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Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

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Nov 1990

Volume 88, Issue S1, pp. S1-S200

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back to top Session 8AA: Architectural Acoustics: Education in Architectural Acoustics
Invited Papers
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Some work of Robert Bradford Newman Architectural Student Medalists—The first 5 years (A)

William J. Cavanaugh

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 88, Issue S1, pp. S157-S157 (1990); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 14 Aug 2005

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When MIT's and the Harvard Graduate School of Design's Professor Robert Newman died in 1983, architectural acoustics education lost perhaps its greatest evangelist. A group of his friends and colleagues throughout the acoustics community established the Robert Bradford Newman Student Fund to attempt to continue his work toward seeing that ultimately every student of architecture receives during their undergraduate or graduate training at least the fundamentals of this important architectural technology. In 1985, the first Newman Medals were awarded to graduating students at several universities for “merit in the study of architectural acoustics.” By the end of 1990, there will be over 35 participating architectural schools that offer not only a basic course in the discipline but opportunities for the students to apply this knowledge in their architectural design projects or theses. This paper reviews the range and breadth of work by Newman Medal recipients during the first 5 years of the program including some truly outstanding, and in several cases extraordinary efforts. The Newman Student Medal Program continues to expand and indeed seems to be well on its way toward fulfilling its objectives that incidentally compliment those of the Acoustical Society itself “to increase and diffuse knowledge of acoustics and promote its practical applications.”
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Acoustics, architecture, and speech: A student inquiry (A)

M. David Egan and Peter R. Lee

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 88, Issue S1, pp. S157-S157 (1990); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 14 Aug 2005

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A hands‐on student project aimed at identifying an acoustics problem and correcting it was undertaken during a special 2‐day period set aside by the Clemson University College of Architecture to encourage innovative learning methods. The exercise combined acoustics theory and problem definition with architectural design response and testing of the solution. The pastor of a local church was concerned that worshipers had difficulty hearing sermons. Examination of the sanctuary space revealed that speech intelligibility was being degraded by reverberation and long‐delayed sound reflections. In situ experimentation led to the conclusion by students that a canopy could control sound emanating from the pulpit and effectively direct it toward the congregation. Following the exploration of alternate student designs, a final canopy model was constructed at full scale and placed over the pulpit for testing purposes. Before and after measurements with a portable meter measuring the speech transmission index [T. Houtgast and H. J. M. Steeneken, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 77, 1069–1077 (1985)] revealed that listening conditions in the church improved significantly with the installation of the canopy. Similar findings emerged from surveys of church members conducted during the period of time the canopy remained in place.
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Teaching architectural acoustics by clarifying goals and demonstrating sound behavior (A)

Richard Kellogg

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 88, Issue S1, pp. S157-S158 (1990); (2 pages)

Online Publication Date: 14 Aug 2005

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There are three separate, often conflicting goals in architectural acoustic design: (1) good sound distribution in rooms designed for hearing; (2) sound isolation; and (3) noise reduction within spaces. Architects often seem to confuse these goals and the means of achieving them. For example, they often tend to “treat” all types of rooms with absorptive ceilings. A teaching method is described that aims at clarifying the goals by building a conceptual framework while demonstrating the physical nature of sound; i.e., waves that travel slowly. The consequences of wave behavior and slow speed are related to the goals by showing how each characteristic becomes an asset or liability for achieving each goal. To demonstrate wave behavior, a clear plastic tray containing about 3/8 in. of water is placed on a conventional overhead projector. The image of waves generated in the water, interacting with strips of modeling clay representing reflective surfaces are thus projected onto a wall screen. With this method, one may demonstrate diffraction, focusing, flutter, reverberation, resonance, transmission, etc., but not differential absorption or wavelength‐related effects. Live demonstration allows repetition and variation in response to student queries and class discussion, and vividly backs up theory.
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Linking physical acoustics to musical acoustics: An aural demonstration for architectural students (A)

Bertram Y. Kinzey, Jr.

