Historically Based Room Acoustic Analysis and Auralization of a Church in the 1470s
Source abstract
Abstract
Worship space acoustics have been established as an important part of a nation’s cultural heritage and area of acoustic research, but more research is needed regarding the region of northern Europe. This paper describes the historical acoustics of an important abbey church in Sweden in the 1470s. A digital historical reconstruction is developed. Liturgical material specific to this location is recorded and auralized within the digital reconstruction, and a room acoustic analysis is performed. The analysis is guided by liturgical practices in the church and the monastic order connected to it. It is found that the historical sound field in the church is characterized by the existence of two distinct acoustical subspaces within it, each corresponding to a location dedicated to the daily services of the monastical congregations. The subspaces show significantly better acoustic conditions for liturgical activities compared to the nave, which is very reverberant under the conditions of daily services. Acoustic transmission from the two subspaces is limited, indicating that the monastic congregations were visually and acoustically separated from the visitors in the nave and each other.
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Research context
OpenAlex topics: Hearing Loss and Rehabilitation · Noise Effects and Management · Multisensory perception and integration
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Division of Engineering Acoustics, Lund University, Box 118, 221 00 Lund, Sweden
Brekke & Strand Akustik AB, Box 122, 201 21 Malmö, Sweden
Freelance Consultant, 222 20 Lund, Sweden
Department of Art History, Uppsala University, Box 630, 751 26 Uppsala, Sweden
Department of Music and Art, Linnæus University, 351 95 Växjö, Sweden
Alamire Foundation, Leuven University, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium
Funding
Vetenskapsrådet
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