Abstract:The soundscape is an integral part of the traditional village environment and holds culturalheritage value. However, it is often not given sufficient attention in the rural developmentand in the protection of traditional villages. Taking Ruanyong Village in Gaoming district,Foshan city as an example, this study investigates the features of the soundscape. A soundlevel meter and a recording stick were used to measure and document the on-site soundenvironment, and a soundwalk was conducted in the main streets and alleys to providedata support for the analysis of the soundscape features. The analysis results show thatnatural sounds characterize the soundscape of Ruanyong Village as the keynote soundsand cultural sounds as the marknotes. Natural sounds are mainly dominated by birdwarbles, insect chirps, and fish splashing sounds, while cultural sounds are primarilyconversational and dramas, both of which exhibit different acoustic characteristics andspatial distributions. In addition, Ruanyong Village exhibits an overall soundscape feature ofbeing quiet inside and noisy outside. The overall background sound level within the villageremains around 38dB(A), and in some areas increases to between 45 and 52dB(A) due tothe calls of domestic fowl. The surrounding area of Ruanyong Village is affected by trafficnoise from Hefu Road and Panjiang Road, as well as construction noise, with the highestmeasured sound pressure level reaching 69dB(A).