Correlations of the acoustic fields of mudejar-gothic churches

Abstract

This paper studies the statistical correlations between monaural acoustic parameters withthemselves and with architectural parameters from an acoustical survey undertaken in 12Mudejar-Gothic churches in Seville, southern Spain. Objective room-acoustic parameters havebeen measured using impulse response analysis through a maximum-length-sequencemeasurement system in each church. Measurements cover time parameters (reverberation time,early decay time); levels (sound strength); energy-based parameters (centre time, clarity forspeech, clarity, definition, early lateral energy fraction); and speech intelligibility (rapid speechtransmission index) and the analysis takes into account both spatially averaged values andindividual positions. The aim of the study is to identify the main architectural factors that haverelevant influence on the acoustic fields of the churches, and the minimum number of roomacoustic parameters which are able to describe adequately this acoustic field, thus the possibleexcess of information is evaluated. Significant correlations have been found that, in the bestcases, correspond to fits using pairs of independent variables instead of one single variable. Thebest option to describe the six subjective attributes of sound perception in these buildings consistsof three acoustic parameters formed by two different pairs plus the early lateral energy fraction