Description:
Architectural acoustics research focuses on understanding how one designs a space to achieve the best acoustics for a given purpose. For example, a concert hall for symphonic music has different acoustical goals from a drama theater, which in turn differs significantly from a classroom for the hearing-impaired. To design successful acoustical spaces, one must understand the properties of sound radiation, propagation, absorption, reflection, transmission, and scattering. One must also study psycho-acoustical properties of the human hearing mechanism. These all contribute to the perceived warmth, intimacy, reverberation, clarity, spaciousness, strength, and other subjective factors tied closely to the architectural design.
One of our research activities is the study of energy transfer in complex, acoustically coupled spaces, similar to those used in multi-use performance spaces. Another area of research is the improvement of current numerical models for "auralization," i.e., the aural replication of an acoustic environment. This technique can be used to listen to the acoustics of a concert hall (or another listening space) before it is built, thus confirming or guiding decisions relevant to the acoustical and architectural design. Auralization also offers simulated environments for educational demonstrations and for controlled psycho-acoustical studies. The Program also emphasizes research related to the development and application of electronically enhanced acoustics. Electronic systems can be used to modify the acoustic properties of physical spaces, to facilitate communications across distances, or to reproduce the auditory experience of spaces that do not physically exist.
Specific research directions include:
Acoustics of performance venues and classrooms. Our faculty is renowned for its acoustic consulting expertise in designing world-class performance venues and for its academic research in advanced techniques for computational modeling of room acoustics. Examples of current research include modeling, evaluation, and perception of acoustically coupled spaces, perception of room coloration, under-balcony environments, and cross-modal interaction between visual and acoustical stimuli. Faculty and graduate students in the Program have made several trips to the Bass Performance hall in Fort Worth, Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Boston, Symphony Hall, San Patrick Church to measure acoustical properties with monophonic and binaural receivers. A more recent emphasis is on classrooms where poor acoustics are detrimental to learning. Research and design in this area include computer modeling, experimentation with binaural scale models, as well as measurements and analysis in existing facilities. Ease of Hearing in Various Classroom Geometries, a recently completed thesis project, involved modeling various geometries using acoustics prediction software.
Auralization. Auralization aims to recreate sound fields from computer and scale models of spaces. Current core research includes development of more accurate mathematical models of room acoustics, determination of accurate scattering and diffraction coefficients for design and modeling, and subjective studies on the effect of sound on humans.
Electronic enhancement of acoustical communication over large distances. This work will result in the development of "acoustic telepresence systems" that will provide an unmatched auditory sense of presence across distances. This research is an essential aural counterpart to current research in computer-mediated visual technologies, and possible applications abound, from teleconferencing and distance education to virtual reality.
Electronic tuning of the acoustic properties of large and small rooms. Electronic tuning can be very helpful in adapting the venue to the events taking place in it (music performances of different genres, conferences, etc.). Such dynamic tuning is very important to insure optimum acoustic quality in multi-purpose spaces.
Contact:
Ning Xiang, Ph.D. Professor, Director of Acoustics Program
Architecture Rensselaer
211 Greene
518.276.6464 or 518-276-6466
xiangn@rpi.edu
