Relationships between Subjective and Objective Acoustical Measures in Churches

Abstract

This study reports on subjective and objective acoustical field measurements made in a survey of 36 Catholic churches in Portugal built in the last 14 centuries. Monaural acoustical measurements (RT, EDT. C80, D50. TS and L) were taken at several source/receiver locations in each church and a group of college students was asked to judge the subjective quality of music. The listeners in each church evaluated live music performances at similar locations in each room. Evaluation sheets were used to record the listeners' overall impressions of room acoustic quality and also Loudness, Reverberance. lntimacy, Envelopment, Directionality, Balance, Clarity Echoes and Background Noise. This paper concentrates on the relationships of the subjective pararneters with the objective room acoustics measures and with the architectural features of the churches. Correlation analyses and statistical modeling identified significant relationships among the measures. For instance, linear correlation coefficients ( | R I ) of 0.8-0.9 were found for the relationships: Reverberance/RT and Clarity/C80; the maximum | R | found was 0.93 for Echoes/RT. Regarding architectural features the maximum | R | found was 0.87 between Intimacy and Total Volume.

Byzantine Churches in Albania: How Geometry and Architectural Composition Influence the Acoustics

“…The authors are aware of the limitations that this study had fundamentally, especially regarding the utilization of the balloon pops as a sound source. Although the uncertainties in relation to directivity, repeatability and spectrum bandwidth are known, this measuring method is extensively used, particularly in places where the electrical system is not available, as in so many cultural heritage buildings [54,55].…”

Effects of spatial elements and sound sources on sound field in Main Hall of Chinese Buddhist temple

“…17 More subjectively, Carvalho found that a feeling of intimacy is related to church volume. 18 Using an in situ measurement and a simulation, Indian researchers analyzed the sound field characteristics of one of the large hollow Buddhist Stupas in a Buddhist temple in Nagpur and obtained the average reverberation times of the Stupa at mid-frequencies. They were 5.6 and 9.7 s for occupied and unoccupied conditions, respectively.…”

A Double Synthetic Index to Evaluate the Acoustics of Churches

“…In fact, the literature about the optimal acoustical conditions in churches is limited. According to psychoacoustic surveys, the acoustics of large gothic churches and of small protestant parishes can be assessed favourable by listeners despite their great differences (Carvalho et al, 1997;Martellotta, 2008). This shows that desirable acoustical conditions of churches can be largely different also considering the kinds of sounds in a church.…”

“…Moreover, the listening tests to measure subjective preferences are rare (Carvalho et al, 1997;Martellotta, 2008).…”

“…In order to describe these peculiarities, seven parameters were considered according to the result of psychoacoustic studies in churches (Carvalho et al, 1997;Martellotta, 2008).…”