Project outline
Cultural venues such as concert halls and opera houses provide significant socio-economic benefits to the communities they serve. They are often landmark buildings for a city or region, offering shared spaces for connection and artistic expression, and supporting the creative economy. The success of such venues is determined in part by the quality of their acoustic design, which directly influences performer experience, audience wellbeing, and community engagement—making innovation in auditorium acoustics a matter of both artistic and societal importance. This project, undertaken as part of the CDT in Sustainable Sound Futures (EP/Y034708/1), contributes to the theme of engineering positive sounds to create a better aural future.
The research focuses on coupled volume design approaches for auditoria intended primarily for classical music performance. Based on our experiences and those of orchestras, coupled volumes produce effects on a space’s sound character – both in the frequency and time domains – which are artistically impactful. We aim to define these effects more clearly and robustly, and to understand how they may best be parameterised and designed for. While previous studies have examined this topic, there remains an opportunity to develop a more sophisticated understanding of coupled volume acoustics that extends beyond the traditional focus on energy decay curves and related parameters.
A combination of computational modelling and perceptual evaluation will be used to investigate these phenomena. The outcomes will enable acousticians and designers to create coupled volume spaces with greater sophistication, enhancing the experience for musicians and audiences alike. This project is undertaken in partnership with ARUP.
Project partners
This project is hosted at the University of Salford and supported by ARUP.
Student
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Matthew Gray
Matthew is part of Cohort 1 at the University of Salford.