J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 50, No. 9, 2002 September S t. Petersburg, now only one year away from celebrating its 300th anniversary, has long been considered the crown jewel of Russia. Its many palaces, once the homes of the Czars and other Russian nobility, now serve as some of the greatest museums in the world. The Hermitage, most notable of all, symbolizes the art and culture of Russia, and di...

The interplay of architecture and acoustics is remarkable in ancient Greek and Roman theaters. Frequently they are nowadays lively performance spaces and the knowledge of the sound field inside them is still an issue of relevant importance. Even if the transition from Greek to Roman theaters can be described with a great architectural detail, a comprehensive and objective approach to the two ty...

The basic principle of common room acoustics computer models is the energy-based geometrical room acoustics theory. The energy-based calculation relies on the averaging effect provided when there are many reflections from many different directions, which is well suited for large concert halls at medium and high frequencies. In recent years computer modelling has become an established tool in ar...

Acoustic waves are used in SONAR systems for the detection and classification of objects which may be swimming in the water column, proud on the seafloor, or buried below the sediment. In some applications, such as low frequency detection and classification of structurally complex objects immersed in a fluid, signal processing techniques must be aided by a-priori model based knowledge of the ta...

Transmission loss and insertion loss measurements of building materials at audible frequencies are commonly made using plane wave tubes or as a panel between reverberant rooms. These measurements provide information for noise isolation control in architectural acoustics and in product development. Airborne ultrasonic sound transmission through common building materials has not been fully explor...

Many experiments in architectural acoustics require presenting listeners with simulations of different rooms to compare. Acoustic scale modeling is a feasible means to create accurate simulations of many rooms at reasonable cost. A critical component in a scale model room simulation is a receiver that properly emulates a human receiver. For this purpose, a scale model artificial head has been c...

Stressful life and reduced well-being have always been an issue of lifestyle in modern society. Constructing a multidisciplinary conceptual framework of environmental tranquility and quality of life is required for the field of architectural development, improved environmental quality, and enhanced human well-being. This paper reviews the main concepts of tranquility, environmental quality, and...

Exploding hydrogen-oxygen balloons are popular chemistry demonstrations. Although initial research experimentally quantified potential hearing risk via analysis of peak levels [K. L. Gee et al., J. Chem. Educ. 87, 1039-1044 (2010)], further waveform and spectral analyses have been conducted to more fully characterize these impulsive noise sources. While hydrogen-only balloons produce inconsiste...