Acoustic Comfort in Shopping Mall Atrium Spaces—A Case Study in Sheffield Meadowhall

Abstract

This paper presents a case study of the acoustic comfort in three atriums in Sheffield's Meadowhall, one of the largest indoor shopping malls in the UK. The case study comprises measurements of objective acoustic indices including sound pressure level and reverberation time, questionnaire surveys on customers' and staff members' evaluation of acoustic comfort, and correlations between the two aspects. The results show that the noise level is rather high, and fluctuates considerably with different times and days. The reverberation time is generally rather long, but the early decay time is relatively short. The subjective evaluations might be influenced by several factors other than the objective acoustic indices. This includes the duration of stay, activities, acoustic condition at the users' homes, and more importantly, type of sounds.