THE IMPORTANCE OF ACOUSTICS FOR MOSQUES
As a building for worship and one of the important symbols in Islam, a mosque is usually designed with its architectural grandeur. Among of the characteristics is its spacious interior to create a perception so that people will feel ’small’ when entering the house of God. Most mosques therefore have high ceiling and are usually constructed with dome shape. Considering the geometry of mosque and importance of ineligibility of recitation and speech in a mosque, Acoustics for Mosques is one of the most important design consideration.
Acoustical Requirements of Mosque
The mosque as an important building type of Muslim architecture has evolved to meet Islamic needs. A variety of different worship activities happen within these multifunctional public spaces; these different uses have different acoustical requirements. As in many other religions, worshippers sometimes need solitude while at other times they want to feel in absolute unity with the others present. Acoustics are one of the basic means of creating different effects.
Intelligibility and Audibility of the prayer orders and recitation of Holy Quran from Imam (prayer leader) Listening and understanding of the speech that the Imam say in the prayer or Khutba (lecture) Listening to the recitation of the Holy Quran and the lecture in the morning and evening preaching’s and certain other occasions.
Sound audibility means that sound receive to all audiences equally.Speech intelligibility means that sound should be clear for various positions of the listeners in the audience area.
In summary, there are three distinct acoustical requirements for mosques :
• Audibility of the prayer orders of the Imam (prayer leader)
• Recognizable sermon of the preacher
• Listening to or joining in the recital of the musical versions of the Holy Quran.
Thus, intelligibility of both speech and other sounds is extremely important, especially important for holy tones that must be both spacious and effective. Several acoustical parameters govern speech audibility, intelligibility and spaciousness of sound ; the parameters usually employed in the acoustical analysis of mosques are reverberation time, sound pressure level distribution and sound transmission index.
