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Updated: Jun 2, 2026

Driving Under the Influence: How Music Listening Affects Driving Behaviors
Published on: March 27, 2019
Effects of natural sounds on the perception of road traffic noise
Bert De Coensel1, Sofie Vanwetswinkel, Dick Botteldooren
1Acoustics Group, Department of Information Technology, Ghent University, St-Pietersnieuwstraat 41, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium. bert.decoensel@intec.ugent.be
Abstract:
Recent studies show that introducing sound from water features in urban open spaces may reduce the loudness of road traffic noise, but it is not clear in which situations this measure also improves overall soundscape quality. This work describes a listening experiment on loudness, pleasantness, and eventfulness of stimuli that combine road traffic noise with fountain or bird sound at different sound levels. Adding fountain sound reduced the loudness of road traffic noise only if the latter had low temporal variability. Conversely, adding bird sound significantly enhanced soundscape pleasantness and eventfulness, more than what was achieved by adding fountain sound.
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