VIRTUAL REALITY IN CHURCH ACOUSTICS: VISUAL AND ACOUSTIC EXPERIENCE IN THE CATHEDRAL OF SEVILLE, SPAIN

摘要

Virtual reality techniques are applied to combine sound and visual perception within one of the most important heritage buildings in Europe: cathedrals, which are conceived as symbols of the European cultural identity. 3D models for visualisation and realistic pieces of sound are integrated into virtual reality environments to be used for the evaluation of the quality of the sound-field perception by means of subjective evaluation techniques, and to relate this data with onsite measurements, by using perception tests based on auralisation techniques. This paper shows the potential of virtual acoustic environments in research into church acoustics, by providing results of a preliminary experiment, in the Royal Chapel of the Gothic Cathedral of Seville, southern Spain, designed to ascertain which factors clearly influence immersion, such as loudness and the type of sound piece.