Review of aspects that shape the aural experience in worship spaces

Abstract

Physical measurements of architectural acoustics do not precisely reflect the human acoustical experience in worship spaces. While many studies focus on architectural acoustics, aural architectural analysis that includes perceptual and cultural aspects, in addition to the physical aspects, and provides more comprehensive understanding of the aural experience, is afforded less attention. Worship spaces require complicated acoustical environments that allow both the hearing of sound clearly and the experiencing of sound aesthetics. This experience can create emotional effects through the perception of sound; therefore, there is the need for further study on the relationship between the qualitative and quantitative acoustical characteristics of religious buildings. This review paper provides a comparative analysis of previous studies in terms of physical, perceptual, and cultural aspects of acoustics, and further clarifies the research gap in this area. Finally, it recommends strategies for studying the aural experience in worship spaces through the interaction between the cultural influence that affects how a specific sound is perceived, and the architectural elements that change acoustical parameters, thus playing an important role in the perception of the sound in the space.

The impact of the acoustic environment on human emotion and experience: A case study of worship spaces

“…Researchers claim that the design of worship spaces has responded to the acoustic needs of the worship activity; the architecture of Catholic churches, as an example, has changed on grounds of change in liturgy, 18 while the design of Orthodox churches changed very little because liturgy that is practiced in those spaces did not undergo similar changes. 14 A detailed review of the aural architecture aspects that shape such experience in worship spaces has been discussed in a previous research, 19 including the perceptual and cultural aspects. The above reasons make worship spaces an ideal building type to adopt as a case study to investigate how the acoustic environment influences human experience and emotions.…”