Principal dimensions of perceptual attributes in indoor public spaces

This study aims to analyze the principal dimensions of perceptual attributes in indoor public spaces. Healthcare, working, cultural, educational, leisure, worship, and transportation spaces (e.g., bus, train, metro stations) were chosen as public spaces. A listening test was performed with university students and faculty members (n=32), where they were asked to evaluate the 21 binaural recordings of indoor public soundscapes based on 30 adjective pairs. Principal component analysis shows three prominent perceptual dimensions: Pleasantness, Eventfulness and Clarity, explaining respectively 28.3%, 18.9% and 11.5% of the total variance within the data. The findings were consistent with the literature, suggesting that Pleasantness and Eventfulness can generalize to different soundscapes and be used as attribute scales to measure perception. Moreover, the third principal dimension of Clarity was exclusive to this research and indicated that underlying dimensions of indoor soundscapes could differ based on the function of the space.