Urban soundscape of recreational area in Hong Kong

Urban landscape or park for recreational purposes is important component in urban area in Hong Kong but traffic noise can seriously affect its usability. To evaluate its usability practically, the soundscape of the recreational area has been examined preliminarily. The relationship between the physical acoustical parameter and human perception in the landscape which is exposed to the traffic noise has also been investigated. Several acoustical parameters such as the L10 and Leq have highly correlation to the subjective perception of the users such as the pleasantness, loudness, interference to verbal communication, preference to stay and acceptance of environment. The acoustical criterion of Leq or L10 for the users to perceive the park being pleasant and to stay willingly at the park has been found from the statistical analysis.