PROCEEDINGS of the23rd International Congress on Acoustics
9 to 13 September 2019 in Aachen, Germany

The Implementation of Acoustic Environment Simulator to Improve
The Soundscape of Iconic SpaceRanti Dwi TASSIA1; Anugrah Sabdono SUDARSONO2; Joko SARWONO3
1

Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia

ABSTRACTIn general, soundscape study conducted by letting the participants to have the experience of the actual
soundscape. This method usually conducted using in situ soundwalk or soundscape reproduction.
Soundscape composition has become one of the methods to understand the soundscape of urban area basedon human memory. In this study, the concept of soundscape composition with acoustic environment
simulator has been implemented to understand and improve the soundscape of an iconic space. Twoexperiments were conducted in this study; first, the soundscape composition of Bandung’s City Square (theexisting condition); second, the improvement of the soundscape of Bandung City Square. This study has
identified the soundmarks of Bandung’s City square. The soundmarks are the sound of children, the sound ofadhan, conversation, the sound of people sweeping the floor, and the sound of footsteps. The sound of traffic
is used in both conditions to represent the urban area as the participant tent to keep this sound in the improvedcomposition. This study also has determined the sound addition which can be used to improve the soundenvironment quality (the addition of birds chirping).In conclusion, soundscape composition successfully
identify and improve the soundscape of the iconic area.
Keywords: Soundscape Composition, Iconic Space, Soundmark, Simulator

1. INTRODUCTION
The soundscape approach often used to understand the quality of sonic environment especially inthe Urban area (1, 2, 3). Several methods used to gather the information and validated in some way tomake a precise representation of urban environment. In-situ and laboratory experiment often used insoundscape study (4). In situ survey usually conducted with soundwalk method where a group ofpeople directly experience and rate the acoustic environment. The amount of information can becollected to give a representation of the sound environment through questionnaire and semantic data(5). In terms to improve the sound environment quality, the in-situ method can’t always give precise
reference of the sound data and make it hard to analyze the output. Meanwhile, laboratory experimentusually used the reproduction of sonic environment to collect and analyze the soundscape. The mostimportant thing from this method is the validation to represent the actual sonic environment. The
previous study has successfully validated human perception and the sonic environment (6).
One of the main parameters of soundscape research includes human perception to analyze thesoundscape. Hence, there must be a way to link human perceptions and a better representation of thesonic environment. Through soundscape combination using a simulator, the researcher can control theparameter of a sound object in order to analyze the cause of changing conditions in the simulation.
This approach is also beneficial to give a wider range of the sound object to present the outputs which
are useful for analysis (7). Another research implemented soundscape simulator in order to understandthe soundscape of an urban area. The study implemented the soundscape composition method toconstruct the relationship between the sound object and soundscape dimension (6). The results showthat simulator successfully becomes a tool that might help the urban planner to desig n and improve thequality of soundscape because people can create a sonic environment of a location and also manipulate1

rantidwitassia12@gmail.com
anugrahsabdono@gmail.com
3
jsarwono@tf.itb.co.id26094

the sound elements of soundscape (6).
This research tries to implement the concept of soundscape composition with acoustic environment
simulator to understand and improve the soundscape of an iconic space. The space in urban areas
usually dominated by various activities and facilitate the resident with various kinds of public
facilities, one of them is City Square. The city square is one o f an iconic open space in Bandung(Indonesia). This location is characterized by a fairly wide field and the functional buildings around it
and often used as a gathering place to relax and socialize. This iconic space plays a role in urban
cultural activities and reflects the city’s cultural, hence the need to improve the acoustic environment
around them is important.

