Abstract
Nowadays, ancient open-air theatres are often re-adapted as performance spaces for the additional historical value they can offer to the spectators’ experience. Therefore, there has been an increasing interest in the modelling and simulation of the acoustics of such spaces. These open-air performance facilities pose several methodological challenges to researchers and practitioners when it comes to precisely measure and predict acoustical parameters. Therefore this work investigates the accuracy of predicted acoustical parameters, that is, the Reverberation Time (T20), Clarity (C80) and Sound Strength (G), taking the ancient Syracusae open-air theatre in Italy as a case study. These parameters were derived from both measured and simulated Impulse Responses (IR). The accuracy of the acoustic parameters predicted with two different types of acoustic software, due to the input variability of the absorption and scattering coefficients, was assessed. All simulated and measured parameters were in good agreement, within the range of one “just noticeable difference” (JND), for the tested coefficient combinations.
Highlights
The recent interest in the design of ancient theatres and in their acoustical characteristics has drawn attention to the lack of methodologies in metrology for historical acoustics [1]
The measurement results at receiver positions R1–R10 are reported in Table 1, expressed as T20, C80, and G acoustical parameters obtained with firecrackers at source positions S1 and S2
It was assumed that each row can be considered as a homogeneous area, as in open-air theatres the direct sound and the distance from the source play a predominant role in the acoustic response
Summary
The recent interest in the design of ancient theatres and in their acoustical characteristics has drawn attention to the lack of methodologies in metrology for historical acoustics [1]. The ISO 3382-1 standard [2] was used in the European ERATO project [3] to evaluate the acoustical apparatus of ancient theatres through room acoustic parameters, such as the Early Decay Time (EDT), Reverberation. Time (RT), Clarity (C80 ), and Sound Strength (G). ISO 3382-1 basically refers to indoor environments and temporal decay parameters seem to be less suitable for open-air conditions [4,5,6,7,8].
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