Acoustic Heritage and Audio Creativity: the Creative Application of Sound in the Representation, Understanding and Experience of Past Environments

Damian Murphy*1, Simon Shelley1, Aglaia Foteinou2, Jude Brereton1 and Helena Daffern1

1. AudioLab, Department of Electronics, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, UK.
2. Faculty of Arts, University of Wolverhampton, Gorway Road, Walsall, WS1 3BD, UK.
*Corresponding author: damian.murphy@york.ac.uk

Cite this as: Murphy, D., Shelley, S., Foteinou, A., Brereton, J. and Daffern, H. 2017 Acoustic Heritage and Audio Creativity: the Creative Application of Sound in the Representation, Understanding and Experience of Past Environments, Internet Archaeology 44. https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.44.12

Summary

Geometric acoustic sound propagation at St Mary's Abbey Church, York

Acoustic Heritage is one aspect of archaeoacoustics, and refers more specifically to the quantifiable acoustic properties of buildings, sites and landscapes from our architectural and archaeological past, forming an important aspect of our intangible cultural heritage. Auralisation, the audio equivalent of 3D visualisation, enables these acoustic properties, captured via the process of measurement and survey, or computer-based modelling, to form the basis of an audio reconstruction and presentation of the studied space.

This article examines the application of auralisation and audio creativity as a means to explore our acoustic heritage, thereby diversifying and enhancing the toolset available to the digital heritage or humanities researcher. The Open Acoustic Impulse Response (OpenAIR) library is an online repository for acoustic impulse response and auralisation data, with a significant part having been gathered from a broad range of heritage sites.

The methodology used to gather this acoustic data is discussed, together with the processes used in generating and calibrating a comparable computer model, and how the data generated might be analysed and presented. The creative use of this acoustic data is also considered, in the context of music production, mixed media artwork and audio for gaming. More relevant to digital heritage is how these data can be used to create new experiences of past environments, as information, interpretation, guide or artwork and ultimately help to articulate new research questions and explorations of our acoustic heritage.

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