According to the attention restoration theory, directed attention is a limited physiological resource and is susceptible to fatigue by overuse. Natural environments are a healthy resource, which allows and promotes the restoration of individuals within it from their state of directed attention fatigue. This process is called the environmental restoration on individuals, and it is affected both positively and negatively by environmental factors. By considering the relationship among the three components of soundscape, that is, people, sound and the environment, this study aims to explore the effects of soundscape on the environmental restoration in urban natural environments. A field experiment was conducted with 70 participants (four groups) in an urban natural environment (Shenyang, China). Directed attention was first depleted with a 50-min ‘consumption’ phase, followed by a baseline measurement of attention level. Three groups then engaged in 40 min of restoration in the respective environments with similar visual surroundings but with different sounds present, after which attention levels were re-tested. The fourth group did not undergo restoration and was immediately re-tested. The difference between the two test scores, corrected for the practice effect, represents the attention restoration of individuals exposed to the respective environments. An analysis of variance was performed, demonstrating that the differences between the mean values for each group were statistically significant [sig. = 0.027 (<0.050)]. The results showed that the mean values (confidence interval of 95%) of each group are as follows: ‘natural sounds group’ (8.4), ‘traffic sounds group’ (2.4) and ‘machine sounds group’ (−1.8). It can be concluded that (1) urban natural environments, with natural sounds, have a positive effect on the restoration of an individuals’ attention and (2) the presence of different types of sounds has significantly divergent effects on the environmental restoration.

Theoretical and empirical research has consistently highlighted the significance of context in understanding and evaluating soundscapes. Despite this, the concept of “context” in soundscape studies remains ambiguously defined, and the indicators employed in these studies are often inconsistent. Consequently, a systematic understanding of the soundscape-context relationship is needed. A systematic literature search, incorporating 14 theoretical and 52 empirical studies, was conducted to develop a framework explaining this relationship. The review explores the origins and evolution of soundscape-context theory, defining context as all non-acoustic components within the spatiotemporal scene of the soundscape experience, categorised into spatial-physical and socio-cultural attributes. Context indicators were summarised: spatial-physical attributes are measured across three scales: macroscale (landscape spatial patterns), mesoscale (particularly landscape elements), and microscale (multisensory factors). Socio-cultural attributes present challenges in establishing universal indicators and are typically described qualitatively or included as individual background factors. Importantly, the review synthesises the dynamic and reciprocal nature of this relationship: context shapes acoustic events and influences perceptual outcomes, while soundscape experiences, in turn, can modify the context. This review clarifies the impact of context in soundscape studies and proposes this framework to promote a standardised paradigm that systematically integrates these diverse contextual factors into soundscape research and practice.