Parameterizable Acoustical Modeling and Auralization of Cultural Heritage Sites based on Photogrammetry

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new parameterizable method for acoustical modeling and auralization of cultural heritage sites using photogrammetric data, aiming to preserve and reproduce their authentic sonic characteristics.

Contribution

It presents an innovative, open-source, graphical pipeline for acoustical modeling based on photogrammetry, enhancing preservation and reproduction of sonic environments.

Findings

Developed a parameterizable acoustical modeling pipeline.

Enabled authentic auralization of cultural heritage sites.

Provided an accessible open-source software tool.

Abstract

The photogrammetric and reconstructive modeling of cultural heritage sites is mostly focused on visually perceivable aspects, but if their intended purpose is the performance of cultural acts with a sonic emphasis, it is important to consider the preservation of their acoustical behaviour to make them audible in an authentic way. This applies in particular to sacral and concert environments as popular objects for photogrammetric models, which contain geometrical and textural information that can be used to locate and classify acoustically relevant surface properties. With the advancing conversion or destruction of historical acoustical spaces, it becomes even more important to preserve their unique sonic characters, while three-dimensional auralizations become widely applicable. The proposed study presents the current state of a new methodological approach to acoustical modeling using photogrammetric data and introduces a parameterizable pipeline that will be accessible as an open-source software with a graphical user interface.