Effect of Traffic Noise and Relaxations Sounds on Pedestrian Walking Speed.

ABSTRACT: Exposure to noise in everyday urban life is considered to be an environmental stressor. A specific outcome of reactions to environmental stress is a fast pace of life that also includes a faster pedestrian walking speed. The present study examined the effect of listening to annoying acoustical stimuli (traffic noise) compared with relaxation sounds (forest birdsong) on walking speed in a real outdoor urban environment. The participants (N = 83) walked along an urban route of 1.8 km. They listened to either traffic noise or forest birdsong, or they walked without listening to any acoustical stimuli in the control condition. The results showed that participants listening to traffic noise walked significantly faster on the route than both the participants listening to forest birdsong sounds a

SUBMITTER: Franek M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5923794 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature