Soundscape quality depends on wanted-versus-unwanted context, not decibel level

Evidence

The evaluation of a soundscape, defined also as “perception of the acoustic environment as perceived by people in that place, in context”, is based on the discriminant of wanted or unwanted sound into a specific context and not simply by the metric of sound level. Unpleasant–pleasant, uneventful–eventful, chaotic–quiet, and boring–exciting are some terms used to describe the sonic context according to the personal attitude and sensitivity of the subject. — Almo Farina, Soundscape Ecology, 1452

Categorization

• DEFINE: Supplies the formal definition used to distinguish soundscape evaluation from plain acoustics measurement; backbone vocabulary.
• XREF: Reinforces the ch20-22 thread that perceived pleasantness tracks subjective context, not physical parameters. — connects to: The soundscape is a cognitive construct, not an objective physical reality — Almo Farina, Soundscape Ecology: Principles,…, 1451; Decibel-based annoyance measurement fails to capture urban sonic quality — Almo Farina, Soundscape Ecology: Principles,…, 949; Visual urbanization context changes how natural but not anthropogenic sounds are judged. — Almo Farina, Soundscape Ecology: Principles,…, 1124 (+10 more)
• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source

Broader Connections

• Sound perception is shaped by the listener’s expectations and context of use #corroborates (0.92) — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 2494
• Sound quality judgments depend on listener context and expectations #corroborates (0.90) — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 2313
• Cognitive context determines whether a sound feature is good or bad #corroborates (0.90)
• Visual and contextual cues bias human judgments of sound quality #corroborates (0.85)
• Whether a sound counts as noise depends on subjective interpretation, not acoustics #expands (0.85) — Almo Farina, Soundscape Ecology, 1025
• Sonic maps by measured sound pressure fail to capture what a soundscape actually is #corroborates (0.80) — Almo Farina, Soundscape Ecology, 2247
• Attention shapes what a listener perceives as loud in complex soundscapes #expands (0.75)