Acoustics of Modern and Old Museums

Abstract

The goal of this study is to acoustically characterize typical modern and old museums. Modern museums can easily have a bad acoustic behavior due to the widespread use of very smooth and reflective coatings, hard floors, high-ceilings and very expressive volumes. This situation is not usually seen in "old" museums. Acoustic analyses of two case-studies (the 1999 Contemporary Art Museum of Serralves and the National Museum of Soares dos Reis, in Porto, Portugal) are held using objective parameters measured in situ in their largest showrooms (RT, RASTI, LAeq background noise HVAC and NC/NR). This work studies the generic acoustic requirements of these buildings and recommends optimal values for those parameters. Some proposals for the acoustical improvement in the main rooms are suggested. A short comparison of results with other museums is shown.