2. METHOD
The study applies a laboratory experiment method using soundscape combination. There are twoexperiments were conducted in this study. The first experiment aims to identify the actual condition ona particular location using soundscape simulator. During the experiment, respondents were asked tocreate an actual simulated sound environment of Bandung City Square (Indonesia). They were ask ed tocombine some sound objects in the simulator and give the rating on the semantic scale, consists thethree dimension (relaxation, dynamic, and communication). They are also allowed to adjust the level
and the position in every sound object.
In the second experiment, respondents were asked to create an ideal condition of soundenvironment of the same location as the first experiment. They allowed to add and eliminate somesound object in order to make the ideal condition of soundscape. They also can re duce or increase thesound level from the actual condition. After that, they were asked to give the rating on the semantic
scale. The participants in both experiments are the people who already been and understand the soundenvironment in the location. The results from the second experiment intended to give information
related to parameter or the sound object that the respondents used to improve the soundscape. Bothdata collected from these two experiments are analyzed conjointly.
2.1

The Simulation
The simulation in this research using acoustic environment simulator to create and manipulate
the sound object of soundscape which has been developed by Sudarsono in his research related thesoundscape simulator to predict the perception of acoustic environment (6). In this study, the simulator
consists of several sound objects which categorized into 4 categories, such as natural sound, the soundof human activities, mechanical sound, and music sounds.
In the simulator, there are also semantic scales consist of three dimensions (Relaxation,Dynamic, and Communication) that must be assessed by the respondent. The recordings of soundscapecomposition are in the form of *.WAV A-Format. The format will be processed using Reaper into
B-Format (W, X, Y, Z) in order to enter the audio interface.

Figure 1 – The Simulator and Laboratory Experiment
The soundscape combination in the simulator is generated using 8 speaker systems in the laboratory.
The configuration in the form of an octagonal simulation with the he ight of the speaker is adjusted
according to the position of the ear when sitting, which is as high as 120 cm.

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2.2 Procedure
The respondents were asked to create two conditions (actual and ideal) of urban sound environment
in Bandung City Square for two minutes each, following these instructions:x Respondents who take part in the simulation have already felt, experienced, and understoodthe sonic environment at the location.
x Respondents fill in the identity on the form provided.
x Before starting the simulations, 5 minutes tutorial and explanation are given in order tofamiliarize the respondent with the simulationx First simulation; Respondents were asked to create the actual sound environment in
Bandung City Square by combining several sound sources in the simulation and making
judgments on the semantic scale, afterward.
x Second simulation; Respondents were asked to create the ideal sound environment in
Bandung City Square to get a better perception of the actual condition and give ra te on thesemantic scale.
x Respondents are allowed to leave the simulation room.
2.3 Subjects
There are 25 students (20 female and 5 male; averaging 21 years of age s.d. 32 years of age). They
are from the engineering, architectural, and art department. All the respondents were the people who
already familiar with the sound environment and reported normal hearing. The experiments take placesequentially and require approximately 40 minutes for each individual.

3. RESULTS
The data from both experiments were analyzed conjointly to check the comparisons between thecomposition for the actual and ideal condition. The comparison includes the identification of the soundobject and the perception of two soundscape composition. In order to identify the soundmark ofBandung City Square, the first experiment (the actual composition) has been validated with an in -situ
experiment using soundwalk method that can be seen in figure 2.

Simulator

In Situvehiclevehiclehorn

children

adhan

horn

childrenadhan

conversation

conversation
0%20%

40%60%

80%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Figure 2 – Most Frequent Sound Object in Simulator and In-situ Survey
The graphs show that there are five top words described by respondents both in simulation andin-situ experiment. The sounds of conversation, adhan (prayer call), children, horn, and vehicle are themost described sound both in the In-situ and the laboratory experiment. Those sounds are the mostfrequent sound objects that the participants use to create the actual condition of Bandung City Square.
The result will be analyzed in terms of sound objects chosen by respondents that can be seen in figure
3.

