Defining an architectural or urban sound environment: The experience of a pluridisciplinary approach

Acoustics research is thriving and allowed significant progress in the improvement of living conditions.However, a gap has been noted between research and practical applications in situ. This awareness has encouraged laboratories to investigate the urban sonic environment from different perspectives. Thus the following :1) The sound signal is not a single element, it is always the result of a propagation in a built space and the circumstances that bring about its reception : position and mobility of the listener. If all of these parameters could theoretically be taken into account through a physical analysis, technical and economic constraints lead always to prioritize some of them.2) The ordinary city dweller is not a laboratory subject, who when subjected to certain stimuli, respond in a predictable manner. His reactions are based on his culture, his history, and his involvement at any given moment. And mainly he sets up interactions with his environment : he produces sounds, or noises.3) A sound signal is never neutral. It is interesting only when perceived and if it becomes banal to say that sound is "qualified time", how may we introduce aesthetic notions within this qualification.These three fundamental issues have incited the CRESSON research laboratory to develop a pluridisciplinary analytical tool called the "sound effect", the use of which has fostered a better definition of the concept of the sonic environment which stems from the three different fields mentioned above: physics of sound and space, human sciences (anthropology and sociology) and aesthetics of daily life.