Influence of soundscape in the experience of an urban area: a case study in Rome

Over the last years several studies have demonstrated how the same environment can lead to different perceptual outcomes if the surrounding sounds change. Soundscape studies promote a user-centred approach for the characterization and management of acoustic environments in cities. There are several available protocols to gather perceptual data about how people experience the soundscapes in urban areas, and the most common tool is the “soundwalk”, a procedure where a group of peoplewalks and stops at given locations in order to assess the acoustic environment, using some soundrelated attributes (e.g., calm, pleasant, vibrant, chaotic, etc.). This research aims at evaluating the influence that different acoustic conditions together with specific environmental ones can induce on the pedestrians’ perception. In particular, the analysis was carried out within of an artistically significant and culturally relevant urban district place characterized by different traffic conditions, such as the archaeological area of the Colosseum in Rome. For this purpose, a soundwalk combined with a sound levels measurement campaign was organized in the archaeological area outside the Colosseum, during daytime and night time conditions, with a group of students applying the Method A of the ISO/TS 12913-2:2018, which addresses soundscape data collection. The results show how the correlations between the subjective responses and the measured data are significant and they can vary if the surrounding changes, both in terms of acoustical characteristics and environmental ones.