Towards soundscape management of protected natural areas using the ISO 12913: A field study
Tin Oberman, Simone Torresin, Arianna Latini, Giacomo Gozzi, Francesco Aletta, Jian Kang
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, March 2024, volume 155, Issue 3 Supplement
Human perception of soundscapes in protected natural areas like national parks is crucial for their protection. At popular scenic spots, visitors themselves often contribute to noise pollution. Decibel-based systems (such as LAeq or Lden) do not fully explain human reactions to this phenomenon, necessitating a more holistic approach to allow for an effective management strategy. A mixed-methods soundscape approach based on the ISO 12913 series, developed mostly in urban soundscape studies, was tested in four protected natural ex-urban areas in the Dolomites (Italy) and Cairngorms (United Kingdom). During five soundwalks (7-12 km long), conducted by adopting the Method A of ISO/TS 12913-2, a total of 443 questionnaire responses were gathered across 28 evaluation points, alongside corresponding binaural measurements. A range of acoustic environments as quiet as LAeq = 31 dBA and as loud as LAeq = 76 dBA were observed, eliciting perceptions ranging from very calm to chaotic. A Linear Mixed-Effects Model was computed to analyse the impact of sound source dominance, psychoacoustic and environmental acoustic indices on perception. Presence of human sounds proved to be a major factor driving the perception of chaotic soundscapes.
Human sounds and associated tonality disrupting perceived soundscapes in protected natural areas
Tin Oberman, Arianna Latini, Francesco Aletta, Giacomo Gozzi, Jian Kang, Simone Torresin
Scientific Reports volume 15, Article number: 28759 (2025)
In protected natural areas (PNAs), at popular scenic spots, visitors often contribute to noise pollution through their behaviour. The decibel-focused monitoring doesn’t capture the quality of an acoustic environment, human behaviour and perception. A mixed-methods framework, based on the ISO 12913 series, was tested in four European PNAs to address this gap. During five soundwalks (7–12 km long) organised by the Silenzi in Quota initiative, 443 questionnaires were gathered across 28 evaluation points, alongside corresponding binaural measurements. Acoustic environments as silent as LAeq = 31 dB and as loud as LAeq = 76 dB were observed, eliciting perceptions from very calm to chaotic. Psychophysical measures (loudness, sharpness, roughness, fluctuation strength and tonality) were calculated. The impact of the perceived sound source dominance, visual landscape quality and psychophysical and environmental acoustic features on the perceived soundscape pleasantness and eventfulness was analysed via Linear Mixed-Effects Models (LMMs). Perceived sound source type data- and psychophysical data-based models demonstrated higher predictive power than those based on sound pressure level metrics. Amongst the sounds of nature, water sounds demonstrated the strongest association with higher pleasantness and eventfulness. Unlike in urban context, presence of human sounds, associated with increased tonality, was the major factor driving the perception of chaotic soundscapes, revealing the detrimental effect of human behaviour on the experience of PNAs.
Silenzi in Quota Dataset: Questionnaires with Acoustical and Contextual Information from Soundwalks in Protected Natural Areas (International)
Tin Oberman, Simone Torresin, Giacomo Gozzi, Mario Pedron
The Silenzi in Quota Dataset contains the results of a number of soundscape assessments completed in various protected natural areas across Europe, including the Dolomites (IT), the Cairngorms National Park (UK) and the Malla Nature Reserve (FI). The data collection was conducted via an adapted version of the soundwalk with questionnaire following the ISO/TS 12913-2: 2018 Method A [1]. The dataset contains questionnaire responses and acoustic analyses' output following the reporting requirements set in the above mentioned ISO/TS.
It is expected that this dataset will grow as more contributions are added from future soundwalks. While, all the data has been collected by the Silenzi in Quota, including the team members from University College London and University of Trento, the authors would wellcome contributions from other teams across the world following the same data collection protocol.
[1] ISO/TS 12913-2:2018 (2018). “Acoustics – Soundscape – Part 2: Data collection and reporting requirements” International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland, 2018
Soundscapes Across Mountains and Cities: A Linguistic Study in the Trentino Region
Giacomo Gozzi, Simone Torresin, Linda Badan
Acoustics 2026, 8(1), 8
Trentino, a sparsely populated and almost entirely mountainous region in northeastern Italy, has so far received little attention in linguistic studies on soundscapes, which provide an important cultural ecosystem service. This study analyzes the responses of 68 participants—31 from mountain areas and 37 from urban areas—to an open-ended questionnaire adapted from Guastavino, using a mixed-methods approach to investigate: (1) differences in current and ideal soundscape perception between residents of urban and mountain areas in Trentino; (2) how these findings compare with Guastavino’s study conducted in a purely urban context; (3) the role of Trentino’s multilingual context in shaping the description and understanding of the soundscape. Findings reveal that, in addition to a latent substratum of the dialectal component, differences emerge mainly in the description of ideal soundscapes. Urban participants evaluate human sounds more negatively and use metonymic expressions for mechanical noises. Mountain participants align their ideal soundscape more closely with their lived experience, often identifying the sound source rather than the sound itself. Tranquility and silence are central values across both groups for the ideal soundscape and for the current one, cognitively linked to natural environments, which therefore remains a cultural legacy to be preserved.
Silenzi In Quota – An Initiative Promoting Soundscape Protection In Mountainous Natural Areas
Tin Oberman, Simone Torresin, Rose Keller, Giacomo Gozzi, Jian Kang
Silenzi in Quota (SiQ, Silence at High Altitude) is a forward-looking initiative bringing together artists and researchers to explore soundscapes of mountainous natural areas. SiQ is interested in landscapes that people visit to connect with nature and find respite from the urban experience - places where a high-quality soundscape would be expected but the effects of overtourism are often observed. The initiative started in 2021 in Trento (IT), based on expeditions in the Dolomites (IT) and, by 2024, it had expanded to include soundwalks in Italy, Scotland (UK), Finland and Norway. Key outputs of the initiative include: 1) free, public events such as soundwalks and soundscape workshops; 2) documentary footage and social media content; 3) the open-access Silenzi in Quota Dataset: Questionnaires with Acoustical and Contextual Information from Soundwalks in Protected Natural Areas; 4) scientific output explaining the effects of environmental sounds on human perception in protected natural areas. Looking ahead, SiQ aims to develop connections between soundscape research focused on human perception and ecoacoustics, highlighting the threats to and potential of sound in nature, and collecting the evidence needed to support management and preservation of these invaluable sensory environments.