The potential cross-modal compensation of audio-visual perception on restorative experience of the elderly in community open spaces

It is known that there is a general decline in processing speed of a single sensory modality with aging. The aim of this study is to investigate when a sensation in one modality causes discomfort, whether the restorative experience of the elderly could be improved by enhancing other sensory modalities for compensation. The study conducts a field investigation focusing on older adults in 10 representative community open spaces in Tianjin, China, to explore the relationship between audio-visual perception and restorative experience of the elderly, and further examine the potential sensory compensation effect of audio-visual interaction on their restorative experience. The results indicate that audio-visual environmental dimensions contribute considerably to the explained variance in restorative experience of the elderly. Open spaces and water features positively associate with restoration, while adults’ and children’s sounds show negative correlation with restoration in open spaces with low landscape quality. More importantly, this study suggests a potential effect of cross-modal sensory compensation on older adults’ restorative experience when one sensory dimension (auditory or visual) is not highly satisfactory, especially on mood improvement and behavior support. When the soundscape quality is low, increasing open spaces can visually compensate and improve the restorative experience. When the landscape quality is low, adding birdsong and music can compensate from the auditory sense and improve the restorative experience. These findings provide valuable theoretical reference for the effect of sensory compensation on the elderly.