A positive soundscape evaluation tool

Current policy on environmental sound is largely based on noise control. There is considerable interest in exploiting the soundscape concept to provide a more sophisticated way of managing our acoustic environment. For this to happen, a tool for assessing soundscape quality is needed. This paper reports on an exploratory attempt to define a soundscape evaluation tool. It is based on the work of the Positive Soundscape Project which has provided a qualitative and quantitative account of soundscape perception. The evaluation tool integrates these perceptual results with outlines of what can be measured and how user behaviour can be characterised to supply the information that an urban design or planning team might need. Soundscape evaluation could be used to support planning decisions related to how a new development might change the current soundscape as well as helping decide where and how to intervene in a soundscape.