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Biodiversity can foster mental well-being. Little is known, however, about mental well-being effects of acoustic diversity, and how natural soundscapes contribute to a sense of place. To test this, we conducted an experimental study with 195 German residents who listened to two forest soundscapes with low or high vocalising animal richness (actual acoustic diversity). As a manipulation of sense of place, recordings were either from local, temperate forests or non-local, tropical forests. For each recording, we assessed short-term changes in mental well-being, perceived stress, subjective attention, perceived restorativeness, awe, familiarity and pleasantness. Participants’ further rated each recording according to perceived animal richness and perceived overall acoustic diversity that enabled participants to rate acoustic diversity based on their own criteria.Actual acoustic diversity was significantly correlated with perceived animal richness and perceived overall acoustic diversity. Well-being effects, however, differed for actual and perceived diversity as well as for the perceived diversity metrics. Higher actual animal richness evoked more feelings of awe in local (temperate) forests. Perceived animal richness was associated with greater affect balance, decreased negative emotions and increased subjective attention, while perceived overall acoustic diversity was negatively associated with affect balance and positive emotions. Recordings from local (temperate) forests were more familiar and pleasant to participants, compared to non-local (tropical) forests recordings. Listening to local forest soundscapes further resulted in greater feelings of awe, and they were perceived as more restorative. Overall, forest soundscapes with higher animal species richness were associated with greater mental well-being. Participants also showed greater well-being responses for local soundscapes probably through feeling more attached to familiar environments. Forests should therefore be managed to provide sufficient niches for a variety of vocalising animal species. Conservation of local species communities may thereby foster both biodiversity and human mental health.