Measurement of acoustical characteristics of mosques in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The study of mosque acoustics, with regard to acoustical characteristics, sound quality for speech intelligibility, and other applicable acoustic criteria, has been largely neglected. In this study a background as to why mosques are designed as they are and how mosque design is influenced by worship considerations is given. In the study the acoustical characteristics of typically constructed contemporary mosques in Saudi Arabia have been investigated, employing a well-known impulse response. Extensive field measurements were taken in 21 representative mosques of different sizes and architectural features in order to characterize their acoustical quality and to identify the impact of air conditioning, ceiling fans, and sound reinforcement systems on their acoustics. Objective room-acoustic indicators such as reverberation time (RT) and clarity (C50) were measured. Background noise (BN) was assessed with and without the operation of air conditioning and fans. The speech transmission index (STI) was also evaluated with and without the operation of existing sound reinforcement systems. The existence of acoustical deficiencies was confirmed and quantified. The study, in addition to describing mosque acoustics, compares design goals to results obtained in practice and suggests acoustical target values for mosque design. The results show that acoustical quality in the investigated mosques deviates from optimum conditions when unoccupied, but is much better in the occupied condition.

The Acoustical Characteristics of the Kocatepe Mosque in Ankara, Turkey

“…Different materials at different sections of the mosque with different sound absorption coefficients are assigned (Table 1). After fixing the calculation parameters, the selected receiver surfaces are divided into grids assigning 0.96 m² for each person praying (Abdou, 2003). In order to get the results of different acoustical parameters and their distribution throughout the mosque, the maps and cumulative distribution graphs for calculated parameters are obtained for these surfaces.…”

“…The acoustical quality of the mosques has also been discussed in the literature (Abdou, 2003;Karabiber, 1999;Kayili, 2002;Prodi & Marsilio, 2003;Utami, 2005). Mosque design is mainly Mosque design is mainly influenced by worship considerations; three distinct activities are carried out in a mosque, either separately or together.…”

“…All these activities require a high level of speech audibility and intelligibility. To ensure good listening conditions acoustical needs must be considered in the design phase (Abdou, 2003).…”

Acoustical Properties of Contemporary Mosques

“…Activities that are mainly carried out in a mosque are listed as; prayer (either individually or in a group led by a leader; the Imam), public speaking, preaching (attendance at a sermon being delivered on its own or within the Friday noon prayers), lecturing, and Quran recitations (listening to or reciting some verses from the Holy Quran) [14,15,16]. All these activities require a high level of speech audibility and intelligibility.…”

“…Such studies may include single mosque cases [17,20,21,22] or some of them include comparisons of mosques to other mosques [14,16,19,23,24,25,26] or comparisons of mosques to other worship spaces (churches and/or synagogues) [27].…”