The Effects of Spectators on the Speech Intelligibility Performance of Sound Systems in Stadia and Other Large Venues

Mapp P, Hammond R. The Effects of Spectators on the Speech Intelligibility Performance of Sound Systems in Stadia and Other Large Venues. In: AES Convention 147. Audio Engineering Society; 2019. Paper 10267. Available from: https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=20640

@inproceedings{Mapp2019_20640,
  author = {Mapp, Peter and Hammond, Ross},
  title = {{The Effects of Spectators on the Speech Intelligibility Performance of Sound Systems in Stadia and Other Large Venues}},
  booktitle = {AES Convention 147},
  note = {Paper 10267},
  year = {2019},
  month = oct,
  publisher = {Audio Engineering Society},
  url = {https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=20640}
}

TY  - CPAPER
TI  - The Effects of Spectators on the Speech Intelligibility Performance of Sound Systems in Stadia and Other Large Venues
AU  - Mapp, Peter
AU  - Hammond, Ross
T2  - AES Convention 147
M1  - Paper 10267
PY  - 2019
DA  - 2019/10/06
UR  - https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=20640
PB  - Audio Engineering Society
LA  - en
AB  - Stadiums and similar venues in the UK and throughout most of Europe are subject to strict safety standards and regulations, including the performance of their Public Address systems. The usual requirement is for the PA system to achieve a potential speech intelligibility performance of 0.50 STI, though some authorities and organizations require a higher value than this. However, a problem exists with measuring the performance of the system, as this can only be carried out in the empty stadium. The paper shows that with occupancy, the acoustic conditions change significantly, as the spectators introduce significant sound absorption and also increase the background noise level. The effect this can have on the intelligibility performance of the sound system is examined and discussed. The relationship between the unoccupied starting conditions and audience absorption and distribution are also investigated.
ER  -