Abstract
Background: Exposure to natural environments has been associated with positive affective responses and perceived restorativeness. However, these experiences have primarily been investigated in hearing populations, and little is known about deaf adults’ affective and restorative experiences in relation to natural environments.Purpose: We examined whether deaf and hearing adults differed in post-walk positive and negative affect, perceived restorativeness, and nature relatedness. We also explored the sensory pathways associated with their affective and restorative experiences.Methodology: We conducted a mixed-methods study with 15 deaf and 14 hearing adults who completed an outdoor nature walk in a national forest park in Cyprus. Participants completed the Positive and Negative Affect Scale, the Perceived Restorativeness Scale, and the Nature Relatedness Scale, alongside semi-structured interviews. Hierarchical multiple regressions examined group associations with the quantitative outcomes after adjusting for relevant covariates. Deductive content analysis then explored affective and restorative experiences and their associated sensory pathways.Results: Deaf participants reported significantly higher post-walk positive affect than hearing participants (B = -3.82 for hearing relative to deaf group, 95% Confidence Interval [-6.89, -0.76], p = .017). No significant group associations were identified for negative affect, perceived restorativeness, or nature relatedness. Qualitative findings identified both high and low arousal positive affect experiences, alongside restorative experiences such as fascination and the feeling of being away. These experiences were linked to various sensory pathways in both groups, with visual pathways frequently described and auditory, tactile, and bodily/thermal experiences also contributing to participants’ accounts.Conclusion: Our study provides preliminary evidence of differences in post-walk positive affect between deaf and hearing adults while highlighting the diverse sensory experiences linked to affect and perceived restorativeness in natural environments. Larger studies are needed to clarify these findings and investigate the role of sensory experiences in nature restoration.