The eventful environment that characterises Indonesia's urban soundscape

Abstract

Noise control is still one method to improve the urban acoustic environment in many countries, including Indonesia. The noise control tries to reduce the sound level in a particular space to increase comfort. In other words, the acoustic environment is designed to be comfortable and uneventful. Previous studies have shown that public spaces in Indonesian cities have a unique sound than cities in developed countries. Here, further studies to investigate whether the soundscapes of these cities are also unique are reported. Soundscape surveys added with sound pressure level (SPL) measurement and audio recording in 28 public places in ten major Indonesian cities indicate that a noise control approach to provide acoustic comfort and uneventful public spaces may not suit Indonesia. The analysis shows that, in general, the soundscape is perceived as an eventful environment, which is compatible with the SPL and audio recording. Furthermore, the results were significant among the ten cities. This study shows that soundscape improvement should focus on developing an environment that is perceived as eventful and comfortable at the same time. Therefore, a different strategy is needed to improve the acoustic environment in Indonesia.