Experiencing our heritage by recreating authentic sounds of the past
- What would a ritual at Stonehenge have sounded like 4,000 years ago?
- Why would different acoustics have saved more lives during the Kings Cross Underground tragedy in 1987?
- What did Coventry Cathedral sound like before it was bombed in 1940?
- How is acoustics research changing the way we find out about our heritage?
- How can listening to the past improve our quality of life for the future?
These and other pioneering research projects are already changing the way we study the past. They are also helping to improve the way we live our lives in the future.
The work is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
This research cluster 'Improving Heritage Experience through Acoustic Reality and Audio Research' (I Hear Too) is part of AHRC and EPSRC's Science and Heritage Programme.
Listen to a podcast on iTunes about the work of the cluster including sounds of the past at Stonehenge and Coventry Cathedral. (Podcast title is 'Sounds of the past and future'). This podcast is also available with images on the EPSRC website
The research cluster is led by Dr Damian Murphy from the University of York. "Science and Heritage work together particularly well in audio and acoustic research. Our understanding of the past is greatly enhanced through the insight we gain into how our ancestors would have heard their world," says Dr Murphy. "In addition this research helps us to better understand sound in the environment we currently inhabit from the acoustic preservation of old buildings, the design of new ones to offsetting the effects of our increasingly noisy world."
Source: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