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Traditional Music
Slow MusicUp Beat Music
Welding Sound
Constructions Work
Plane
Muffler
Train
Horn
VehicleBasketJogging
TennisStreet Singer
ChildrenAdhan
WhistleSweeping
Foot Step
Conversation
Water Fountain
Water FlowWindCricket
Bird Chirping
Rain% Ideal% Actual

100% 50%0%

50% 100%

Figure 3 – Sound Object in Bandung City Square based on Actual and Ideal Compositions
The graphic above shows the sound object in Bandung City Square. From both experiments, it canbe indicated that both experiments have a similar result. The occurrence of some sound object in those
two experiments is not significant. The analysis from statistic test F2 (Z=28,2; p> 0,05) showed thatthe composition of the actual condition has a similar result with the composition of ideal condition.
Based on previous results, the sound of nature such as the sound of birds and the sound of water
increase the perception of pleasantness (8). However, in the ideal condition, 50% of respondent add thesound of birds chirping rather than the sound of water fountain or water flow because the location ofBandung City Square consists a fairly wide field with a lot of trees surrounding it. Hence the sound ofbirds chirping more suitable in this location. The most frequent sound object is chosen (above 50%) to
describe Bandung City Square can be seen in Table 1.
Table 1 – Sound Object in Bandung City SquareNo.

Sound Objects1.

Adhan (prayer call)2.

Children3.

Foot Step

4.

Conversation

5Vehicle

6.

Horn

7.

Muffler

8.

Wind

9.

Birds Chirping*

10.

Water Flow*

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The sound objects considered as the most chosen sound in this study as can be seen in table 1. Thoseare sound objects that represent Bandung City Square consist of the sound of adhan (prayer call),children, footstep, conversations, vehicle, horn, muffler, and wind. Those sounds mentioned, appear inboth experiments, while the sound of birds chirping and the sound of water used to improve the soundenvironment quality and mostly appear in ideal condition. This result in line with the previous study
that shows the natural sound prevailing in ideal scenes and often used to increase the perception ofpleasantness (8,9). The mechanical sound such as the sound of the vehicle (traffics), horn, and muffler
are used in both conditions to represent the urban environment as the respondent's tent to keep in theideal composition. It can be concluded that the soundmarks that represent Bandung City Square itself
consists of the sound of adhan, children, footstep and conversations.
In term of perception, the respondent rate their judgment in semantic scale consist of three
dimensions (Relaxation, Dynamic, and Communication). The semantic consists of 1 -10 scale. This
analysis aims to determine the individual's perceptions of actual composition and im provement in theideal composition.
discomfort-comfort
7.96
3.56

2.2
3.84
communal-private

2.84
4.88

varied - simple
actualidealFigure 4 – Rate of Perceptions in Actual and Ideal Compositions
Table 2 – Statistic Analysis
Annova-Mann Cohen’s
Whitney (sig.) D
Relaxation
0.000
2.44
Dynamic0.001
1.02Communication
0.003
0.9

MeanDiff.
4.44
2.04
1.04

Based on the rating from both composition, there is a significant result of the dimensi on ofRelaxation (comfortable-uncomfortable), Dynamic (varied-simple), and Communication(communal-private). Analysis of variance (Mann Whitney) was also conducted to compare the twoexperiments. Meanwhile, in the effect size test, only the dimension of relaxation has the strongest(2.44) impact among the three dimensions. This also can be seen from the mean difference between thecomposition of the actual conditions and the ideal composition. Relaxation shows the highest meandifference between the other dimensions. Dynamic and Communication also have significant results.
In conclusion, respondents tend to expect a simple and private environment. But the value does nothave a big enough difference and has a strong impact such as the dimension of relaxation.

4. CONCLUSIONS
The methods were developed to analyze the sound environment for better representations ofsoundscape have been widely applied in soundscape research. The implementation of soundscapesimulators is widely used by researchers to collect soundscape information in certain environments.

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This study successfully applied the composition of the soundscape simulator to identify and improve
the soundscape in iconic areas. This founding successfully identified the soundmarks of Bandung ’sCity square. The mechanical sound such as the traffic sound is used in both conditions to represent theurban area as the participant tent to keep this sound in the improved composition (the ideal condition).
The relaxation aspects more significant to give impact on the improvement composition. The soundaddition which can be used to improve the sound environment quality is the sound of birds chirping.
The sound of birds chirping more suitable for Bandung City Square because the location consists of afairly wide field with many trees surrounding it.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research was supported by Fisika Bangunan Laboratory, Engineering Physics ITB and fundedby ITB Research Scheme, P3MI.

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