Natural soundscapes are associated with mental well-being via capacity-building and capacity-restoring pathways

Tools

Uebel, Konrad, Ratcliffe, Eleanor, Buchan, Claire, Butler, Simon J., Hanley, Nicholas, Higney, Anthony and Marselle, Melissa (2025) Natural soundscapes are associated with mental well-being via capacity-building and capacity-restoring pathways. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 106. ISSN 0272-4944

[thumbnail of NERC_Paper2_Mediating_Pathways_revision_Aug14_2025] PDF (NERC_Paper2_Mediating_Pathways_revision_Aug14_2025) - Accepted Version
Restricted to Repository staff only until 21 August 2027.
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives.
Request a copy

Abstract

Soundscapes from natural areas are an important cultural ecosystem service that can promote greater mental health and well-being. However, the mediating pathways by which this occurs are not yet fully understood, limiting their integration into ecosystem service frameworks. We addressed this gap by examining a range of mediating pathways between subjective and objective measures of natural soundscapes and well-being. Using online surveys, a representative UK sample (N=1529) listened to simulated natural soundscapes with differing levels of three acoustic metrics. Participants completed measures of subjective well-being and perceived restoration, along with perceptions of bird diversity within soundscapes, restorativeness, stress and awe. Structural equation modelling was then used to test the theoretically-indicated pathways between subjective and objective measures of the soundscapes and well-being. Results confirmed biodiversity-health hypotheses: the relationship between perceived bird diversity and well-being was mediated by greater perceived restorative qualities of the soundscape, reduced perceived stress and greater perceptions of awe. Novel mechanistic pathways between acoustic characteristics and well-being were also demonstrated with moderate to high acoustic complexity displaying an indirect effect on well-being via serial mediation pathways: first through higher perceived biodiversity levels, and then either greater perceived restorativeness, reduced perceived stress or increased awe. These results provide new insights into how natural soundscapes can deliver well-being benefits and can inform the management and valuation of soundscapes in natural areas.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Data Availability Statement: The anonymised survey data used for this study are available at open-access data repository Open Science Framework (OSF.io): DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/AYNMK. Funding information: This work was funded through the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) “Economics of Biodiversity” programme (Ref. NE/X002063/1).
Uncontrolled Keywords: sdg 3 - good health and well-being ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/good_health_and_well_being
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Science > School of Biological Sciences
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Organisms and the Environment
Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
Related URLs:
Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 29 Oct 2025 15:31
Last Modified: 29 Oct 2025 15:31
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/100839
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2025.102735

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item