Introducing short informational-attentional masking sounds to improve staying in pocket urban parks: a laboratory study

Pocket urban parks are gaining more attention from scientists and professionals due to their high accessibility and restorative potential for the local communities. However, a critical aspect of these spaces is that this restorative potential is often threatened by the road traffic noise of the surrounding vehicles and motorcycles pass-by. The introduction of natural sounds or music in such kinds of urban spaces, by taking advantage of the mechanisms of the informational-attentional masking rather than on energetic masking, has been largely investigated as a strategy of improving the visitors’ experience of staying there, demonstrating its effectiveness in different conditions and contexts. However, no studies considered the use of short-time sound cues, limiting the activation when strictly necessary. In this study, the possibility of introducing short informational-attentional masking sounds to improve the experience of staying in a pocket urban park exposed to road traffic noise pass-by is investigated. This has been evaluated through a laboratory listening test considering four typologies of natural sounds, specifically two water and two chirping sounds, at four different signal-to-noise ratios, that were automatically activated based on preset thresholds. Main results indicate that, independently of signal-to-noise ratio, almost all the masking sounds that were tested significantly improved the existing experience of the participants, increasing their rating in the ISO-Pleasant dimension and in the positive emotional salience, therefore reducing the short-term noise annoyance.