An Acoustical Survey of a Catholic Chapel

The modern-day celebration of the Roman Catholic Mass places an increased emphasis on the speech, music, and participation of the congregation in these ministries. Thus, there is an increasing emphasis on ensuring churches provide acceptable experiences for speech and music. This paper presents the results of an empirical study of a Roman Catholic chapel. The acoustic metrics were determined from impulse response data gathered via microphones recording balloon pops. Sound pressure level measurements were gathered with a sound pressure meter recording a boombox noise source. The balloon pops and boombox noise source were placed in various locations indicative of sources during the celebration of the Mass. Findings include that the RT30 measurements of the chapel were consistent with the EDT values suggesting that early reflections should not provide a significant impact on the perceived reverberation of the chapel. Based on the results, we conclude that the chapel does not have any significant deficiencies in its ability to transmit speech and music. This provides a basis for the chapel administration to invest in a professional assessment as they begin a project to install a new organ and choir loft.