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User:Jwozniak19/Acoustics in Multi-Purpose Sporting Venues

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Acoustics in European Football Stadiums

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Lead

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Acoustics in Sporting Venues is unique because of the all-around purpose of the stadium and the ways it is designed specifically for events where crowd noise is sonically a factor. Many stadiums pump in artificial crowd noise[1] to give the home team an extra boost and make the crowd and general buzz in the stadium elevated in decibel level. While other stadiums design and make acoustical decisions in construction which allow for more echoing and reverberation throughout the stadium[2]. In general when building sporting arenas, franchises focus on hiring acoustical engineers to ensure that the atmosphere within the stadium is attractive to bring new fans through the gates and give the home team an edge over the visiting opponent. Architectural decisions like designing seats as close to the field as possible is essential in creating the right atmosphere and acoustics within a sporting venue.[3]

Outdoor European Football Stadiums

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Most outdoor European football stadiums are built with a ceiling-like-ring around the crowd and seats but not over the field.[2] Architectural decisions like this as well as trying to keep seats as intimate and close to the field as possible become essential in creating the right atmosphere and acoustics within a European football stadium. In many football stadiums fan chanting becomes a large aspect of the atmosphere, people want to hear it on TV and it helps boost the morale of the home team. Acoustical engineers are hired to get the most out of this crowd noise and in many cases improve the acoustics of previously built stadiums to help them reach perfection.[4]At the end of the day acoustics is about geometry and sound carries similarly to a line of sight, so when building new stadiums teams tend to construct seating sections more vertically (like a ravine)[3] to ensure that even if you are in a high section you still feel close to the field. This same concept translates to the acoustics if everyone is closer and there are less crannies in the stadium the sound will be able to be heard everywhere and reverberate the way it is intended.[3]

Brighton and Hove Albion has a roof over the crowd section and an acoustical design that perfectly reflects crowd noise onto the pitch[3]

References

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  1. ^ "Artificial crowd noise", Wikipedia, 2021-04-02, retrieved 2021-05-10
  2. ^ a b Uhrich and Benkenstein, Sebastian and Martin (2010). "Sport Stadium Atmosphere: Formative and Reflective Indicators for Operationalizing the Construct" (PDF). Journal of Sport Management – via Human Kinetics.
  3. ^ a b c d "How do you give stadiums atmosphere?". BBC News. 2013-04-12. Retrieved 2021-05-10.
  4. ^ "Manchester United tackles sound problems at Old Trafford". BBC News. 2013-04-05. Retrieved 2021-05-10.