Tranquillity in the Scottish Highlands and Dartmoor National Park - The importance of soundscapes and emotional factors

The findings of a wildness study are presented where audio-visual stimuli (video footage), were assessed by experimental subjects under controlled conditions, in order to obtain reliable estimates of perceived tranquillity together with a number of other rated qualities including calmness and pleasantness. A wide range of mainly natural scenes totalling 46 were presented including footage from the Scottish Highlands and Dartmoor National Park. The findings clearly demonstrate that rated tranquillity relates closely to rated calmness and pleasantness and this agrees with earlier studies of soundscape categorisation. The effect of adding man-made sounds to the soundscape was shown to seriously degrade perceived tranquillity though ratings of wildness were not nearly as affected. Attempts to improve the level of tranquillity further by adding natural sounds were largely unsuccessful. It was considered important to determine if the previously employed Tranquillity Rating Prediction Tool (TRAPT) successfully validated for mainly urban open spaces could usefully predict tranquility in remote wildland areas. In fact results demonstrated the relatively close relationship between predicted and actually rated tranquillity in these remote areas which further extended the range of validity of the prediction tool. The findings of this study will challenge the notion that characterization of landscapes is purely a visual exercise and that soundscape quality needs to be considered as an integral part of this assessment process. For this reason the findings will be of interest to those responsible for managing and marketing protected areas such as National Parks, practitioners involved in carrying out landscape character assessments, cartographers and landscape architects involved in designing tranquil spaces across a range of scales.