Determining factors for the appropriateness of soundscapes: A cross-sectional large-sample study in London (UK)a)

This study examines the association between appropriateness and the pleasantness-eventfulness circumplex model, as well as the influencing environmental and personal factors, in accordance with the recommended questionnaire of ISO/TS 12913-2 (2018). A database was used, containing over 1000 soundscape surveys collected across eleven locations in London. Confirmatory factor analysis and the structural summary method were applied to validate the relationship between appropriateness and the pleasantness-eventfulness circumplex model, while linear multilevel models were developed to investigate the effect of personal and environmental factors on appropriateness. The findings highlight varying relationship between appropriateness and the pleasantness-eventfulness dimensions of the soundscape circumplex model. The effect of personal factors on appropriateness is not negligible, accounting for approximately 2.1% of the variance. In contrast to the effects of the categories of landscape composition and acoustic metrics, dominant sound source type is the most influential category of environmental factors, with natural sounds explaining the most variance at 6%. Traffic noise is negatively associated with appropriateness which varies by location, while human sounds are negatively associated with appropriateness when respondents were Asian/Asian British. The findings provide empirical evidence of the relationship between appropriateness and the soundscape circumplex model and offer comprehensive insights into the affecting factors.