Understanding the relationship between retrospective soundscape attributes and continuous pleasantness and eventfulness ratings

Abstract

Soundscape studies ask listeners to rate perceived affective quality (PAQ) attributes, such as pleasant and vibrant, after listening to recordings or experiencing acoustic environments. These retrospective ratings summarise an experience during which impressions may change. International Organization for Standardization (ISO) procedures convert these PAQ ratings into Pleasantness and Eventfulness scores. Pleasantness and Eventfulness (P/E) can also be rated directly and continuously during listening, capturing changes in reported perception over time. Retrospective PAQ ratings and continuous direct P/E describe the same soundscape experience from different perspectives. We examine how PAQs relate to direct P/E and how ISO-derived P/E corresponds to direct judgements, using 1,782 paired 30-s trials involving audiovisual recordings from 18 streets. The results show that PAQs retain a predominantly two-dimensional structure. Vibrant and Monotonous lie closer to the Eventfulness-Uneventfulness axis in the direct P/E plane than in the ISO 2025 reference geometry. The full 30-s direct P/E mean has lower calibrated error against ISO-derived P/E than three 10-s means. An empirical mapping using the same 8 PAQs reduces held-out joint root-mean-square error by 4.9% relative to affine-calibrated ISO 2025 scoring. The findings show that retrospective and continuous assessments offer related but distinct soundscape descriptions.