密歇根新闻广播 研究表明鸟鸣声也许能增加你的安全感

Walking through an empty parking structure or some public place that isn't crowded or well-lit can inspire the imagination and bring on a case of the creeps.

It can make people feel the place is unsafe, even when there's no evidence.

University of Michigan marketing¹ professor Aradhna Krishna wanted to figure out if the right mix of sounds can make us feel safe.

Krishna is the director of the Sensory² Marketing Lab at the Ross School of Business, and says they've been conducting a study on the effects that sound has on our perception of safety.

In a field study at a parking garage, Krishna says they played different types of sounds that they suspected might alter the way the space is perceived.

"Our hypothesis going in was that certain kinds of vocal³ sounds … would create a feeling of safety," she says.

Krishna says they chose bird sounds because of the similarity they share to human vocal sounds both, "in their melody and in their language."

She explains they were thinking that bird sounds within the stairwells of the parking structure might create a sense of social presence which would in turn create a perception of safety.

As controls, Krishna says they tested using conditions of silence and of music that was similar to the bird sounds in tone and tempo⁴.

"Indeed, the bird sounds created a higher sense of safety," she tells us.

The experiment was recreated using conditions of human vocal sounds, classical music and silence. According to Krishna, while the human sounds did score a little higher than the bird sounds, both performed much better than either music or silence in terms of creating a sense of safety.

Krishna says they conducted other experiments for which they created videos shot from a first person perspective of a person walking through a parking garage or through a subway station.

They showed these videos to people, and by changing the background music, Krishna says they were able to observe a notable difference both in perception of safety and willingness to purchase a subway pass.

So background sound and music can indeed change the way we perceive the space around us, according to Krishna, at least as far as safety goes.

She says the takeaway is twofold.

"Firstly, we would advocate using vocal music in places which were indeed safe already, and you wanted to make people realize that these were safe," Krishna says.

"But on the other hand we do not want people to use vocal sounds in areas that are indeed unsafe to create this false perception of safety. So you have to use these results in a very careful way."

-Ryan Grimes, Stateside

1 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

2 sensory   

adj.知觉的，感觉的，知觉器官的

参考例句：

• Human powers of sensory discrimination are limited.人类感官分辨能力有限。
• The sensory system may undergo long-term adaptation in alien environments.感觉系统对陌生的环境可能经过长时期才能适应。

3 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

4 tempo   

n.(音乐的)速度；节奏，行进速度

参考例句：

• The boss is unsatisfied with the tardy tempo.老板不满于这种缓慢的进度。
• They waltz to the tempo of the music.他们跟着音乐的节奏跳华尔兹舞。