The DOI matches its Crossref record; 2 of the 2 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Natural Sound Facilitates Mood Recovery
Abstract
Visual exposure to natural scenes can aid in recovery from stress, attentional fatigue, and physical ailments including surgery and sickness. Yet little is known about what role auditory stimuli may play in restorative processes. The current study extends prior work on the benefit of natural visual scenes to the domain of natural auditory exposure. Undergraduate students (N=133) were exposed to an unsettling video and reliably reported worsened affective state on the Brief Mood Introspection Scale (BMIS) immediately following the stimuli. Participants were then randomly assigned to either a natural sounds condition or to a comparison condition that was natural sounds intermingled with anthropogenic sounds (human voices or motorized vehicles). Participants exposed to a brief period of natural sounds following the video showed greater mood recovery, as measured by the BMIS, than did those exposed to the same stimuli also containing human-caused sounds (voices or motorized vehicles). Thus natural so...
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In the citing paper
“listening to natural sounds was shown to be more restorative than anthropogenic sounds (Benfield et al., 2014)”
From Exploring the role of exposure to green and blue spaces in preventing anxiety and depression among young people aged 14–24 years living in urban settings: A systematic review and conceptual framework (2022) · cites this paper as Benfield et al., 2014
In the citing paper
“The natural sound condition showed greater recovery from the upsetting video compared to both the control and anthropogenic sound conditions.”
From Exploring the role of exposure to green and blue spaces in preventing anxiety and depression among young people aged 14–24 years living in urban settings: A systematic review and conceptual framework (2022) · cites this paper as Benfield et al., 2014
In the citing paper
“Significant BMIS change by sound condition was shown for Pleasant-Unpleasant sub-scale (F = 7.62, p < 0.001, partial η2 = .150)and Positive-Tired subscale (F = 6.36, p < 0.001, partial η2 = .126)”
From Exploring the role of exposure to green and blue spaces in preventing anxiety and depression among young people aged 14–24 years living in urban settings: A systematic review and conceptual framework (2022) · cites this paper as Benfield et al., 2014
In the citing paper
“The impacts of different components of nature can be broken down, and such studies provide evidence of the restorative qualities of viewing or listening to nature, with associated improvements in mood and relaxation (Benfield et al., 2014;Tedja and Tsaih, 2015;Chang et al., 2008;Chan KLE, 2015).”
From Exploring the role of exposure to green and blue spaces in preventing anxiety and depression among young people aged 14–24 years living in urban settings: A systematic review and conceptual framework (2022) · cites this paper as Benfield et al., 2014
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Analyzing the acoustic parameters of bird vocalizations and their perceived pleasantness by humans
Kalb, N., von Lücken, G., Lukanowski, J., Dechant, F., & Randler, C. (2026) · Frontiers in Bird Science · doi:10.3389/fbirs.2026.1794594
“…high positive restorative potential (Björk, 1985; Grahn and Stigsdotter, 2010; Payne, 2013), and natural soundscapes are often reported to have a higher psychological and mental restoration than sounds from built environments (Alvarsson et al., 2010; Ben fi eld et al., 2014; Medvedev et al., 2015).”
Tsagkarakis, P., Williams, D. A. H., Barlow, C., & Davies, W. (2026) · Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · doi:10.1121/10.0044526
The influence of traffic noise on restorative effects in green space
Tan, R., Ou, D., & Lian, Y. (2026) · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · doi:10.1121/10.0044531
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Cooper, C., Bai, J., Perkins, D., & Larson, L. R. (2026) · People and Nature · doi:10.1002/pan3.70391
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InfluentialVeress, E., & Szőke, H. (2026) · Orvosi Hetilap · doi:10.1556/650.2026.33598
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Can Soundscapes Carry 40 Hz for Gamma Entrainment?: Evidence from a Pilot EEG Study
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“Scholars have posited that aspects of the natural world, including sensory inputs, may positively affect humans’ physical and mental health and sense of spirituality (Akers et al. 2012; Benfield et al. 2014).”
The Audiovisual Assessment of Monocultural Vegetation Based on Facial Expressions
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BackgroundHuman noise in US parks threatens wildlife
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Increasing Pleasantness and Security Using 3D-Sound Design in Public Transport
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Metadata
- Authors
- Benfield, J. A., Taff, B. D., Newman, P., & Smyth, J.
- Affiliations
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- University Park
- ORCID
- Smyth, Joshua
- Venue
- Ecopsychology
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2014-09
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 183-188
- ISSN
- 1942-9347 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1183829673
- Cited by
- 141
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 2
- FWCI
- 3.51
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Ecopsychology (publishedVersion)
- Ecopsychology
- Funders
- National Park Service
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Urban Studies › Urban Green Space and Health
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Acoustics and Ultrasonics › Noise Effects and Management
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Music Therapy and Health
- Keywords
- natural sounds, mood recovery, auditory stimuli, restorative environments, anthropogenic noise, stress recovery, affective states, nature exposure, attentional fatigue
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