How multisensory nature exposure affects well-being Visual and auditory influences on affect

1. Human landscapes are increasingly diverse, and natural and urban features can coexist in one setting. Though the positive effects of nature exposure on human well-being indices are well known, we understand less about how mixed environments, with their associated multisensory dimensions, influence well-being. To explore this gap, we investigated the effects of visual and auditory nature exposure, and their interaction, on positive and negative affect.
2. After completing measures of psychological anxiety and nature relatedness, participants (N = 294 university students) were presented with 15 audiovisual recordings varying in the proportion of natural vs. urban visual scenes and soundscapes. Recordings were taken from sites around their university campus. Participants indicated their positive and negative affect while viewing each audiovisual clip for a duration of 60s.
3. The interaction between visual and auditory modalities significantly predicted positive and negative affect. Areas of high visual nature and low anthropogenic noise were associated with higher positive affect and lower negative affect. In contrast, participants had higher negative affect in areas with high visual nature paired with high anthropogenic noise.
4. Furthermore, there were individual participant differences, such that the higher an individual's nature relatedness, the greater the effect of visual nature and anthropogenic noise on both positive and negative affect. Finally, individuals high in state anxiety showed the greatest increase in negative affect with reducing visual nature.
5. Synthesis and applications. Our data suggest that anthropogenic noise is detrimental to the effects of visual nature exposure on mood, even (and especially) when visual nature is highest, highlighting the importance of multisensory interactions on mood. Furthermore, the emotional effects of exposure to nature are exaggerated for individuals with high nature relatedness, and (to an extent) for those experiencing high anxiety, highlighting the importance of considering multisensory nature experience when designing ‘wellbeing-in-nature’ interventions for these groups.