DIMENSIONS OF SOUNDSCAPE PERCEPTION UNDER CONDITIONS OF WAR

Abstract

The acoustic environment is a continuous component of human experience, but under conditions of war its psychological significance is transformed by persistent uncertainty, threat, and heightened demands on environmental monitoring. The aim of this article is to provide a theoretical conceptualization of the dimensions through which the wartime soundscape is perceived and psychologically experienced, and to establish a framework for further empirical investigation of individual differences in auditory experience under conditions of war. The analysis is based on a theoretical synthesis and systematization of psychological, psychoacoustic, and interdisciplinary approaches to environmental sound perception, with particular attention to the processes through which acoustic characteristics acquire subjective psychological meaning.

The analysis demonstrates that wartime soundscape perception cannot be adequately explained by objective acoustic exposure alone. Rather, it represents a multidimensional psychological system in which acoustic information is processed through interconnected acoustic, psychoacoustic, cognitive, affective, phenomenological, and behavioural dimensions. The acoustic dimension concerns objectively measurable characteristics of sound; the psychoacoustic dimension reflects their subjective perceptual salience; the cognitive dimension encompasses source identification, interpretation, contextual appraisal, memory, predictability, and perceived threat; the affective dimension concerns emotional and physiological activation; the phenomenological dimension captures the lived experience of safety, bodily readiness, temporality, spatiality, and environmental predictability; and the behavioural dimension involves attentional orientation, avoidance, monitoring, and other regulatory responses. These dimensions are analytically distinguishable but functionally interdependent.

Particular theoretical importance is attributed to the distinction between psychoacoustic and psychological salience, demonstrating that perceptual prominence does not necessarily correspond to perceived threat or psychological impact. Under prolonged threat, auditory processing may become oriented toward detecting potentially significant acoustic cues; therefore, auditory vigilance is conceptualized here as a possible functional mode of attention rather than an established independent psychological construct. The framework further distinguishes perceived acoustic properties, affective appraisal, and consciously experienced states, acknowledging that activation and bodily readiness may precede explicit emotional interpretation.

The proposed multidimensional framework conceptualizes wartime soundscape perception as a dynamic interaction between acoustic signals, individual experience, contextual conditions, and their psychological meaning. It provides a theoretical basis for empirical research on individual differences in auditory experience and on the relationships among sound perception, threat appraisal, auditory vigilance, phenomenological experience, behavioural regulation, sleep, and psychological well-being under conditions of war.

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