Preliminary qualification of a small audio-visual dataset for a multisensory study on urban parks

In the last decade, several researches about soundscape and urban planning have explored the relationship between multisensory stimuli of the environment and the human perception. In most of them, soundtracks and images, either acquired from in-situ recordings or downloaded from the web, have been used. However, psychological and affective reactions to these stimuli have been rarely measured. Importantly, psychologists provide several standardized affective (audio and visual) stimuli databases (e.g. IADS, IADS-E, IAPS) which may help researchers to select well codified sounds and images. The “MIELE” (Multisensory Investigation for ELderly-centered design of common living urban Environments) research project aims at identifying combinations of multisensory properties of urban parks to reduce stress and improve the well-being of people. To this aim, it has been necessary to set-up a small dataset of stimuli which were strictly related to activities and solutions suitable for urban parks. Auditory and visual stimuli were selected from different sources and their affective features have been assessed through an online survey. The main results of the experiment are presented.