Human Dimension of the Soundscape: From Individuals to Society - Soundscape Ecology: Principles, Patterns, Methods and Applications - page 113

Fig. 5.3 The different components of a soundscape as the result of individual reaction to the sonic
environment after a soundwalking (Reproduced with permission from Davies et al. 2013 )
Cacophony is a term used to describe a soundscape that is perceived in a negative
way and therefore is associated with a negative listening experience.
Hubbub is a term used to describe a mix of sounds that are perceived positively and
are associated with a positive listening experience.
Constant refers to a constant sound, as is typical of a stream water flow noise that is
constant and masks every other sound. In some cases this category can produce a
negative feeling (for instance, when a birdwatcher cannot heard the song of birds
close to a stream border) but could be positive for a backcountry visitor.
Temporal refer to the sounds that are repeated at intervals from a few seconds to
minutes, such as the sea waves.
These four categories can be sorted two by two: cacophonies-hubbub, and
constant-temporal.
The first two describe the way sounds are blended, which can produce pleasant-
ness or unpleasantness. The second two describe the rhythm and the level of
monotony of the soundscape and contain few elements of judgment by people.
For instance, the semantic differential technique is proposed to address complex
sounds. This technique rates a number of different soundscapes and sounds (Kerrick
et al. 1969 ). According to this technique, Cain et al. ( 2013 ) have isolated two