Open Collections

Optimizing AMS Pocket Lounges : The Effects of Nature Sounds on Perceived Stress

University of British Columbia. Campus and Community Planning

Our goal is to contribute to the AMS by optimizing the university Pocket Lounges in order to reduce students’ perceived stress levels. Previous studies indicate that nature has psychologically restorative effects and, based on that assumption, we hypothesized that exposure to nature sounds will also have a psychologically restorative effect. In the experimental condition, 31 students were exposed to nature sounds (birds, wind, running water) emitted by a small portable speaker. In the control condition, 28 students were exposed to the normal sounds and settings of the pocket lounge. We administered the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) in one of seven Pocket Lounges to 59 UBC students. Our research aimed to determine whether exposure to nature sounds decreases students’ perceived stress levels. Our results, however, did not indicate any variance in perceived stress among the two groups. We believe this is due to various factors involved in the manner in which we collected our data (time of day, volume of nature sounds, time of semester, duration of time spent in the lounge, etc.). Further studies should be done to assess the effectiveness of nature sounds for reduction of perceived stress. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”

Text

UBC Social Ecological Economic Development Studies (SEEDS) Student Report; University of British Columbia. PSYC 321

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0343391

Arts, Faculty of; Psychology, Department of

Unreviewed

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/