Speaker
Description
Previous research has shown that audio-visual interactions in environmental perception—and in environmental noise perception in particular—can be effectively leveraged in urban sound planning. However, the extent to which audio-visual cues are integrated varies substantially across individuals. A distinction can be made between individuals who rely predominantly on visual information and those who integrate auditory and visual inputs more evenly. Accounting for such individual differences may be essential for more accurately explaining phenomena such as the benefits of green window views in epidemiological studies. In this study, results from two computer-based tests—a congruent object recognition task (CORT) and the sound-induced flash illusion (SIFI)—were used as objective measures to guide the development of a questionnaire assessing individual audio-visual integration capacity. Subsequently, a broad set of everyday, recognizable experiences was evaluated. From this pool, a subset of questions was identified that demonstrated predictive power for performance on the CORT and SIFI tasks, as well as good test–retest reliability. This refined questionnaire is intended for use in future large-scale surveys conducted outside laboratory settings.