Ground and aerial views of the restored forest (bottom right) and grey space (top right) locations where treatments occurred immediately prior to measuring stress, Scales of Positive and Negative Experience and the Perceived Restorativeness Scale. Credit: Environmental Conservation (2026). DOI: 10.1017/s0376892926100484
New research finds that the sounds and sights of nature are associated with significant mental health benefits compared with loud urban environments. The study, by North Carolina State University researchers, compared the effects of hearing different types of sounds in natural and urban environments on listeners' emotions.
Study participants were asked to wear noise-canceling headphones while sitting on either a reclaimed nature trail isolated from development or in a busy urban area. The headphones played either traffic sounds or birdsong, with both the location and soundtrack randomized for each participant to allow researchers to isolate the effects of place and sound.
Participants were then asked to report changes in their stress levels and how refreshed they felt after the experience, a metric called restorativeness. The effects of natural sights and sounds were immediately apparent, said Nils Peterson, a professor in the NC State College of Natural Resources and lead author of a paper on the study published in Environmental Conservation.
