Case study: Measurement and treatment of severe flutter echo caused by a barrel-vaulted sanctuary ceiling

This case study centers on a recently constructed church with a barrel-vaulted sanctuary ceiling exhibiting excessive reverberation times and flutter echo. Reverberation times in excess of 5 s in the speech frequency range were observed at locations along the tiled center aisle, along with correspondingly elevated sound pressure levels and a highly non-diffuse sound field. Preliminary measurements, which included covering the reflective center aisle, substantiated the hypothesis that the acoustical behavior was caused by the interaction between the center aisle and the barrel-vaulted ceiling. The proposed recommendations for retrofitting the space to improve intelligibility along the aisle were modified with a view toward attaining an acceptable reduction in the reverberation times while retaining the spacious acoustical quality of the sanctuary. Additional acoustical measurements were performed prior to and following the completion of the recommended treatment. This case study describes the series of measurements and presents results of the treatment, in terms of reverberation time, impulse response decay curves, impulse response time waveforms and spectrograms, and sound pressure level measures. The unique characteristics of flutter echo due to the barrel-vaulted ceiling before and after the successful acoustical treatment are described.