Browsing by Subject "Soundscape"

Now showing 1 - 9 of 9

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A principal component model to identify Turkish soundscapes’ affective attributes based on a corpus-driven approach
(Elsevier, 2023-06-30) Yılmazer, Semiha; Fasllija, Ela; Alimadhi, Enkela; Şahin, Zekiye; Mercan, Elif; Dalirnaghadeh, Donya
This study focused on achieving linguistic and culturally appropriate equivalents of Turkish soundscape attributes present in ISO 12913–3 by incorporating a Corpus-Driven Approach (CDA). A two-phase experiment was set up to find Turkish equivalents of affective quality attributes. The first phase consisted of the formation of a Corpus. An online questionnaire was prepared and sent to 196 native Turkish speakers from all around Türkiye to define adjectives. The second phase of the experiment was performed in a listening room. For this purpose, twenty-four binaural sound recordings were collected from seven public spaces. Afterward, forty individuals evaluated the recordings by using the attributes from Phase 1. The perceptual dimensions were obtained from the generated corpus in Turkish based on a rating scale by applying the Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Results indicated a two-dimensional model with two main components, Pleasantness and Eventfulness. Each component is associated with a main orthogonal axis denoted by ‘annoying-comfortable’ and ‘dynamic-uneventful,’ respectively. This circular organization of soundscape attributes is supported by two derived axes, namely ‘chaotic-calm’ and ‘monotonous-enjoyable’, rotated 45°on the same plane. Additionally, by using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, sixty-four different bipolar adjective pairs were found. The adjective pairs showed that the highest correlations are mainly on the pleasant-unpleasant continuum, namely Component 1 of PCA. The collected data were also analyzed using Agglomerative Hierarchical Cluster analysis with the Ward method in R programming language to cluster the adjectives. The results inferred that there are four top-level categories. From the first to the fourth level, categories consisted of pleasant, uneventful, eventful, and annoying adjectives, respectively. Moreover, the terms grouped on the first cluster found their dichotomous on the fourth cluster, while maintaining the same relationship in the pleasant-unpleasant continuum.
Open Access
An approach based on sound classification to predict soundscape perception through machine learning
(2021-06) Acun, Volkan
A growing amount of literature and a series of ISO standards focus on concept, data collection, and data analysis methods of soundscapes. Yet, this field of research still lacks predictive models. We hypothesize that machine learning methods can be used to develop a predictive model by identifying the audio content of soundscapes and correlating it with individuals’ perceived affective response to the soundscapes. Therefore, this research aims to identify machine learning-based sound classification methods for analyzing the audio content of soundscapes and using its output in a second model for evaluating the association between the audio content and perception of the soundscape. We focused on museum soundscapes to conduct our research. The methodology of this thesis is divided into two parts. For the first part, we used Convolutional Neural Networks for classifying the audio content of the soundscape. Due to their limitations, we used a different approach rather than the typical environmental sound classification methods. We used musical instruments for the training dataset and optimized the neural network for this type of task. The convolutional neural network classified the audio content of the soundscapes based on their similarities to the musical instruments of the dataset. We conducted an online soundscape perception survey to measure participants' affective responses to different museum soundscapes for the second part. To predict individuals’ perception of soundscapes, we developed a feedforward neural network model. This model used the audio content output from the sound classification model and the soundscape survey data to predict the perceived affective quality of soundscapes. We concluded the thesis by conducting statistical analyses to explore the association between the variable used in the predictive model.
Open Access
Auditory environment in the museums: the case of Erimtan archaeology and arts museum
(Institute of Noise Control Engineering(INCE), 2019-06) Yılmazer, Semiha; Orhan, Cemre
The aim of this paper is to conduct a qualitative research to clarify the auditory environment in the museums. Research has taken place in the Erimtan Archaeology and Arts Museum which exhibits more than 2000 objects from Yüksel Erimtan’s collection of Anatolian archaeological artifacts. It is located near the main gate of Ankara Castle. While the scale and the façade of the building are connected contextually to its historic environment, the interior provides the contemporary experience to its visitors. Grounded Theory (GT) is used in this paper to create a conceptual framework, and clarify visitors’ perception of the soundscape in the museums. Semi-structured interviews are held with participants who are chosen among the visitors after they tour the museum on their own, until the data reaches theoretical saturation. Constant comparison method is used for analyzing the data and creating a conceptual framework which is compared with previous studies and the ISO 12913-1: 2014. According to the findings, context is determined as one of the core categories similarly to other studies. And some categories differ because of the various function of indoor space.
