Measurements of Acoustical Parameters in the Roman Theatre of Verona

Abstract

The attention by the scholars to the acoustics of ancient open-air theatres is increased considerably through the centuries and among the historical buildings survived to nowadays the acoustics of the Roman theatre of Verona has not been deeply investigated, yet. In this paper, the outcomes of the acoustic survey undertaken in the Roman theatre has been analysed in two different ways: by a standard methodology representing the graphs of the acoustic parameters, and by the creation of a video showing in real-time the impulse response (IR) and relative reflections occurred at the surfaces of the cavea. The latest technique has been realised by using a multichannel spherical microphone array, which calls back the MIMO approach that is capable to have complete spatial control of the sound propagation through space. The authors of this paper illustrate a brief history of the theatre, including the description of the construction elements that characterise this important historical building, and two distinct procedures to show the results obtained after the survey, highlighting the coplanarity of explanation by using the MIMO approach, as followed by the second methodology.