Optimum absorption and aperture parameters for realistic coupled volume spaces determined from computational analysis and subjective testing results

This project utilizes computational modeling to study the effects of varying two architectural parameters, absorption ratio and aperture size, in a realistic coupled volume concert hall. Coupled volumes have been shown to exhibit non-exponential sound energy decay profiles, referred to as double slope effect. A number of objective metrics (T30/T15, LDT/T10, decay ratio, and ΔL) have been used to quantify the double slope effect of the profiles generated in the virtual hall. T30/T15 and LDT/T10 showed similar trends across all hall configurations, indicating decreasing double slope effect with increasing coupled volume absorption ratio for each aperture size, and producing highest values at a specific aperture size for each absorption ratio. Generally, LDT/T10 provides finer resolution than T30/T15 when analyzing the decay profiles in this study. Results from the two metrics derived from Bayesian analysis, decay ratio and ΔL, seem less consistent. Subjective testing has also been conducted to determine the effect of varying the two architectural parameters in the hall, and multidimensional scaling analysis shows that, in general, listener preference is inversely proportional to the level of double slope effect, with the highest levels of preference occurring at low and medium levels of double slope effect. Recommended design guidelines for coupled volume halls are provided based on these computational and subjective results

Digitization and transmission of human experience

Transmission of human experience is essential for many purposes. It has two aspects: content and social relations. Digital technologies can solve some of the classic issues around the capture and transmission of human experience. Using these new technical affordances as a basis, this article presents a framework to capture and describe human activity and experience based on video and cooperative explicitation of activity trajectories with the subject, using a transition model inspired by the formalism of dynamical systems. The article also introduces this special issue, 'Digitize and Transfer', and gives an overview of its contents