Open Access
A comparative study on indoor soundscape assessment via a mixed method: A case of the high school environment
(Elsevier, 2022-02-28) Çankaya Topak, Sıla; Yılmazer, Semiha
Environments for learning-teaching activities require optimum acoustical conditions since students learning attitudes are directly related to verbal speaking. However, optimum acoustical conditions are not enough to provide acoustic comfort to students. To explore the acoustic requirements of educational spaces, there is a need to understand the role of sound and in which factors auditory perception of stu- dents changes. This study explores the relationship between auditory perception and the built environ- ment in a high school. It aims to provide design guidelines for educational facilities using the systematic categorization that defines the comparison between classroom and computer laboratory spaces in _Ihsan Dog ̆ramacı Foundation Bilkent High School. To understand the existing acoustic conditions in a selected educational facility, Equivalent Continuous A-Weighted Sound Level (LAeq), Reverberation Time (T30), and Speech Transmission Index (STI) were measured. This mixed method study includes quantitative and qualitative research methods. Data was collected through multiple instruments, including a ques- tionnaire survey (n = 117) and semi-structured interviews (n = 50). The data analyses were conducted using SPSS v.20 statistical software and applying the method of Grounded Theory (GT). The results show that the auditory perception of students does not only depend on sound levels since the responses towards sound sources and sound levels changed depending on the context of the space (such as the lec- ture content or the students’ task). The conceptual framework presented the relations between the built environment, acoustic environment, and auditory perception of students. The results of this research were interpreted for possible improvement directions, providing a guideline for designers to shape the auditory quality of future educational spaces
Open Access
A comparative study on soundscape in high school environment
(2016-07) Çankaya, Sıla
The various factors of school environments have been investigated to affect individuals psychologically and physiologically. As one of this, sound has been studied through acoustic measurements focusing on noise management approach. To create positive acoustic environment, it is vital to reveal positive and restorative effects of sounds upon the people. This approach leads to the emergence of concept of ‘soundscape’. Aim of the study is to examine the effect of soundscape on the students’ perception and mood in high-school environment. This study compares classroom and computer laboratory in Bilkent High School, Ankara. The study includes two methods as objective measurements and subjective surveys. To understand the acoustic conditions of spaces, sound levels (LAeq), Reverberation Time (T30), Speech Transmission Index (STI) and Definition (D50) were measured. Questionnaire (n=125), PANAS test (n=125) and semi-structure interview (n=50) were conducted simultaneously. SPSS and Grounded Theory were used to evaluate the subjective results. Results showed that music and natural sound sources mostly preferred to electro-mechanical sounds. Moreover, students do not believe that sound levels have an effect on their class performance or comfort level. Only sociodemographic difference was found between temperature level and gender. It is observed that soundscape creates no effect on the students’ mood. The several differences were found in perceived environment between classroom and computer laboratory. Results showed that the soundscape of a space could not be examined by objective measurements alone such as sound levels. On the other hand, established conceptual framework revealed eight categories. Generated patterns showed that soundscape depends on not only sound sources, but also the physical and social context in which they are heard.
Open Access
A comparative study on soundscapes in real and virtual open office environments
(2020-07) Şahin, Zekiye
This study presents the findings of indoor soundscape research that was conducted in real (RE), recorded virtual (VE_Rec), and virtual (VE) open office environment settings. The study took place in the architectural office firm, Demay Architecture in Ankara. This study aims to analyze whether the soundscape quality can be measured in virtual open-plan office environments by collecting individual responses with ISO 12913-2:2018. 90 participants were divided into three groups with 30 people in any group. The first group (RE) of participants walked in silence over the course of a predefined route which includes 10 locations, observing the soundscape and the office environment. The second group experienced VE_Rec by watching a recorded video from RE as a virtual soundwalk. Finally, the third group experienced VE by watching a virtually modeled animation video. The same questionnaire procedure was implemented for all groups via Method A (ISO/TS 12913-2):2018. The results showed that occupants mostly perceive the real office environment (RE) more positively than the virtual (VE) and recorded virtual (VE_Rec) office environment in terms of eight perceptual attributes. RE was perceived as more “pleasant” and “calm” while VE_Rec and VE were perceived as more “annoying” and “chaotic”.
