Evaluation of acoustic diversity of religious buildings; case study from churches and mosques in Turkey

Abstract

In this study, by analyzing the reverberation time and noise insulation features of religious structures, effects of differences on the forms, materials, and functions on interior acoustics are discussed. For this purpose, calculations were made working on the projects of the selected sample mosques and churches built by different materials and their interior reverberation times were measured and compared. Two different types of areas were compared using RT60 reverberation time calculations and T30 and T20 frequency band analysis measurement systems. In the comparison, interior functions are evaluated. In this evaluation, it was observed that in mosques since there is excessive speaking, medium frequency resulting from people was more dense whereas in churches high frequency was also involved with rite taking place alongside the medium frequency resulting from talking. Therefore, interior frequency band width was observed to increase. Selected churches have cross and basilic type plan and mosques have square type plan. It is observed that selected traditional mosque roofs have circular forms and churches have sharp forms. Hereby variations of the acoustic features of the sites with different forms and functions used for similar purposes were compared.

Acoustical characterization of three Ottoman masjids built in Algeria

“…The comparison of reverberation time measured in the three Algerian mosques discussed in this paper with those pertaining to other Ottoman masjids in the world (especially located in Turkey), 7,12,19,[44][45][46][47][48] showed that the first were in good agreement with the general trend as a function of room volume (Figure 13(a)), with the notable exception of Safir, where reverberation was actually very short also compared to many similar buildings. The Algerian Ottoman masjid Ketchaoua 44 that was recently restored (and for this reason not included in the present analysis), although having a similar volume than Jedid masjid (11,000 m 3 ), had an even shorter T 20 equal to 2.79 s, compared to the 3.18 s measured in Jedid masjid.…”

Assessment of the Acoustic Performance of Historical Structures That Shed Light on Today's Technologies: Fatih Pasha (Kurşunlu) Mosque - Diyarbakır

“…According to Karabiber and Erdoğan (2002), the optimum levels for functions performed in mosques are between 1.7 and 2.8 seconds [3]. Bal Koçyiğit (2014) showed the optimum time for 500Hz -1000Hz as 1.2sn-3.0sn (Fig. 6) [4].…”

“…The primary aim of this study is to draw attention to the acoustic properties of historical buildings and to minimize data loss that would impair acoustic comfort during restoration. In the field study, the acoustic metrics in Fatih Pasha (Kurşunlu) Mosque, which was recently restored and opened to worship, were measured and compared with the reference values given for mosques in the literature [1][2][3][4][5][6][7].…”