Components of Aural Architecture

Regenerating The dead space under Kathipara Connector

How sound defines space ?

how Aural architecture looks at sound as design?

: how sound defines space, creates realms of privacy or society, and produces a sense of place.

With environmental sound, LOUDNESS and the quality of REVERBERATION mainly determine the kind of space that is perceived, enclosed or open, large or small (see DIFFUSE SOUND FIELD,FREE FIELD). The sense of speeding motion is usually perceived by the presence of a DOPPLER EFFECT.

Buildings come to exist as sites of memory and imagination. Any built space, whether constructed for habitation or utility, resonates with the human activity that has occurred within it. Our experience of a space is influenced by many things; by knowledge of the functions of the space, by cultural associations, by memory and imagination. The way we experience a space is determined largely by our aural perception of that space. One can be in a room in complete darkness and yet still have a powerful sense of our own physical presence within it, through the sound of footfall, of the voice and even the sound of our our breath.

What is aural architecture ?

What is aural architecture ?
In our techno-visual culture, the ascendancy of vision as the primary means for sensing the physical
world has undermined the importance of hearing. Yet the aural experience of an environment is
critically important to the social and emotional well-being of the inhabitants.Listening has been proved as the highest order among all other senses .You know Why ?
We dont listen only through our ears ,we listen through our whole body _by the vibrations .So a user can perceive a space through listening .
An aural space is thus an area where inhabitants can hear sonic events, and this definition of space is often unrelated to the visual experience.
However, we tend to only
recognize the aural architecture of a space when its hostile and corrosive acoustics transform
background sounds into a deafening roar.
Aural architecture2 refers to the human experience of sound-in-space; the aural architecture of a space modifies the experience of sound sources as well as providing a means for experiencing passive objects and geometries directly.
Aural architecture contains at least five types of spatiality:
 navigational,
social,
musical,
aesthetic,
and symbolic. 

Digital sketch of contrast sound scape

Sound healing

"Sound is the medicine of the future." Edgar Cayce
Most ancient cultures used the seemingly magical power of sound to heal.
The Aboriginal people of Australia are the first known culture to heal with sound. 
The Egyptian and Babylonian cultures used drums and rattles, two of the earliest known musical instruments. The low frequency sounds from drums and the ultra sound created by rattles are both now known to accelerate healing. 


In the Greco-Roman period healing temples were used for "incubation", a process in which patients underwent "dream sleep", among other known modalities. It seems likely that music was used therapeutically during their stay and the reverberant spaces of the temples enhanced the efficiency of acoustic instruments, a function of the solid stonewalls of temples and sanatoria. 

Resonance may be the most important principle of sound healing and has various definitions.

The resonance principle relates to the cellular absorption of the healing sounds and/or their harmonics. 

Technique behind epidaurus

Acoustic traps

The corrugations on the surface of the seats act as natural acoustic traps. Though this effect would seem to also remove the low frequencies from the actors' voices, listeners actually fill in the missing portion of the audio spectrum through a phenomenon known as virtual pitch. The human brain reconstructs the missing frequencies, producing the virtual pitch phenomenon, as in listening to someone speaking on a telephone with no low end.

The findings are detailed in the April issue of the Journal of the Acoustics Society of America.

Amazingly, the Greek builders of the theater did not themselves understand the principles that led to the exceptional audibility of sound from the stage.

Attempts to recreate the Epidaurus design never quite matched the original. Later seating arrangements featured other materials, such as wood for the benches, an approach which may have ultimately derailed the design duplication effort.

Ancient temples Secret revealed !!

Why 110 Hz?

Many archaeo-acoustic investigations of prehistoric, megalithic structures have identified acoustic resonances at frequencies of 95-120 Hz, particularly near 110-12 Hz, all representing pitches in the human vocal range. These chambers may have served as centers for social or spiritual events, and the resonances of the chamber cavities might have been intended to support human ritual chanting.

Findings are compatible with relative deactivation of language centers and a shift in prefrontal activity that may be related to emotional processing. These intriguing pilot findings suggest that the acoustic properties of ancient structures may influence human brain function, and suggest that chanting might have been used to enhance right brain activities.

Early morning sunshine :sound of sunshine

Birds habitat

Digital sketch of the Sound gallery

form from sound

Sound can create form
the way sound is articulated around us helps our aural sense to perceive it in such a way that it tends to visualize the pattern in which it moves

here we have tried to create a helical form through the buzzers arrrnged and programmed to be articulated inside a glass box .so when a user is made to listen ,he percieves the sphere around him not the cuboid .