From cultural heritage awareness to social, political and religious celebratory events, civic spaces have the power to unite and create unbreakable bonds within communities of people but need adequate sound environments to aid communication to large groups effectively. A religious building requires an amount of sound reflections to project the sound of the speaker effectively to a large audience, but too long reverberation times will mean that the speech will be difficult to understand.
A balance should be found with sound projecting surfaces to the rear and above the speaker and more absorbent finishes to the side walls and rear of the audience space. On the other hand, libraries strive for the opposite, dampening sound as much as possible to create silent areas, and providing enough sound insolation throughout to support concentrated working and studying environments.
Click here to view the Acoustics Academy – Glossary of Acoustic Concepts & Parameters