Forest 404: Using a BBC drama series to explore the impact of nature's changing soundscapes on human wellbeing and behavior

Abstract

Extensive ecosystem degradation and increasing urbanization are altering human relationships with nature. To explore these trends, we created a transdisciplinary, narrative-led podcast series produced by the BBC, called Forest 404. The series explored the implications of a world without nature. An online experimental component mobilized audience participation (n = 7,596) to assess responses to natural soundscapes with and without abiotic, biotic, and poetic elements across five biomes. Conditions featuring the sounds of wildlife, such as bird song, were perceived to be more psychologically restorative than those without. Participants' personal lived experiences were strongly related to these outcomes; those who had memories triggered by the sounds were more likely to find them psychologically restorative and exhibited a greater motivation to preserve them. Moreover, the effects of both soundscape composition and memories on preservation behavior were partially mediated by restorative potential; respondents were more likely to want to protect the sounds they heard if they thought they might offer therapeutic outcomes. Our findings highlight the value of art-science collaborations and demonstrate how maintaining contact with the natural world can promote wellbeing and foster behaviors that protect planetary health.

Keywords: Attention restoration; Biodiversity loss; Conservation behavior; Ecosystem services; Environmental psychology; Soundscape; Wellbeing.

Fig. 1

Arrangement of stimuli in study design. (A) Factorial arrangement of sound types within a single biome. (B) Total stimuli arising from factorial design applied across five biomes. Example stimulus: Using this structure, the ABC stimulus in our tropical rainforest biome was created by combining (A) the abiotic sound of rain falling on leaves, with (B) the biotic sounds of indigenous New Guinea birds, and (C) a spoken extract from ‘Savage Grace: A Journey in Wildness’ by Jay Griffiths (read by Forest 404 actor, Pippa Haywood).

Fig. 2

Mediation pathways. The planned mediation model used to explore research question 4, with sound type (A, B, C) and memories (any vs none) as predictors, preservation motivation as outcome, and restorative potential as mediator. Covariances of residuals depicted by double headed arrows.

Fig. 3

Soundscape appraisals according to biome. Mean scores for (A) perceived restorative potential and (B) preservation motivation, for all sound types (excluding silence) collapsed according to biome. Asterisks highlight significant differences, * denotes p < 0.05, ** denotes p < 0.01, and *** denotes p < 0.001. Pairwise comparisons have been Bonferroni corrected. Confidence intervals (95%) are also displayed.

Fig. 4

Delineating according to sound types. Unstandardised coefficients for (A) perceived restorative potential and (B) preservation motivation. The y-axis represents a range that captures all the variation in responses. To aid visualization, regression coefficients have been added to the intercept (Silence). Confidence intervals (95%) are also displayed.

Fig. 5

Soundscape ratings grouped by participant memories. The relationships between memory type and (A) perceived restorative potential and (B) preservation motivation, across abiotic, biotic and poetry-based sound types collapsed together. The y-axis represents a range that captures all variation in responses. To aid visualization, regression coefficients have been added to the intercept (memories = none). Confidence intervals (95%) are also displayed.

Fig. 6

The effect of memories on specific sound types. Fitted model values for A, B, C sound types and memory group for (A) perceived restorative potential and (B) preservation motivation.

Fig. 7

Mediation model. Structural equation model with sound type (A, B, C) and memories (any vs none) as predictors, preservation motivation as outcome, and restorative potential as mediator. Covariances depicted by double-headed arrows. Tabular outputs can be found in Table S15, Appendix A.