A grounded theory approach to the subjective understanding of urban soundscape in Sheffield

doi:10.1016/j.cities.2015.08.002

Cities

Volume 50, February 2016, Pages 28-39

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2015.08.002 Get rights and content

Highlights

•
Past, present and future soundscapes examined using grounded theory
•
Soundscape categories revealed: definition/memory/sentiment/expectation/aesthetics
•
Value of sounds lies on the positive or negative behaviors associated with sounds.
•
Emotion (joyful/angry/sad/despair/afraid) important for psychological stratification
•
Soundscape should change to natural and comfortable sounds mixed with entertainment.

Abstract

The aim of this study is to gain a greater insight into the factors that affect individuals' preferences and understanding of urban soundscapes. Based on a grounded theory approach, with 53 participants in Sheffield, five categories have been revealed for the subjective understanding of soundscape: soundscape definition, soundscape memory, soundscape sentiment, soundscape expectation, and soundscape aesthetics. More specifically, to some extent, the value people place on sounds does not lie in the sound itself or its physical properties but in the positive or negative behaviors associated with sounds. Some long-term soundscape memory was preserved because the sounds correlated to something profound in people's mind to some degree. Most people like to use two evaluation criteria, namely favorite sound and annoying sound, to reflect their soundscape sentiment, but emotion is also an important part of psychological stratification, which includes joyful, angry, sad, despair, and afraid. People hope that soundscape will change as time goes by, towards the soundscape of natural and comfortable sounds mixed with entertainment, as well as simple sounds containing peaceful and joyful information; notably, people look forward to more electronic, comfortable, and technical sounds in the future. Soundscape aesthetics in the future reflect a presupposition for future-oriented aesthetic judgment.

Introduction

One of the foremost scholars who studied the phenomenon of sound was the 18th-century philosopher George Berkeley. His Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous, published in 1713, was largely a response to the work of another leading empiricist, John Locke. Berkeley's book contained the following dialog about sound:

“Philonous: Then as to sounds, what must we think of them: are they accidents really inherent in external bodies, nor not?
Hylas: That they inhere not in the sonorous bodies, is plain from hence; because a bell struck in the exhausted receiver of an air-pump, sends forth no sound. The air, therefore, must be thought the subject of sound… It is this very motion in the external air that produces in the mind the sensation of sound. For striking on the drum of the ear, it causes a vibration, which by the auditory nerves being communicated to the brain, the soul is thereupon affected with the sensation called ‘sound’.”

Subsequently, soundscape as a phenomenon became a noteworthy research topic. The term “soundscape,” according to Schafer, refers to “the study of the effects of the acoustic environment on the physical responses or behavioral characteristics of creatures living within it” (Schafer, 1977). The soundscape of the world is changing. Modern man is beginning to inhabit a world with an acoustic environment radically different from any he has known before. These new sounds, which differ in quality and intensity from those of the past, have alerted many researchers to the dangers of an indiscriminate and imperialistic spread of more and larger sounds into every corner of human life (Schafer, 1977). Truax indicated that despite the profound social and technological changes over the past two decades, the issues raised in acoustic communication remain substantially the same as before: how to reinvigorate the listener's interaction with the environment through listening; how to design soundscapes on a functional, human scale; and how to distinguish the net gain offered by technology from its hype and oppressive aspects (Truax, 2001). Some of these questions have been explored in the context of the well-being of communities (Jeon et al., 2010, Kang, 2000, Kang, 2005, Watts et al., 2013, Xie and Kang, 2009, Yu and Kang, 2010).

An interesting project related to the subject matter is “One Hundred Finnish Soundscapes,” a three-year research program organized and executed by the Finnish Society for Acoustic Ecology. Its primary aim is to increase the Finnish people's awareness of the meaning of soundscapes. Indeed, the notion of soundscape transcends a purely negative definition of environmental noise (Kim and Kim, 2007, Lam and Ma, 2012, Yano and Ma, 2004) and is regarded more as the sonic component of quality of life, with positive and negative features (Schulte-Fortkamp & Dubois, 2006).

Human society developed numerous descriptions of urban phenomena, and well-being, good environment, and quality of urban life are key issues. The economic growth in the United Kingdom (UK) highlights the significance of social sustainability. However, cities face certain problems such as the driving forces behind a crisis of public space in industrial and pre-industrial societies (Jacobs, 1961). The de-materialization of the public sphere is driven by the media (Castells, 2000). Changes in soundscapes affect the overall functions and dynamics of the ecosystem and of people, and changes in sound-image compatibility conditions are significant in producing different aesthetic and affective reactions (Yu and Kang, 2008, Yu and Kang, 2009).

