Assessing the indoor soundscape approach among university students’ home study places

Abstract

University students spend a considerable time at study places. The acoustical quality of these study places is one of the indoor environmental qualities (IEQ) that can have an impact on student’s health, comfort, and performance. The indoor soundscape approach has been introduced to better understand occupants’ sound perception and experience of sounds in relation to the environment. This study aims to explore the indoor soundscapes of home study places of these students by conducting semi-structured interviews with 23 university students with different profiles. For qualitative analysis, open coding was used. Sub-categories, based on the codes, and categories were created and assigned to the soundscape themes that are defined in ISO 12913-1. An affinity diagram consisting of the themes, categories, and sub-categories was initially developed. Then, it was validated through two workshops with participants. The results showed that the interpretation of the sound environment, responses, and outcomes differed among the students. In a previous study, 451 students were clustered in 5 clusters with similar acoustical preferences (profiles). Therefore, it is recommended to consider making the indoor soundscape approach applicable for different profiles of occupants.