Using psychoacoustic parameters to select suitable sounds to augment soundscapes for people with dementia.

People with dementia have difficulties identifying time and space, and any disturbing noise or unfamiliar sound can be agitating and annoying for them. Sound augmentation as an intervention was shown to improve mood and cognitive behaviour in people. In addition, this approach has a positive effect on reducing anxiety, stress, and agitation and improving sleep quality in people with cognitive disabilities. In the soundscape approach, people have agency in evaluating their sonic environment. This method is hardly possible when designing for people with dementia, as the severity of the disease makes communication incomprehensible in most cases. Therefore, caregivers and nurses are the best sources of evaluation; their familiarity with residents and their knowledge of residents' behaviour and psychology are crucial in evaluating the soundscape. This research uses feedback data from the caregivers and psychoacoustic parameters of sound to find ways to select suitable sounds that positively affect people with dementia. A logistic regression model with a single independent variable demonstrated the chance of a positive outcome (sound) versus a continuous indicator value (psychoacoustic parameter). The result shows that specific psychoacoustic indicators, such as sharpness, percentiles, and centre of gravity (COG), can result in a positive evaluated response in sound augmentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]