St. Paul’s Cathedral

Impulse responses were captured in St Paul’s Cathedral, in London in 2022. The initial purpose of the latest measurements was to record impulse responses at requested locations suitable for auralisation to be later used as part of a music composition by Jones (https://pantheons-st-pauls.york.ac.uk/voice/patrick-john-jones/), which formed one of 50 showcases or responses to 50 monuments in St Paul’s Cathedral. The measurements took place in the nave, the Cathedral floor underneath the dome, the choir, the Whispering Gallery, and, for the first time in any acoustic study, the Library, and the Geometric Staircase. 

 

More details and analyses of the obtained results can be found at our relevant publication: (LINK TO BE ADDED ONCE THE PAPER IS ONLINE)

At the Cathedral Floor, four sets of measurements were taken. For the first set, the source was located as close as possible directly under the apex of the dome with the receiver placed along the centre aisle of the nave at a distance of 31.64~m from the source. This is represented as configuration DsNr (= (D)ome (s)ource (N)ave (r)eceiver) in the following results. For the second set, the source and the receiver locations were swapped, and this is represented as configuration NsDr. For the third configuration, both the source and the receiver were located under the dome DsDr, on the east and west sides respectively, with a distance of 9.48~m between them. Measurements were also taken within the choir area, with the source located at the entrance  by the pulpit and facing the altar, with the receiver located at what would be the Music Director’s position. This is shown as configuration CsCr with a distance between them measured at 13.77 m. These measurement locations are approximately shown in the attached floor plan.

 

At the Whispering Gallery, two sets of measurements were taken in the Whispering Gallery. For the first set, the speaker was oriented pointing parallel to the circular wall (`Away’ from the source). For the second set, the speaker was oriented to be pointing directly toward the receiver position (`Towards’ the source) across the open space of the dome above to give a strong direct sound contribution at the measurement position. 

 

At the Library, measurements were taken with empty wooden bookshelves due to a major restoration taking place during the measurements. The library space is vaulted with stone work at the upper level above the wooden shelving and a plastered ceiling. The total height is 11.8m, with the bookshelves covering all four walls up to 7m height and a wooden gallery at the halfway point allowing access to the upper shelving. The source and receiver were located at the west and east sides of the room respectively, at a distance of 8.19m from each other, and a single source-receiver measurement combination was taken in this space. 

The Geometric Staircase is in the south-west tower of the cathedral and rises 31.4m in height from the ground level to the Triforium Level, where the Library is located.  For this measurement, the source and receiver were located at ground level separated by a distance of 1.9m. 

Caption: Floor plan of the ground floor of St Paul’s Cathedral showing the measurement configurations. Adapted file from Wikimedia Commons under the CC BY-SA 4.0  licence (from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Greek_and_Latin_cross_-_Temple_of_Saint_Sava_and_St_Paul%27s_Cathedral_(St_Paul%27s).jpg). In blue characters, the DsNr configuration is represented; in green the NsDr configuration; in orange the DsDr configuration under the dome; and finally in purple the CsCr configuration in the choir area. The green highlighted area at the south-west shows the location of the Geometric Staircase and the red highlighted area shows the location of the library at Triforium level and above the nave. 

 

 

Caption: Floor plan of the Whispering Gallery of St Paul’s Cathedral showing the source and receiver positions used for the measurements. Adapted file from Wikimedia Commons under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence (from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Greek_and_Latin_cross_-_Temple_of_Saint_Sava_and_St_Paul%27s_Cathedral_(St_Paul%27s).jpg).

Prof Damian Murphy

Dr Frank Stevens

Dr Aglaia Foteinou