Deng, Rising, Gu, and Bimal evaluated the effects of various soundscapes on the stress generated by traffic noise. They report that “mixing baseline traffic noise with water sound at a low SNR [signal-to-noise ratio] significantly reduced stress, whereas mixing with the white noise of a high FC [fractal complexity] increased stress. This discovery highlights the varying stress-mitigating effects of distinct fractal sounds on traffic noise and advocates for the application of water sound with a low SNR and low FC as an effective criterion for urban noise mitigation strategies. . . . The study also identified that certain acoustic attributes significantly influence soundscape perception, with SP [sound pressure] and AS [acoustic sharpness] contributing positively to mitigating [reducing] stress response to traffic noise, while AL [acoustic loudness] and MF [mean frequency] are detrimental, increasing the stress response.”
Li Deng, Hope Rising, Chao Gu, and Anju Bimal. 2024. “The Mitigating Effects of Water Sound Attributes on Stress Responses to Traffic Noise.” Environment and Behavior, in press, https://doi.org/10.1177/00139165241245829