Relationships between landscape characteristics and the restorative quality of soundscapes in urban blue spaces

This study aims to explore the specific effects of audio-visual combinations on the restorative quality of soundscapes in blue spaces. In the experiments, 6 types of blue space were combined with 14 sounds, and the Short-version Revised Restoration scale (SRRS) was utilized by 65 volunteers to measure the restorative quality of the audio-visual combinations. On a scale from 1 to 9, the following results were obtained: (1) the water sound with the highest restorative quality is river sound (6.94), followed by fountain sound (6.59) and stream sound (6.41), and the sound of sea waves (5.85) has the lowest restorative quality; (2) in blue spaces with a high degree of urbanization (2.25), 9 types of sounds can improve restorative quality; (3) improving the visual quality of water, increasing the number of boats and reducing the number of paved areas can improve the restorative quality of audio-visual combinations; (4) it is appropriate to reduce plant diversity to improve the restorative effect in highly urbanized shore areas; and (5) footsteps are not appropriate in blue spaces with good natural surroundings. These results indicate that the restorative quality of soundscapes in blue spaces can be improved through landscape design, which provides implications for sustainable environment design.