Building Services Engineering Research and Technology |
| Article in Journal | Assessment Methods and Factors Determining Positive Indoor Soundscapes in Residential Buildings: A Systematic Review | Torresin, Albatici, Aletta, Babich, Kang | Sustainability |
| Article in Journal | Positive health-related effects of perceiving urban soundscapes: a systematic review | Francesco Aletta, Tin Oberman, Jian Kang | The Lancet |
| Article in Journal | The influence of vegetation and surrounding traffic noise parameters on the sound environment of urban parks | Efstathios Margaritis, Jian Kang, Karlo Filipan, Dick Botteldooren | Applied Geography |
| Publication in Conference proceeding/workshop | Making cities smarter with new soundscape indices | Andrew Mitchell, Francesco Aletta, Tin Oberman, Mercede Erfanian, Magdalena Kachlicka, Matteo Lionello, Jian Kang | The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America |
| Publication in Conference proceeding/workshop | The spectral structure of acoustic time series can predict the perceptual assessment of urban soundscapes | Andrew Mitchell, Jian Kang | The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America |
| Publication in Conference proceeding/workshop | On the Dimension and Scaling Analysis of Soundscape Assessment Tools: a case study about the “Method A” of ISO/TS 12913-2:2018 | Matteo Lionello, Francesco Aletta, Jian Kang | Proceedings of the 23rd International Congress on Acoustics |
| Publication in Conference proceeding/workshop | Towards a Soundscape Surround Index | Tin Oberman, Kristian Jambrošic, Francesco Aletta, Jian Kang | Proceedings of the 23rd International Congress on Acoustics |
| Publication in Conference proceeding/workshop | Towards soundscape indices | Jian Kang, Francesco Aletta, Tin Oberman, Mercede Erfanian, Magdalena Kachlicka, Matteo Lionello, Andrew Mitchell | Proceedings of the 23rd International Congress on Acoustics |
| Publication in Conference proceeding/workshop | Correlations between sound level and loudness, intimacy, reverberation, clarity, spaciousness in sequential spaces | Tingting Yang, Jian Kang | Proceedings of the 23rd International Congress on Acoustics |
| Publication in Conference proceeding/workshop | Simplification of Reflection Orders in Virtual Soundscapes through a Subjective Evaluation | Chunyang Xu, Jian Kang | Proceedings of the 23rd International Congress on Acoustics |
Collaborators
- French Institute of Science and Technology for Transport, Development and Networks (IFSTTAR), France
- University of Granada, Spain
- Polytechnic Institute of Turin, Italy
- University of Roma Tre, Italy
- University of Zagreb, Croatia
- Noise Abatement Society, UK
- Shenyang Jianzhu University, China
- Harbin Institute of Technology, China
- Chongqing University, China
Links
Soundscape Indices (SSID) Researchgate
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/740696
People
- Jian Kang
- Francesco Aletta
- Tin Oberman
- Mercede Erfanian
- Magdalena Kachlicka
- Matteo Lionello
- Andrew Mitchell
