## 1 Introduction  
People respond in different ways to the soundscape, the \"acoustic environment as perceived or experienced and/or understood by a person or people, in context\" [1; 2]. Thus, 'acoustic environment' refers to a physical phenomenon and'soundscape' to a perceptual construct. Differences at societal and cultural levels influence the perception of sonic environments [3; 4; 5]. A large survey [6] found that some socio-economic factors, notably occupation and education, were more strongly associated with the perceived sound level than factors such as age, gender, or residential status. At the level of the individual, psychological differences can be charted in terms of broadly defined personality dimensions [7; 8; 9; 10] or narrowly defined traits, such as _noise sensitivity_[11; 12; 13; 14]. A trait of the latter kind can be described as a \"lower order personality construct\" ([15], p. 166). A question of interest is the extent to which personality traits, both narrow and broad, influence the soundscape. The negative impact of environmental noise on health is considerable [16; 17; 18; 19]. As an external stress factor, sound has been shown to cause neurophysiological changes in the brain, in particular in regions of the prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and hippocampus, which are involved in cognitive and emotional processing [20]. To some extent, individuals might be able to consciously modulate their cognitive appraisal of an environment ([21], p. 19), but the common belief that people will adapt to sustained high noise exposure levels is not supported by evidence from studies of annoyance among people living close to airports [12; 22; 23]. However, increased familiarity with an environment that allows for some level of control leads to more positive evaluations [24; 25]. A sense of agency might give relevance and meaning to everyday environments [26; 27; 28]. The ways people actively regulate their affective relationship with the environment can be understood as coping strategies [29]. Sound activates the autonomous nervous system, causing emotional responses such as relaxation or stress. Changes in heart rate and peripheral skin temperature are correlated with soundscape loudness or evaluative qualities such as calm or chaos [30]. Sudden foreground sounds engage the listener's directed attention reorientation reflex, and chaotic soundscapes do not offer sufficient time in between sonic events for psychological mechanisms, inhibiting arousal to return towards a normal, relaxed state ([31], p. 7). If the soundscape is generally unpleasant, an individual might avoid annoyance by leaving, or avoid fatigue by suppressing the stressor; for example, by putting on headphones while commuting ([24], p. 228) and adjusting sound level and equalisation in order to optimise the listening experience [32]. If on the other hand the soundscape is pleasant, it may allow visitors to regain their default capacity for direct attention restoration. A restorative environment is one that invites undirected mental activities, e.g., sleep and daydreaming, or facilitates aesthetic experiences. [PERSON] [33] showed that an urban park was perceived to have a lower restorative potential than a rural park, yet a higher restorative potential than a grey urban environment. Differences were significant both in a laboratory reproduction setting and in an on-site survey. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [8] described personality as a system of basic tendencies, adaptations, and self-concepts, with biological bases (revealed as traits) that are formed by the external environment (revealed as moods, states, or feelings) [9]. Mental processing associated with specific traits is associated with neurological variation in the brain, supporting a biological basis for personality theory [10]. The dimensions in the Five Factor Model, a.k.a. the Big Five, are called _extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability_ and _openness_ (or _openness to new experiences_). The fourth factor sometimes appears in reverse and is then labelled Neuroticism.