Speech Intelligibility Issues With Live Streaming

Steve SniderSteve joined the team in 2016. A Virginia Tech graduate and proficient musician, his career in customer service combined with his knowledge of live venue music gives him great expertise for any acoustical project. Steve holds certifications in Building Acoustics and Noise Control and Principles of Acoustics for the Home Studio. 1-800-782-5742 Ext. 0120

The Issue

St. Edward Catholic Church was having speech intelligibility issues with live streaming of their mass during the COVID pandemic. The virtual service attendees were struggling to understand the priest’s message because the large church has “hard” wall and ceiling surfaces that cause echo and speech intelligibility problems. Our Acoustical Sales Engineer did a site survey of the space and determined an RT60 reverberation time of 2.5 seconds. He then recommended the installation of fabric wrapped wall panels to be placed at high elevation around the perimeter of the church. This was done by the Acoustical Solutions installation team. The reverberation time was reduced to 1.5 seconds. The speech intelligibility problem was solved.

Acoustical panels were installed around the perimeter of the worship space.

About the Client

St. Edward the Confessor Catholic Church, established in 1959, is located in North Chesterfield, VA. “What a great job your team did in the installation- they were wonderful, on time, conscientious and everything you would want your installers to be! The look is perfect, and I know that I noticed the sound difference right away. Again — thank you for the project — we really are impressed with how everything went.” — Janis M. Webb, Business Administrator, St. Edward the Confessor Catholic Church

Closeup of sound absorbing panels in St. Edward's worship space.

Speech Intelligibility Challenges

St. Edward Catholic Church was doing its best to stay connected with its parishioners during the COVID 19 pandemic by offering daily and weekly masses. The Church seats 500 and is octagonal in shape with high ceilings and hard surface drywall that when full of people has acceptable acoustics. However, when empty, the acoustics in the church become a problem for both hearing and understanding the words of the priest and the quality of the sound being produced by the choral team. The parish pastor, Fr. Don LeMay, was very concerned about the aesthetics of whatever acoustical treatment was chosen. He asked that the interior designer hired to choose church colors and fixtures was consulted and approved the acoustical treatment before proceeding. He did not want to fix the acoustical problem at the expense of the beauty of the church. The Church Business Manager was most concerned about ensuring that weekday Church activities would not be interrupted during the installation process. The Music Leader was most concerned about how the change in acoustics would affect the sound of the music.

Sound absorbing panels reduced echo and improved speech intelligibility in St. Edward's worship space.

Speech Intelligibility Solution

The solution to the problem was to place custom designed fabric wrapped wall panels (approximately 850 square feet) throughout the church using a design lay-out that was unobtrusive and approved by the church leadership team. The fabric chosen for the wall panels was well matched with the church décor and approved by the interior designer who was given fabric swatches to choose from. Acoustical Solutions provided the installation which happened over a three-day period. The church schedule was cleared for those days.

The Result

The added absorption in the space and the resulting reduction in echo was noticed immediately by all who worked in the church and those tuning into mass from home. The music director adjusted the sound system to match the new acoustics in the church. Everyone looks forward to the time when they can return to attend services as they used to.

In the Customer’s Own Words

“We all immediately heard the difference with the installation, and the way they were designed is quite attractive in the space. We would never had been able to do this on our own!” — Janis M. Webb, Business Administrator, St. Edward the Confessor Catholic Church

To learn more about how Acoustical Solutions can solve your noise control problems, use our contact form, call one of our Acoustical Sales Consultants at (800) 782-5742, or visit us on the web at acousticalsolutions.com.

More to explore:

Sanctuaries