Perceived Occurrences of Soundscape Influencing Pleasantness in Urban Forests: A Comparison of Broad-Leaved and Coniferous Forests

Perceived occurrences of soundscape reflect cognitive responses to perceived soundscapes. This research focuses on the relationship between perceived occurrences and pleasantness of soundscape in urban forests, and models these parameters. Soundscape information was gathered at 60 observation sites in urban forests, including perceived occurrences of soundscape (POS), pleasantness of perceived soundscape in urban forests (PSUF), and equivalent continuous A-weighted sound pressure level (LAeq). Twelve trained participants were exposed to the soundscape at each site for five minutes and filled out a questionnaire about POS and PSUF. The weight-ratio of perceived occurrences of soundscape (WPOS) was obtained from the POS. Pearson’s correlation coefficients and Stevens’ power law were conducted to test the applicability of the perceived occurrences of soundscape in psychophysical models. Results show that there is an interaction between the WPOS and PSUF in urban forests, and that psychophysical models are able to assess pleasantness of perceived soundscapes in urban forests. Findings show that pleasantness trends of geophony and biophony in broad-leaved forests and those in coniferous forests are opposite when the LAeq is increasing. Furthermore, by combining the WPOS, PSUF, and LAeq, the models were able to link the PSUF of geophony, biophony, anthrophony, and total soundscape in urban forests. Overall, results revealed that perceived occurrences of soundscape play a key role in linking the pleasantness of geophony, biophony, and anthrophony in urban forests.