Natural and built environments profoundly affect human emotions and well-being. This study focuses on human auditory perception of the physical environment, systematically examining how low-level auditory sensations, measured through standardised psychoacoustic parameters, impact human emotions in terms of both subjective feelings and physiological responses. Using a laboratory listening experiment with 33 participants exposed to 36 binaural recordings from diverse acoustic environments, the results reveal that auditory sensations, beyond high-level cognitive perceptions, significantly affect human emotions, primarily in the Arousal dimension (both subjective feelings and electrodermal activity), but not the Pleasantness dimension. Different psychoacoustic parameters mainly affect different emotions: Loudness and Roughness primarily affect Relaxation-Stress and Arousal
Impulsiveness and Sharpness mainly affect Boredom-Excitement
and Fluctuation, Tonality, and Tonality Frequency mainly affect Arousal and Boredom-Excitement. These findings offer insights into the intrinsic relationship between auditory sensations and emotions and provide practical guidelines for environmental design to improve well-being and quality of life.