Open Access
The effect of soundscape on the students' perception in the high school environment
(Institute of Noise Control Engineering, 2016) Çankaya, Sıla; Yılmazer, Semiha
In 2014, ISO 12913-1 standard was established for the conceptual soundscape framework to assess soundscape studies. According to this framework, soundscape process includes the examination of acoustic environment and its sound sources, and their influences on the humans' auditory sensation, as to react that, humans' interpretation of auditory sensation, responses and outcomes. Aim of the study is to create this conceptual soundscape framework in high-school environment and to examine the effect of soundscape on the students' perception. The study was conducted in two spaces as classroom and computer laboratory with 30 students in Bilkent High School; Ankara. To understand acoustic environment, in-situ measurements were conducted. Moreover, semi-structure interview results were evaluated to understand the students' perception of soundscape. Generated conceptual framework revealed different relations between students' perception and sound preferences. Students mostly expect to hear speech in classroom whilst computer fan sound in computer laboratory. Moreover, the most positive sound sources are birds singing in classroom whilst laughter in computer laboratory. Speech is found as most negative sound source in both spaces. Students responded these sound sources with positive approaches such as promoting the relaxation, interaction and with negative approaches such as distraction and annoyance. © 2016, German Acoustical Society (DEGA). All rights reserved.
Open Access
Harmony of context and the built environment: soundscapes in museum environments via GT
(Elsevier Ltd, 2021-02) Orhan, Cemre; Yılmazer, Semiha
This paper presents an approach to analyze visitors' expectations and perceptions of museums' built and auditory environments. It aims to explore visitors' perception of acoustic and built environments in museums, generate a systematic categorization, and create a conceptual framework using the Grounded Theory (GT) approach. We measured the Equivalent Continuous A-weighted Sound Level (LAeq) and, following the ISO/TS 12913-2/3, conducted semi-structured interviews and questionnaire surveys were conducted to discover the sound environments and capture the subjective responses of visitors in two museums: the Rahmi M. Koç Museum (RMK) and the Erimtan Archaeology and Arts Museum (EAA) (both located in the most historical part of Ankara, Turkey). Although the selected museums offer two different experiences based on themes, exhibitions, and interior designs, we examined whether the museums’ soundscapes, connected contextually to the historical environment, could be perceived different from one another. Results show that Museum RMK, which has historical exhibitions and an historical building type, is more appealing to people's preferences and expectations than Museum EAA, which has historical exhibitions and a modern building type. The findings of the study reveal that peoples' perceptions are mostly dependent on the context in which sound is heard, rather than on sound levels in museums. In some areas, where sound was used as a design element, visitors had a better museum experience because they were able to interact with the exhibited objects on exhibit and feel as if they were living in a specific period.
Open Access
Investigating the effect of indoor soundscaping towards employees’ mood and perception in open plan offices
(2015-08) Acun, Volkan
Over the past decade, soundscape studies have proposed ways to differentiate sonic environments and showed that it is not always the sound levels that matters. Meanings associated with sound sources, how they are perceived by the listener and the physical settings are equally important. On the other hand, very few studies are conducted to examine whether these principles of soundscape can be applied to indoor spaces. Aim of this research is to identify sound sources within an open office space, understand how employees’ perceive these sound sources, explore its impact on their mood and task performance. In order to achieve this goal, measurements and interviews are conducted at two different open planed offices. A user focused, subjective, approach of Grounded Theory, is used to capture the lived experience of an open plan office space and examine the effects of indoor soundscape quality towards employees’ perception of their work environment. PANAS (Positive and Negative Affect Schedule) test is conducted to explore employees’ mood. In order to understand the acoustical conditions of case study settings, in-situ measurements of sound levels (Leq), ODEON simulation of Speech Transmission Index (STI) and Reverberation Time (T 30) is used. Semi-structured interviews, as part of Grounded Theory, and PANAS test are conducted with 47 employees. Their responses are used to generate a conceptual framework which conceptualizes employees’ subjective response to the soundscape of their work environment. Generated conceptual framework showed patterns between employees' perception of sound sources, sound preference and type of work they are performing as well as the association between positive affect (PA), negative affect (NA) and soundscape.