EVENTS AND LATEST NEWS

This year Pint of Science Festival UK was hosted via Youtube and facebook on the 7th to 11th September 2020. To be somehow involved with the virtual Pint of Science 2020 festival we participated in the social media event #PintSizedScience : We tried explaining our research work on a post-it note, and we shared it via twitter together with the following text:

"It is different this year, but it is still @pintofscience festival! Let's make a toast for science! #PintSizedScience #pint20 #MSCA #CathedralAcoustics."

"I research #CathedralAcoustics by means of on-site measurements and simulation models. The signals I gather (room impulse responses) tell us how these spaces modify sounds reproduced in their interiors."

"Among other things, these signals can be used to modify any recording made in a reflection-free environment to acquire the properties of the space, (process known as auralization), so that, when listening to it, you are virtually transport to that place."

On A new acoustic measurement session was carried out on the 7th of March at Bristol cathedral, this time focused on the capture of room impulse responses more suitable for auralisation purposes. As usual, we had the opportunity to work in the building when it was closed to the public. The same methodology applied in the previous spaces was followed, but this time using the Genelec S30D loudspeaker. A set of source-receiver combinations characterised in the space during the first session were selected to register the new RIR. This time, we were able to include the stunning Norman Chapter House in the survey.

We had the pleasure of having two colleagues from the research group TEP130 of the University of Seville working with us during the session, helping with their expertise as architects and acousticians.

We want to express our gratitude to the Dean and the staff of the cathedral for giving us the permission to access the building out of normal hours and their kind assistance during the measurement session.

Some results of the project were presented at the 23rd International Congress on Acoustics, ICA 2019, held in Aachen (Germany) in September 9th-13th. This is one of the largest international acoustics conference, which this year was attended by more than 1690 delegates and about 500 early-career and young researchers. My talk about the acoustics of Ripon cathedral was part of the session on "Acoustics of cultural heritage buildings", which included many contributions on church and mosque acoustics, among others. The session was well attended, taking account of the high number of parallel sessions and other things taking place at the same time. Considerable interest on the project was shown, and possibilities for future international collaborations came up during those days.

I also participated in the "5-minute story competition" organised on the first day of the conference. The aim was to present and describe your research to a general audience in an engaging way. I tried my best to condense the motivation, the targets and the methodology of the project in such a short slot of time. But above all, I tried to transmit why the acoustics in a place such as a cathedral, is so important. I hope that attendees had fun during my presentation, and also that next time they visit a cathedral, they take a moment to listen to the space.

On the 24th July, when Ely cathedral was closed to the public, we had the opportunity of carrying out the acoustic measurement session of the space as part of the CATHEDRAL ACOUSTICS project. The same methodology applied in the previous spaces was followed. In this case, we had into account 4 position of the sound source (at the High altar in the Presbytery, at the Choir, in the Lady chapel, and on the Nave Altar under the Octagon), and a total of 44 receiver points were located throughout the audience area. In our initial measurement plan, we also included two small but interesting chapels to be analysed: St Catherine's Chapel and Bishop West's Chantry Chapel, but regrettably we couldn't make it due to time limitations. At each source-receiver combination considered, binaural and spatial room impulse responses (RIR) were recorded, which will serve us to extract the acoustic information of the space and to generate auralisations.

The research team of the project, CATHEDRAL ACOUSTICS, and the University of York thanks the Dean and the staff of the cathedral for their kind permission and assistance during the measurements, and also for the good treatment received.

On the 15th July, I run an Academic session on Sound and Acoustics as part of the York Experience Summer School, attended by twelve Year 12 (about 17 year old) Pathways to STEM students and Next Step York students. The session was structured in two parts. The first part was a short talk starting on the physics of sound until reaching the concept of "soundscape". The talk was followed by a sound walk, which involved a "blinded" walking, with the purpose of enable the students to discover their environment through focused attention on sound. The second part of the session was an introduction on Acoustics, Room Acoustics and Acoustics of Heritage Buildings, using as an example the CATHEDRAL ACOUSTIC project. This part of the session included a demonstration on how to take acoustic measurements in performance spaces taking advantage of the fact that the session was developed in the theatre of the Theatre, Film, Television and Interactive Media Department of the University of York. It was also a magnificent opportunity to communicate the importance of MSCA, while also disseminating the importance of acoustical heritage.

Dublin hosted the AES 146th PRO AUDIO CONVENTION, 4 days full of paper and poster presentations, workshops and technical tours, and tutorials on the most diverse topics relating with audio and acoustics. This international convention brought together researchers and experts from 47 countries to discuss and share the latest advances in their fields. The organisers created a perfect atmosphere to promote the interaction between industry and academia, providing greater opportunities for networking and research dissemination.

On the second day of the convention, I had the opportunity to give a tutorial entitled "Uncovering the Acoustic Treasures of Cathedrals: The Use of Acoustic Measurements and Computer Modeling to Preserve Intangible Heritage". My presentation was followed of an interesting and dynamic conversation favoured by the attendees questions. After the tutorial, I run a 2-hour technical tour together with Dr. Fiona Smyth, who is an expert on sonic architecture, on "Church Acoustics and Sonic Heritage". As part of this tour, I organised a practical session taking acoustic measurement in the Trinity College Chapel. I would like to express our sincerest gratitude to the responsible and the staff of the Chapel for their kind collaboration and their availability.

The positive feedback received by the attendees of both the tutorial and the technical tour, together with the interest shown for my research on cathedral acoustics by people from such a great variety fields of expertise, show the success of this dissemination activity of the project.

We have had the pleasure of having the collaboration of Angel Alvarez-Corbacho, a PhD student of the University of Seville. Angel has spent a 1-month research stay at the Department of Theatre, Film and Television at the University of York as a collaborating researcher of the project, from 11th February to 11th March 2019.

During his stay Angel participated in the measurement sessions carried out in the cathedrals of Ripon and Bristol. It must also be highlighted the excellent work he has done with the planimetry and his help in the planning of the measurement sessions.

Last February, during the night of the 23rd, we had the opportunity of carrying out the acoustic measurement session in Bristol Cathedral. Five position of the sound source (High altar, Choir, Lady chapel, Elder Lady chapel and Nave) were considered and 31 receiver points located throughout the audience area were set, in order to analyse its current acoustic behaviour. Both Source and receiver positions were selected considering the wonderful and complex architecture of the cathedral and its multifunctional character. For each source-receiver combination characterised, binaural and spatial room impulse responses (RIR) were recorded by using a dummy head and a B-format microphone.

The RIR gathered in this measurement campaign describe the acoustic field of this space and those signals will be used for auralisation purposes in combination with a set of anechoic recording that represent the cultural and liturgical use of the cathedral over the centuries. Furthermore, the RIR measured in Bristol cathedral will serve to adjust the acoustic simulation model of the building.

The research team of the project, CATHEDRAL ACOUSTICS, and the University of York thanks the Dean and the staff of the cathedral for their kind permission and assistance during the measurements, and also for the good treatment received.

Last 29th January 2019 the first recording session part of the Cathedral Acoustic project took place in the anechoic chamber of the Audio Lab of The University of York. The professional Tenor Pierre-Philippe Dechant kindly collaborate with us singing Gregorian Chant, including short extracts of Salve Regina (simple tone and second tone), Gloria in excelsis Deo, and the Gregorian Requiem.

Those beautiful pieces will be used to create auralisations so that everyone can listen to his voice as if he was performing in one of the cathedrals involved in the project.