A review of tools and techniques for audio-visual assessment of urbanscape

Audio-visual characteristics of an urban environment significantly shape the individual experience. Researchers have employed various multidisciplinary approaches and tools to assess the auditory and visual elements, gaining insights into user preference, comfort, and restorative capabilities of different urban spaces. This review highlights these approaches and tools adopted for the audio-visual assessment of urbanscape. Additionally, it categorizes the tangible and intangible parameters utilized in the evaluation of these environments. For audio and visual assessment, researchers have primarily adopted three kinds of experimental approaches: in-situ experiment, reproduced in the laboratory using manually collected data, and laboratory experiment utilizing archives and crowdsourced data. In-situ approach provides real-world user experience but has limited control over variables. Laboratory experiments offer a controlled environment but may not represent on-ground complexities. Additionally, the chosen approach significantly impacts the spatial extent of the study. The adoption of computer vision techniques has enhanced the ability to quantitatively assess the intricate details of both audio and visual characteristics of physical environments. The review highlights the importance of combining the objective measurement of the physical environment along measurement of physiological and subjective ratings to holistically assess the audio-visual sensory perception of the urban environment.