photographist

“How can we build a concert hall that sounds good? I wrote a thesis on acoustics, on the sound quality of concert halls, by developing indicators that rely on shapes and materials. Today I teach acoustics to civil engineering students so that they can make buildings more comfortable. I am currently working on urban spaces and I am interested in transport-related noise pollution. Together with aircraft manufacturers, I am trying to reduce the sound signatures of engine noises which are likely to attract attention. Planes are now 15 or 20 dB quieter than those back in the 1960s, but there are three times more planes today and the comfort of local residents has not been improved. We are working on reducing aircraft movement (one large plane could replace several small ones) and on approach procedures.

I am also interested in the quality of the urban sound environment. There is a European Directive that requires large towns to implement action plans to protect their quiet areas. We need to ascertain what a quiet area is and how it is perceived by local residents. A quiet area is perceived differently by different people because of their personal expectations. For some, it’s a recreational area, for others it’s a natural or even silent zone. The relationship between a human being and his/her sound world depends massively on the person, the culture in which he/she lives and the sounds that he/she is exposed to. Together with other partners, particularly the IGN, I am working on defining indicators of perceived sound (and not noise) quality, which will be useful for architects and town planners, and representing these via maps which will be easy to understand by the general public.”

Catherine Lavandier
Research Lecturer in acoustics, University of Cergy Pontoise

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