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 88, Issue S1, pp. S158-S158 (1990); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 14 Aug 2005

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An appreciation of the contribution of room acoustics to the attributes of musical sound requires that architectural students first understand the harmonic sturcture of musical sounds in order to produce desired timbres and ensembles. A brief introduction to scale and chordal formation, consonance, and dissonance provides a foundation for a subsequent demonstration in which the terms, reverberation, clarity, balance, intimacy, etc., can be understood and appreciated. An effective introduction requires that it be an aural experience, and the organ is an excellent resource for the demonstration. An audio tape indicates the substance of the session as presented to students.
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Buildings that sing (A)

Willis Bodine

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 88, Issue S1, pp. S158-S158 (1990); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 14 Aug 2005

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The influence of acoustical conditions in a performance space upon the design, composition, and aufführungsṕraxis of Western liturgical music was examined for correlations between architectural characteristics (volume; proportion; reverberation; selective absorption; placement of sound‐producing elements; and liturgical purpose) and musical characteristics (performing resources; melodic and contrapuntal density; rate of harmonic change; intervalic consonance as derived from the harmonic series; timbre of solo, chorus, and instrumental sounds; and relative intelligibility of sung texts). Gregorian chant, melismatic organum, iso‐rhythmic motets, Renaissance masses, Baroque cantatas and oratorio, 19th‐century symphonic forms, and 20th‐century compositions were studied in the context of the worship spaces and theological currents for which they were developed. The unique factor of vocal participation by the “listener” in the presentation of liturgical music in the Western tradition was heavily weighted [E. A. Sövik, The Hymn 41 (3), 10–14 (1990)], and the analogy of proportion between the geometry of Medieval worship buildings and the vertical harmonic structure of triads was explored [R. Lawlor, Parabola 3(1), 12–17 (1978)].
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New approach to teaching architectural acoustics (A)

Alexandra G. Sotiropoulou

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 88, Issue S1, pp. S158-S158 (1990); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 14 Aug 2005

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Ways of presenting technological acoustic knowledge so as to awaken artistic sensibility to architectural students are explored, with emphasis on the acoustics of auditoria. The search is based on recent examples from modern architecture, where forms express in a highly artistic way the acoustical functions being served. There are also accounted, contemporary ideas about intrinsic communalities between musical composition (musical sound effect) and the architectural space, as well as the possibilities emerging from the introduction of modern psychometric methods to the research of audio and visual environmental perception. An audio visual example is employed to demonstrate the intrinsic relationships between musical composition and its visual aesthetic context.
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Acoustical models in the design studio (A)

Gary W. Siebein

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 88, Issue S1, pp. S159-S159 (1990); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 14 Aug 2005

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Acoustical model studies have been incorporated in graduate architectural design studios and elective courses. Recent studies have included modeling outdoor urban spaces in Chicago and Beijing; modeling the Thomas Center (an existing building on the National Register of Historic Places) to determine appropriate acoustical modifications to the building that would also satisfy the requirements of the historic preservation guidelines; and design alternatives to solve some of the acoustical problems in a barrel‐vaulted lecture hall proposed for an actual building. The studio work has been shown to be an effective method to let students explore the interaction between applied acoustical design problems and general architectural design issues.
Contributed Paper
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Outdoor‐indoor noise reduction and outdoor noise (A)

Alexander Segal

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 88, Issue S1, pp. S159-S159 (1990); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 14 Aug 2005

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Two computer programs were used to demonstrate the relation between outdoor‐indoor noise‐level reduction and outdoor noise spectra. The first program (interior noise analysis or INA) estimates noise level inside a room exposed to any one of over 30 sources of exterior noise. The program allows the user to see the effect of a noise source location relative to a building facade and the effect of the method by which the outdoor noise level was defined. The second program (noise spectra mixer) estimates a composite 1/3‐octave or octave‐band noise‐level spectrum attributable to several outdoor noise sources. The study revealed that the use of a composite noise spectrum can significantly simplify the process of the outdoor‐indoor noise propagation analysis. However, the use of a composite noise spectrum when incidence angles of multiple outdoor noise sources differ may lead to incorrect results. Similar problems may occur when different techniques are used to define the outdoor noise levels. The programs' ability to demonstrate the above problems can be beneficial to education in acoustics.
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