Movement Shapes How People Perceive Cities Through Sound

Cities are experienced in motion, yet environmental perception is typically studied from stationary perspectives. This bias is especially consequential for sound, a key determinant of health and well-being in cities. Here, we show that pedestrian movement reshapes how cities are perceived through sound. Using controlled audiovisual experiments of urban streets, we compare soundscape perception under walking and standing conditions, drawing on 18,360 person-second observations to capture subtle perceptual shifts. We find that movement reshapes how sounds are experienced in cities: transient signals such as alarms and sirens become more prominent during walking, whereas continuous background sounds—including traffic and human activity—recede. Natural sounds such as birdsong show a variable pattern. Perceptual responses diverge early but converge within seconds, indicating rapid adaptation. These findings highlight that the “perceived city” is a product of the interaction between urban form and human kinetics, with implications for designing healthier and more responsive cities.