PONE-D-23-26044A study on the mechanism of the impact of rural soundscape perception on environmental restoration: An empirical study based on the Taohuayuan Scenic Area in Changde, ChinaPLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: No

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: This study contains interesting ideas however improvements are required:

Abstract – please include who are the respondents of the study.

Introduction - this section should contain the knowledge gap, and to explain why it is important to address the gaps in knowledge.

The literature review requires updating as majority of them are old.

In the discussion section, the authors could add further explanation on the insignificant moderation relationship.

The conclusion section should include discussion that are connected to the empirical results to the theoretical as well as literature.

Implication section should include practical/managerial implications as well as recommendations to the stakeholders/managers/tourism agencies.

Reviewer #2: Recommendation: Major Revision

Manuscript Number: PONE-D-23-26044

Title: A study on the mechanism of the impact of rural soundscape perception on environmental restoration: An empirical study based on the Taohuayuan Scenic Area in Changde, China

1. Overview and general recommendation

The idea of a framework to research on soundscape and restoration. However, I think that the descriptions of some very important points were inadequate. I recommend that a major revision is warranted. I explain my concerns in more detail below. I ask that the authors specifically address each of my comments in their response.

2. Major comments

1) It is suggested to add key words in the manuscript.

2) It is suggested to improve the framework, especially the background, literature review, methods and materials.

3) The writing is not concise enough, and the content is slightly lengthy, while it dilutes the core content. It is suggested to simplify the manuscript.

4) It is suggested to further clarify the research questions.

5) In the Abstract, there is no logical connection between the first and the second sentence.

6) From Line 44 to Line 47, I don’t think “rural soundscape perception” is a “creative concept” in this manuscript. There are some researchers who have studied rural soundscape, in addition, the concept of soundscape has been proposed in the ISO standard. This paper is not conceptually innovative. The research content and research scope are also under the scope of soundscape. It is suggested to modify.

7) From Line 74 to Line 75, what is the mean of “environmental restorative effects” referred to? In the introduction, it is not explicitly illustrated.

8) From Line 102 to Line 116, it is recommended that the research questions would be clearly presented in this paragraph, and generally speaking, there are usually three research questions.

9) In terms of “Literature Review”, first of all, it is suggested a combination of literature review and introduction. Secondly, the topic of the literature review is closely related to the research questions. Thirdly, texts which are not closely related to the topic can be deleted.

10) In paragraph of 2.3 Environmental Restoration Perception, it is suggested to clarify the aim of this paragraph, and separated method description from literature review. Paragraph of 2.4 and 2.5 should be also changed in this way.

11) From Line 245 to Line 246, four dimensions of “away, extensibility, charisma, and compatibility,” are inconsistent with the words in the following methods and tables.

12) In paragraph of 3.1 Rural Soundscape Perception and Environmental Restoration Perception, there were two topics as restoration effects of rural soundscape and differences from Chinese rural soundscape and other research. It is suggested to focus on one topic in one paragraph.

13) From Line 343 to Line 348, and from Line 386 to Line 392, it is suggested to use the literatures as the theoretical supports for research hypothesis.

14) From Line 376 to Line 383, there is little explanation or theoretical hypothesis for the relationships between the elements in paragraph of 3.2, and the concepts of the words were unclear. It is suggested to modify.

15) What was the aim of paragraph 5.5 Results of Hypotheses Testing? If it is a duplicate of the previous results, it is suggested to delete it. If it is addressing a specific research question, it is recommended to describe the results.

16) Although it seems that the basic composition of the questionnaire can be implied in the paper, it is still suggested that the composition of the questionnaire be clearly presented. For example, what are the basic information of the respondents, how to ask about the rural tourism experience, and how to divide the education level.

17) In the manuscript, H3a of research hypothesis “Personal nostalgia has a significant positive effect on environmental restoration perception” was not valid. It is suggested that this point could be further discussed.

3. Minor comments

1) It is suggested to simplify the topic, such as “Impact of rural soundscape on environmental restoration: An empirical study based on the Taohuayuan Scenic Area in Changde, China”.

2) Line 204, it is suggested to delete “to fill the gap in the literature”. The manuscript focuses on the increase of measurement items in the specific study case, and whether it is universal needs to be further discussed.

3) Line 235, what is RPRS? When it first appears, it is suggested to write the full name. In addition, this scale is used in this manuscript, and it is suggested to explain the reasons to select and describe the scales in detail in methods parts.

4) In Table 1, “CH4” and “CH5” should be “CH3”and “CH4”. Please check the details.

5) Figure 2, Figure 3 and Figure 4 were not mentioned in the text. Please check the details.

6) The words do not have to capitalize the first letter, such as “convergent validity”, or “discriminant validity”. Please check the details.

7) In Table 3, it is suggested to use words phrases instead of numbers.

8) Moreover, it is suggested that the manuscript should undergo extensive English editing.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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Impact of rural soundscape on environmental restoration: An empirical study based on the Taohuayuan Scenic Area in Changde, China

PONE-D-23-26044R1

Dear Dr. Zhang,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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Kind regards,

Federica Biassoni

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: The authors have revised well by reflecting the reviewers’ comments. However, there are still some minor spelling mistakes in the paper that need to be corrected. For example, in line 442, "The" should be lowercase, and in line 761, "This" should be lowercase. It is suggested to check through the whole text.

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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