Alicia Giménez

A Comparison of Different Techniques for Simulating and Measuring Acoustic Parameters in a Place of Worship: Sant Jaume Basílica in Valencia, Spain

The translation of this paper was funded by the Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Spain.

Analysis and assessment of concert halls

Abstract In this paper we set forth the general lines of acoustic analysis and assessment of concert halls, by means of a mathematical model implemented by computer. This model is based on the geometric theory of sound rays. A very important part of this work is devoted to the definition and calculation of acoustical parameters in order to evaluate the acoustic characteristics of concert halls for different styles of music; the parameters of assessment are applied to three different concert halls.

A Factor Analysis Approach to Determining a Small Number of Parameters for Characterising Halls

The translation of this paper was funded by the Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Spain.

Virtual acoustic reconstruction of a lost church: application to an Order of Saint Jerome monastery in Alzira, Spain

Archaeological acoustics is the study of ancient environments that were used for performances. The combination of this study with room acoustics enables us to study the acoustic evolution of existing buildings, and make reconstructions of rooms that were destroyed or are in a poor state of conservation. This work presents the virtual acoustic reconstruction of the fourteenth century church of the Jeromite monastery of Santa Maria de la Murta in Alzira, Spain. It was abandoned in 1836 and is now in ruins. The work develops a geometrical model for acoustic simulation, together with a description of the building materials as taken from the historical documents, and an acoustic study of the church. Finally, auralizations in various locations have been made. These auralizations are built around important centres of attention in the use of the church: the organ; the choir; and the reading of a church service from the presbytery.

Subjective ranking of concert halls substantiated through orthogonal objective parameters

This paper studies the global subjective assessment, obtained from mean values of the results of surveys addressed to members of the audience of live concerts in Spanish auditoriums, through the mean values of the three orthogonal objective parameters (Tmid, IACCE3, and LEV), expressed in just noticeable differences (JNDs), regarding the best-valued hall. Results show that a linear combination of the relative variations of orthogonal parameters can largely explain the overall perceived quality of the sample. However, the mean values of certain orthogonal parameters are not representative, which shows that an alternative approach to the problem is necessary. Various possibilities are proposed.

Historical and chronological evolution of the concert hall acoustics parameters

The present paper examines the historical evolution of the concert halls acoustic parameters, in the international field. From the beginnings of twentieth century, the acoustic parameters have had a continuous evolution, covering more and more aspects of the concert hall acoustics qualification. Since the bibliography about these is fragmented, we performed in this article, a global and updated presentation on the chronology and the evolution of the studied parameters. Considering the great variety of the same, we presents the appearance of each parameter, located in decades, who has proposed them and, where is possible, indicates articles or publications where they have been presented for the first time. Thus, the historical presentation of the majority of the acoustic parameters of concert halls, it optimizes and can be useful for future research as a central platform in a bibliographical study. The presentation of the same is also grouped according to quality criteria.

Virtual Acoustic Reconstruction of the Church at the Lost Monastery of Santa Maria de la Murta

Archeological acoustics is a part of acoustics that studies ancient environments which were dedicated (completely or partly) to sound performing. The combination of this acoustic area in conjunction with room acoustics enables the study of the acoustic evolution of existing buildings (in terms of the historical documentation) or even, make the acoustic reconstruction of rooms which were destroyed or they are in a bad state or in ruins. In this work, an acoustical reconstruction of the church of the Hieronymites’ monastery of the Murta from the XIV century, in Alzira, Spain has been developed. This building was abandoned in 1836 and now is in ruins. The work develops a geometrical model, together with a proposal of materials which were common in the churches of the same area, an acoustical study and finally an auralization of a choral performance has been done (as this monastery had its own musical chappele).

Model of energy calculation for acoustic analysis of closed rooms

Abstract In this paper, the energy calculations for an implemented model for the study of the acoustic response of closed rooms with different geometry and different sources (geometry and directivity) are developed using the Ray Method. As a result, this model can be used in the design of new concert halls or industrial rooms, and in the adaptation of the already existing halls by means of the analysis of their acoustic properties and the determination of their critical points.

On the Relations Between Audio Features and Room Acoustic Parameters of Auralizations

The usual parameters in room acoustics are used to quantify the acoustic characteristics of rooms and their relation to the subjective perception of transmitted signals. Audio features (calculated with MIRToolbox) have been designed to study the relationships between the characteristics of musical audio files and their subjective perception. Both musical characteristics and acoustic parameters are oriented towards acoustic perception. By using auralizations with calibrated models of auditoriums and tools from the MIRtoolbox it is possible to jointly work with the calculation of audio features and room parameters. In this work, the statistical correlations between C80, STI, D50, EDT, RT and certain audio features have been analyzed. The Pearson r values are higher than 0.8 in all cases. These high correlations enable acoustic parameters to be calculated from the musical characteristics of auralized audio signals.

Objective Evaluation of the Width of Source Ensemble in Virtual Halls

In this work, we study the effects of the width of the sound source in several acoustical virtual room models with different topologies, sizes and uses, calibrated with commercial software. To achieve this aim, a square distribution of sound sources with variable side length has been considered. We have auralized four channels of speech signal and musical signal in three different locations in each room. By using signal processing techniques, a comparison of multisource auralizations with the ones obtained from a single source in the middle of the stage is made. Also, the variations between the usual room parameters obtained from these simulations are analyzed, in order to show the effect of the hall in the objective evaluation according to the source width.Paper NCAD2012-72001 is available online only.Copyright