Acoustically conserving the worship heritage of Nossa Senhora de Penha de França church, Goa

Abstract

This study presents a method of acoustically capturing the worship heritage of Nossa Senhora de Penha de França church, using objective acoustical parameters and derived acoustical parameters called 'acoustical worship impressions' of Sacred Factor (SaF), Intelligibility Factor (InF) and Silence Factor (SiF). The Subjective Perceptions were recorded in the church at a Concert of Ketevan World Sacred Music Festival with Viola da Gamba, Irish Harp and Flute. Multi-regressions of acoustical worship impressions on perception of Reverberance, Intimacy, Envelopment, Loudness, Clarity, Directionality, Balance, Noise and Echo (for each musical instrument) generated some significant results. Music rendered by Viola da Gamba was found favouring SaF (R2 = 0.88, p value < 0.0001). Music rendered by Harp also favoured SaF (R2 = 0.81, p value = 0.02). Music rendered by an ensemble of Viola da Gamba, Harp and Flute favoured InF (R2 = 0.74, p value = 0.01). A significant relationship between Acoustical Worship Impressions and Objective Acoustical parameters is the negative correlation between SaF and EDT for ensemble (R = -0.82, p value = 0.05). The acoustically characterized worship experience thus works as a reference tool for future conservative interventions.