Acheiving speech intelligibility at Paddington Station, London, UK

Abstract

Paddington Station in London, UK is a large rail terminus for long distance electric and diesel powered trains. This magnificent train shed has four arched spans and is one of the remaining structural testaments to the architect Brunel. Given the current British and European legislative requirements for intelligible speech in public buildings AMS Acoustics were engaged to design an electroacoustic solution. In this paper we will outline how the significant problems of lively natural acoustics, the high operational noise levels and the strict aesthetic constraints were addressed. The resultant design is radical, using the most recent dsp controlled line array loudspeakers. In the paper we detail the acoustic modeling undertaken to predict both even direct sound pressure level coverage and STI. Further it presents the speech intelligibility measured upon handover of the new system. The design has proved to be successful and given the nature of the space, outstanding speech intelligibility is achieved.