Bird sounds and their contributions to perceived attention restoration and stress recovery
By Eleanor Ratcliffe, Birgitta Gatersleben, Paul T. Sowden. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 2013
455 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Abstract Natural environments, and particularly visual stimuli in nature, are usually perceived as restorative following stress and attention fatigue. Studies extending these findings to auditory natural stimuli have used soundscapes comprising multiple types of sound. Birdsong recurs as a type of sound used in such studies, but little is known about restorative perceptions of bird sounds on their own and how these may relate to existing theories of environmental restoration. Via semi-structured interviews with twenty adult participants, bird songs and calls were found to be the type of natural sound most commonly associated with perceived stress recovery and attention restoration. However, not all bird sounds were regarded as helpful for such processes. Three themes formed the basis of these perceived relationships: affective appraisals, cognitive appraisals, and relationships with nature. Sub-themes of the acoustic, aesthetic, and associative properties of bird sounds were also related to restorative perceptions. Future studies should quantitatively examine the potential of a variety of bird sounds to aid attention restoration and stress recovery, and how these might be predicted by acoustic, aesthetic, and associative properties, in order to better understand how and why sounds such as birdsong might provide restorative benefits.
Subfields: Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis, Social Psychology, Speech and Hearing
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/af30473a634bc8e660b63c406c49c8a2b222ada5
How researchers see this paper
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In Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
- Eleanor Ratcliffe
- Birgitta Gatersleben
- Paul T. Sowden
- A. Hunt
- R. Lumber
- Miles Richardson
- Kaitlyn Gillis
- R. Young
In Social Psychology
- Birgitta Gatersleben
- Eleanor Ratcliffe
- Paul T. Sowden
- A. Hunt
- R. Lumber
- Miles Richardson
- Kaitlyn Gillis
- David Lois
In Speech and Hearing
Citations in the corpus
- Applying the pathways to nature connectedness at a societal scale: a leverage points perspective (2020, background): “This effect is shown, for example, by the powerful negative cultural associations of some bird species, such as corvids, which can limit the benefits of nature through biasing perceptions of nature such that it is less restorative (Ratcliffe et al. 2013).”
- Associations with bird sounds: How do they relate to perceived restorative potential? (2016, methodology): “…symbols of threat While birdsong in a holistic sense is generally considered to be pleasant (Björk et al., 2008; Grahn & Stigsdotter, 2010), differences occur betwen bird species in terms of how pleasant or relaxing they are perceived to be (Björk, 1985; Ratcliffe et al., 2013; Cox & Gaston, 2015).”
- A Review of Psychological Literature on the Health and Wellbeing Benefits of Biophilic Design (2015, background): “Additionally, the sound of bird song [55] and nature sounds including water has been perceived to be highly restorative [24].”
- Natural Sound Facilitates Mood Recovery (2014, unknown): “For example, Ratcliffe, Gatersleben, and Sowden (2013) conducted semistructured interviews with adults regarding their perceptions of what makes an environment restorative.”