## 1 Introduction  
The design and management of care environments is increasingly attracting practitioners and researchers' interest due to the important societal role these facilities account for. In spite of its environmental significance, sound is often disregarded as an influencing factor of the users' experience in such contexts. Specific standards for the acoustic performance of care facilities are often missing and this is likely to lead, in turn, to noisy and unpleasant sound environments. Particularly, the perception of sound environments is of utmost relevance in places like hospitals, care facilities, or nursing homes, since these places often deal with \"vulnerable\" users, like older adults or people with intellectual disabilities [1].  
Soundscape refers to the human perception of an acoustic environment in context [2]. While the concept has attracted an increasing interest in urban studies, and outdoor environments more in general, it also applies to indoor contexts, particularly when they serve \"public\" functions, like service buildings, public libraries, transportation hubs, restaurants, or other commercial facilities [3; 4; 5].  
There are relatively few examples of research investigating the soundscape quality of care facilities and, in particular, of nursing homes. There is also a lack of awareness of the importance of the \"quality\" of sound for the Quality of Life (QoL) in daily care. [PERSON] et al. [6] have indeed claimed for further research attention on the role of sound and its potential to reduce behavioural problems in such environments to enhance the quality of life of residents [6; 7]. They have pointed out that this often depends on \"pleasantness\" and \"safety\" rather than \"objective\" sound levels.  
In particular, persons with dementia are vulnerable to environmental disturbance [6; 7]. Dementia is an overall term that describes a wide range of symptoms associated with a decline in memory or other cognitive skills, severe enough to reduce a person's ability to perform everyday activities. Another characteristic is the presence of Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia (BPSD), often seen in more severe stages of dementia. BPSD are commonly understood as symptoms of disturbed perception, thought content, mood, and behaviour, which frequently occur in people with dementia. Although BPSD are considered as a characteristic of dementia, evidence suggests that environmental factors may trigger BPSD [6].  
Given the fact that environmental factors, and specifically acoustics, impact BPSD [1; 6; 7], the AcustiCare project started in October 2016 with the aim of using the soundscape approach to enhance the everyday experience of nursing homes for both residents with dementia and staff members. For this purpose, five nursing homes in Flanders hosting people with dementia and BPSD were involved in the project. One of the first objectives of the research project was characterising the physical acoustic environment (through \"objective\" data) and its perception (through \"subjective\" data) in the living rooms of the nursing homes. The rationale for selecting the living rooms is that they are the key spaces for the functionality of the facility, because they form part of the context where nursing homes' residents spend most of their daily life and undertake daily activities such as eating, drinking coffee, having social talks, playing games, etc. Hence, it seemed reasonable to start from these environments, since \"aging in place\" is considered as an important precursor for quality of life provided that the environment offers safety, a feeling of being home, and a sense of place and time [8; 9].