Speech intelligibility prediction in very large sacral venues
Wolfgang Ahnert, Stefan Feistel, Tobias Behrens; Speech intelligibility prediction in very large sacral venues. Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics 2 June 2013; 19 (1): 015117. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4801009
Abstract:
In very large sacral venues like cathedrals or mosques the intelligibility of spoken words is very important especially during preaching. For such venues with volumes of up to and more than one million m3 special routines are needed for simulation to obtain predicted STI values based on more than 1000 sound sources. Special cloud computing has been developed which allows to do the calculation by providing the needed memory size and by cutting the calculation time from days or weeks to hours. Here also modern binaural or ambisonic B-format impulse responses are derived. In order to have a room acoustically correct model for simulation, the absorption behavior of typical floor materials in such venues has to be known like worshipers in church pews or sitting or kneeing on carpets in mosques. This absorption provided by the floor area is often the only one in sacral venues to reduce the reverberation time. For mosque projects absorption coefficients of persons in typical postures are unknown, so measurements have been done according to the reverberation room method. Persons have been tested on a carpet while standing, sitting or being in Muslim specific praying posture on a carpet.
