Local forest sounds boost mood more than tropical ones
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- Forest soundscapes from local temperate regions improved participants' short-term well-being more than those from tropical forests, according to a study published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology.
- 195 German students listened to one-minute forest recordings and reported greater reductions in stress and increases in positive emotion when the sounds came from nearby forests rather than faraway ones.
- Kevin Rozario, a doctoral researcher at iDiv, UFZ, and the University of Jena, emphasized that while sounds are key to experiencing nature, the emotional impact depends more on familiarity than biodiversity levels.
- Perceived animal diversity—how many species participants believed they heard—had a stronger effect on well-being than the actual number of species in the recording.
- Aletta Bonn, senior author and professor at UFZ, iDiv, and the University of Jena, noted that familiar local sounds, like birds from nearby forests, trigger deeper emotional restoration than exotic soundscapes.
Why it matters: Urban planners and mental health practitioners could prioritize access to local natural soundscapes over generic 'nature' audio, since familiar biodiversity cues deliver stronger psychological benefits. This shifts focus from global to nearby ecosystems as tools for well-being.
