How Natural and Urban Soundscapes affect our Brains

Stobbe and teammates utilized functional MRI sessions and 40 natural and 40 urban soundscapes to probe “the effect of listening to urban (traffic and machinery noise) vs. natural (birds, water and wind) soundscapes on cognitive performance, mood, stress reactivity and the consequences for neural activity during a cognitive task assessed before and after soundscape exposure. . . . The natural soundscapes did not lead to a significant increase in cognitive performance however, the pattern of this data was pointing into that direction. Exposure to the natural soundscapes resulted in a significant decrease of negative affect [mood] and participants rated them as significantly more aesthetic [pleasant]. . . . there was an observed increase in the nature condition, while the urban and control condition rather displayed a decrease in performance. . . . Although the effect was non-significant the direction of the effect supports the idea that listening to natural sounds may positively affect cognitive ability.”