Evaluation of Acoustic Similarities in Two Italian Churches Honored to S. Dominic

Abstract

This paper compares two acoustical projects, applied to the S. Dominic church of Foligno and Imola, which are subject to a permanent and temporary conversion respectively, to places dedicated for listening to live music. Sets of measurements have been undertaken before the acoustical treatments in order to calibrate the digital model; in Foligno, the measurements have also been performed after the installation of the acoustical features, to check if the aims have been achieved. Between the proposed acoustical projects, only one has been realized in Foligno, with the artistic activity still running inside the auditorium. The challenge to adjust the acoustics of reverberant rooms like churches to host musical venues has been achieved with a good quality of sound perception. In particular, in S. Dominic church of Foligno, the goal has been hit after many digital simulations that calibrated the redirection of the sound towards the sitting areas.