Listening is one of the psychological functions through which people perceive the world. Evaluating the effects of sounds on people is primarily a subjective issue rather than one merely based on objective parameters (Kang, 2002, Kang, 2007, Yang and Kang, 2005, Zhang and Kang, 2009). To explore people's perceptions of soundscape, the grounded theory (GT) approach would be an appropriate method. For example, the comprehension between the acoustical stimulus and opinions of inhabitants has been investigated qualitatively by means of the grounded theory approach (Fiebig & Schulte-Fortkamp, 2004). GT is widely used in the social sciences and the natural sciences such as clinical medicine and psychology (Glaser, 1978, Glaser, 1998, Glaser and Strauss, 1967, Strauss and Corbin, 1998a, Strauss and Corbin, 1998b). It is useful for generating the inductive theory from systematically collected data regarding soundscape psychological stratification.

This study aims to identify the factors related to the psychological needs of the urban soundscape to create a comfortable acoustic environment and to identify the existing urban crisis and explore the developmental trend of soundscapes. In particular, GT is adopted to analyze the soundscape in Sheffield, a typical UK city, and data are collected from in-depth interviews with 53 local residents for two months.

Section snippets

Participants and interviews

The city of Sheffield has a population of 534,500 (2008 estimate) and is one of the eight largest cities that make up the English Core Cities Group. The city has grown from its largely industrial roots to encompass a wider economic base. During the 19th century, Sheffield gained an international reputation for steel production. Numerous innovations were developed locally, including crucible and stainless steel, fueling an almost tenfold increase in the city's population during the Industrial

Results

Through the above procedure, five main categories were generated, as shown in Table 1. Soundscape definition (AA1) was the core category, and the major categories were soundscape memory (AA2), soundscape sentiment (AA3), and soundscape expectation (AA4). The relationship among them was characterized as moving forward from the past to the future. Some answers about the subconscious mind form the soundscape aesthetics (AA5). Details of the linkages among categories are presented in the latter

Discussion

Three key points need to be discussed, considering the three stages of the past and memory, the present and sentiment, and the future and expectation:

(1)
Why do sounds from the past stay in our mind? How do we forget?
(2)
What are the major problems that face the UK at present?
(3)
What are the trends in future soundscape? Does it reflect the evolution of society?

Long-term soundscape memories such as sounds from World War II are preserved in the human mind. However, these memories are forgotten. The

Conclusions

This article explores peoples' psychological understanding of urban soundscape in Sheffield. The study identified five categories, which, in addition to the soundscape definition and aesthetics, also reflect the process of soundscape understanding, including soundscape memory, soundscape sentiment, and soundscape expectation: (1) Soundscape definition: the value people place on sounds does not lie in the sound itself or its physical properties but in the positive or negative behaviors

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the national research project (2013BAJ12B02-3). The first author was supported by the China Scholarship Council and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation funded project (2014M561354) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. HIT. NSRIF. 201655). The authors are also indebted to the interviewees for their participation and patience, and the University of Sheffield Acoustics Research Group for their contribution in data collection.

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A grounded theory approach to the subjective understanding of urban soundscape in Sheffield

Highlights

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Participants and interviews

Results

Discussion

Conclusions

Acknowledgments

The Arts in Psychotherapy

Journal of Psychosomatic Research

Cortex

Biological Psychology

NeuroImage

Journal of Sound and Vibration

Building and Environment

Biological Psychology

Applied Acoustics

The Arts in Psychotherapy

Landscape and Urban Planning

New Ideas in Psychology

Renewable Energy

Applied Acoustics

Journal of Sound and Vibration

Applied Acoustics

The practical SoundLab for architects: Sound parameters as a design tool

Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics

Motivation and emotion: An interactive process model

Consciousness: An introduction

Affect as a motivational state

Cognition & Emotion

The rise of the network society

A grounded theory of academic change

Sociology of Education

Two case studies on the soundscape in historical area and its subjective assessment from the local people

Soundscapes and their influence on inhabitants—New findings with the help of a grounded theory approach

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

Emotions are functional, most of the time

Theoretical sensitivity: Advances in the methodology of grounded theory

Basics of grounded theory analysis: Emergence vs forcing