Sound research with and for people

The traffic light at the intersection turns green, a waiting bus starts, cars rush past, a father talks to his child as the door to the daycare center shuts. Leonie Schulz is speaking amidst a colorful backdrop of sounds at Kolumbusplatz – rather than bothersome, these sounds are her research object. Schulz is a research associate at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), where she coordinates the collaborative project CitySoundscapes, which is led by Prof. Monika Egerer at TUM and carried out in cooperation with LMU and other praxis partners.

“CitySoundscapes investigates the connection between the acoustics of the city, biodiversity, and the wellbeing of citizens,” says Schulz, describing the overarching goal of the project. “The primary emphasis is on researching ‘soundscapes’ in the city – the acoustic environment, which has a major influence on human experiences.” The researchers are focusing on three areas in Munich, which are representative of different urban structures: Au, Harlaching, and Neuperlach. “We investigate questions such as: What is the complexity of the greenspaces in those places? What type of flora and fauna live there? To this end, we collect acoustic data.

To this end, we collect acoustic data, which we integrate, together with building density and imperviousness data, into maps and models. These results can then be incorported into urban planning.” The project pursues an interdisciplinary approach and combines insights from forest management, landscape ecology, urban planning, environmental psychology, and public health.

Targeted ways of improving acoustic quality in cities

Kolumbusplatz is the starting point for a ‘soundwalk,’ which LMU public health researchers in the project devised and regularly offer in the three selected areas. “We’re interested in the relationships between biodiversity, sound, and human health in urban greenspaces,” explains Sophia Baierl, research associate at LMU’s Chair of Public Health and Health Services Research. “We’re specifically looking to get residents of Munich involved in the research.”

All citizens aged 18 and older are invited to join the soundwalks led by the researchers in Au, Neuperlach, or Harlaching. The group strolls together through a neighborhood on set routes for about 60 to 90 minutes. At various stations, the participants stop for around three minutes, close their eyes, and listen to the sounds around them. Then they fill out a questionnaire on their phone or on a piece of paper and anonymously share their perceptions with the researchers: Which sound dominates the soundscape? How does it affect my mood? Do I perceive the environment as hectic and chaotic, or as relaxing?

Direct feedback from citizens

Dr. Michaela Coenen heads the Health Promotion and Prevention research unit at the Chair of Public Health and Health Services Research. She was involved in co-planning the events as the scientific lead. The central question concerns the relationships between the sounds in greenspaces, acoustic comfort, and restorative effects, and how these things are influenced by social factors. “Before now, research has always focused very strongly on noise and its negative impacts on health,” says Coenen. “Now we want to look at things like whether there are also sounds in selected greenspaces that have positive effects.”

To this end, the team primarily investigates the relationships between the structural complexity of greenspaces, their soundscapes, and their biodiversity: Where do we find places in the city with high biodiversity, high acoustic comfort, and high restorative effects with positive impacts on wellbeing? How can such spaces be extensively promoted in urban planning? Moreover, the approach is a highly practical one, emphasizes Coenen: “We’re not just doing research for people in this project, but with people. The results from the questionnaires flow directly into the evaluation and thus form the basis for recommendations for action, which the full team subsequently develops with the goal of formulating practical advice for cities and municipalities.”

Just a few hundred meters away, the background soundscapes change substantially

At Kolumbusplatz, traffic noise rules at midday. Just a little bit further away, shielded by some trees at the edge of a greenspace, the background sounds change quite a bit: There is less noise from cars, although you can hear the hum of machines from a nearby construction site. But also: many birds, the wind in the trees, people chatting as they walk through the park.

One station further, by a little stream running through the greenspace, the sounds of nature become even more audible. Traffic noise can still be heard here, but it is pushed further into the background. It’s not quiet here by any means, but the sounds of nature are more apparent – a mix of urban and natural sounds, which most participants presumably perceive as more restorative than the traffic noise at Kolumbusplatz barely 500 meters away.

If you are interested in researching the acoustic environment of the city yourself and give the researchers feedback about your personal perceptions via the anonymous questionnaire, you can check out the dates online and register for a sound walk in Au, Harlaching, or Neuperlach.

Various partners from science, local government, art, nature conservation, and citizen initiatives are involved in the collaborative project.

In addition to the academic partners LMU Munich, the Technical University of Munich (TUM), and the Technical University of Berlin, this includes, among others, the Department of Climate and Environmental Protection of the City of Munich, Green City e.V., and Friends of the Earth Bavaria.CitySoundscapes is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space as part of the Research Initiative for the Conservation of Biodiversity (FEdA).

In the spirit of transformative science, this initiative supports targeted exchange between research, politics, business, agriculture, forestry, nature conservation, and civil society.

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