International Soundscape Database: Urban Soundscape Surveys with Audio and Context

Over 1,500 participant questionnaires from urban public spaces across several European cities form the core of this database. Each questionnaire response is matched to a 30-second binaural recording and its psychoacoustic analysis, collected according to the SSID Protocol based on ISO 12913. The integrated dataset also includes sound level meter readings, 360-degree video, and location photos, organized by LocationID, SessionID, and GroupID.

Use Cases

• Analyzing correlations between psychoacoustic metrics and subjective soundscape pleasantness from matched questionnaire responses.
• Training machine learning models to predict soundscape perception using integrated audio features and contextual survey data.
• Benchmarking urban sound quality across different public space types like parks, squares, and market streets.
• Studying the temporal variation of soundscapes within a location using data organized by multi-hour sessions.

Strengths

• Contains over 1,500 individual participant questionnaire responses collected in situ, providing a substantial sample size for analysis.
• Integrates multiple synchronized data modalities: survey responses, binaural audio recordings, psychoacoustic analyses, sound level readings, and 360-degree video.
• Data collection follows the standardized SSID Protocol, which is based on the international ISO 12913 standard for soundscape studies.
• The dataset is designed as a living database, welcoming contributions from other researchers using the same protocol for expansion.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as exact row count, file size, specific column names, and last update date are not provided in the available sources.
• The geographic coverage is limited to several cities in Europe, which may restrict generalizability to other global contexts.
• The dataset's structure is described as being in an Excel file, which may pose scalability challenges for very large future versions.

Provenance

Source

University College London (SSID team), led by Andrew Mitchell.

Collection Method

Collected via in-situ soundscape assessment campaigns using the SSID Protocol, integrating questionnaires, binaural recordings, sound level meters, and 360-degree video.

Geography

Several cities across Europe, including urban public spaces such as parks, squares, green spaces, and market streets.