Appraising the Sonic Environment: A Conceptual Framework for Perceptual, Computational, and Cognitive Requirements

This paper provides a conceptual framework for soundscape appraisal as a key outcome of the hearing process. Sound appraisal involves auditory sense-making and produces the soundscape as the perceived and understood acoustic environment. The soundscape exists in the experiential domain and involves...

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Main Author: Tjeerd C. Andringa
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-06-01
Series:Behavioral Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/15/6/797
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author Tjeerd C. Andringa
author_facet Tjeerd C. Andringa
author_sort Tjeerd C. Andringa
collection DOAJ
description This paper provides a conceptual framework for soundscape appraisal as a key outcome of the hearing process. Sound appraisal involves auditory sense-making and produces the soundscape as the perceived and understood acoustic environment. The soundscape exists in the experiential domain and involves meaning-giving. Soundscape research has reached a consensus about the relevance of two experiential dimensions—pleasure and eventfulness—which give rise to four appraisal quadrants: calm, lively/vibrant, chaotic, and boring/monotonous. Requirements for and constraints on the hearing and appraisal processes follow from the demands of living in a complex world, the specific properties of source and transmission physics, and the need for auditory events and streams of single-source information. These lead to several core features and functions of the hearing process, such as prioritizing the auditory channel (loudness), forming auditory streams (audibility, primitive auditory scene analysis), prioritizing auditory streams (audible safety, noise sensitivity), and initial meaning-giving (auditory gist and perceptual layers). Combined, this leads to a model of soundscape appraisal yielding the ISO quadrant structure. Long-term aggregated appraisals lead to a sonic climate that allows for an insightful comparison of different locations. The resulting system needs additional validation and optimization to comply in detail with human appraisal and evaluation.
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spelling doaj-art-32d03d9fb9ce41fb8ac473172e8a52602025-08-20T03:26:17ZengMDPI AGBehavioral Sciences2076-328X2025-06-0115679710.3390/bs15060797Appraising the Sonic Environment: A Conceptual Framework for Perceptual, Computational, and Cognitive RequirementsTjeerd C. Andringa0SoundAppraisal BV, Kerkstraat 102, 9745 CL Groningen, The NetherlandsThis paper provides a conceptual framework for soundscape appraisal as a key outcome of the hearing process. Sound appraisal involves auditory sense-making and produces the soundscape as the perceived and understood acoustic environment. The soundscape exists in the experiential domain and involves meaning-giving. Soundscape research has reached a consensus about the relevance of two experiential dimensions—pleasure and eventfulness—which give rise to four appraisal quadrants: calm, lively/vibrant, chaotic, and boring/monotonous. Requirements for and constraints on the hearing and appraisal processes follow from the demands of living in a complex world, the specific properties of source and transmission physics, and the need for auditory events and streams of single-source information. These lead to several core features and functions of the hearing process, such as prioritizing the auditory channel (loudness), forming auditory streams (audibility, primitive auditory scene analysis), prioritizing auditory streams (audible safety, noise sensitivity), and initial meaning-giving (auditory gist and perceptual layers). Combined, this leads to a model of soundscape appraisal yielding the ISO quadrant structure. Long-term aggregated appraisals lead to a sonic climate that allows for an insightful comparison of different locations. The resulting system needs additional validation and optimization to comply in detail with human appraisal and evaluation.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/15/6/797hearingsonic experiencesoundscapeauditory scene analysiscore cognitionsound appraisal
spellingShingle Tjeerd C. Andringa
Appraising the Sonic Environment: A Conceptual Framework for Perceptual, Computational, and Cognitive Requirements
Behavioral Sciences
hearing
sonic experience
soundscape
auditory scene analysis
core cognition
sound appraisal
title Appraising the Sonic Environment: A Conceptual Framework for Perceptual, Computational, and Cognitive Requirements
title_full Appraising the Sonic Environment: A Conceptual Framework for Perceptual, Computational, and Cognitive Requirements
title_fullStr Appraising the Sonic Environment: A Conceptual Framework for Perceptual, Computational, and Cognitive Requirements
title_full_unstemmed Appraising the Sonic Environment: A Conceptual Framework for Perceptual, Computational, and Cognitive Requirements
title_short Appraising the Sonic Environment: A Conceptual Framework for Perceptual, Computational, and Cognitive Requirements
title_sort appraising the sonic environment a conceptual framework for perceptual computational and cognitive requirements
topic hearing
sonic experience
soundscape
auditory scene analysis
core cognition
sound appraisal
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/15/6/797
work_keys_str_mv AT tjeerdcandringa appraisingthesonicenvironmentaconceptualframeworkforperceptualcomputationalandcognitiverequirements