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The purpose of this paper is to present a variety of current resources associated with electroacoustic music suitable for updating academic and large public library collections.

The approach taken in the paper is to identify resources meant to provide guidance in locating appropriate resources and to identify specific resources regarding electroacoustic collections that are grouped in several categories for ease of reading.

The complexity of definition of electroacoustic music and its interdisciplinary nature has had a negative impact on availability of collection development guides for electroacoustic music. Furthermore, resource formats associated with this type of music are heavily dependent on technology and change with great frequency which makes them challenging to keep up with.

The paper offers practical advice about updating electroacoustic music collections.

This article aggregates and reviews the disparate information needed to assess journal literature related to communication disorders both directly and peripherally. An extensive analysis was performed using a list of 40 journals on communication disorders derived from a review of selected libraries’ journal collections, and then compared to entries in respected indexes and bibliographies covering this discipline. The result of this analysis is a list providing comprehensive information including scope and coverage, publisher information, indexing/abstracting data, and online availability for those 40 journals. In addition, a survey was conducted among communication disorders faculty in the City University of New York (CUNY) to investigate which professional journals are used regularly for current awareness and for clinical/research information. The information presented in this article should be of interest to faculty, students and practitioners in this area, as well as subject librarians responsible for collection development.

The general attitude of the ancient theatre conservation strategies and policies is still concerned primarily with their architectural physical appearance without considering their authentic scientific acoustical qualities. The paper attempts to illustrate and discuss how to enhance their acoustic heritage to arouse the audience's interest and needs. Thus, supporting their reconstruction based on recent acoustical research and community needs-related concerns and opportunities for ancient theatre's modern use.

It is based on reviewing the main issues related to reconstruction in the international charters and conventions and how to infuse ancient theatres with their full role. It discusses the dilemma and debates regarding the theatre stage wall, colonnade (portico) restoration and anastylosis. Is it sufficient enough to recover the theatre sound volume? Or to rethink for full physical reconstructions of these missing related acoustical theatre architectural elements to their original level and layout as in ancient times in parallel to their virtual reconstruction?

The cultural significance of the authentic theatre's acoustical qualities needs to reform the conservation strategies and policies for a more flexible and resilient approach. It should be postulated, re-examined and advocated parallel to their 3D virtual reconstruction in the related international charters and conventions.

The paper's implications are not immediate; it is far-reaching. It suggests the importance of acoustics in analysing historic theatre performance venues and reforming conservation strategies and approaches. This issue is especially critical for architects, conservators, the heritage community and the public audience.

Recommendations are made for potential bold reconstruction actions that may be taken to achieve further sustainability, comfort, and permeability in modern theatre-use performances. Their physical reconstruction for improving the performance of contemporary theatre use regarding retaining the acoustic cultural significance should be more flexible and resilient in the charters.

This study analyzes the effect of the techniques of active teaching and learning as a way of delivery on the outcomes of quality learning. Focusing on the courses of architectural science taught in a nontraditional method using various active learning strategies, the study takes the case study of the course Building Illumination and Acoustics (BIA) delivered in the academic year 2019–2020 at the University of Sharjah (UoS)'s Architectural Engineering Department (AED).

Utilizing both quantitative and qualitative research approaches, the study applied a case study and survey as methods. A questionnaire was designed and performed to assess the level of students' satisfaction with the implemented active teaching method.

The vibrant learning setting made the students actively engaged and more motivated and enthusiastic. The active learning practices used, including employing senses as in sight and hearing, reasoning rationally and intuitively, reflecting and acting, working steadily and in fits and starts, creating mathematical models, visualizing and memorizing and drawing analogies, were efficient in boosting their ability to comprehend theoretical concepts more effectively. The delivery style effectively enhances quality learning when various active techniques are used pedagogically beyond being merely a utilitarian instrument to prepare novice students of architectural engineering to fulfill practical challenges.

This article focuses specifically on a theoretical, scientific non-studio course in a particular program of architectural engineering in a particular semester before the dramatic changes in styles of teaching delivery that happened due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Future research could further highlight its results by comparing them to statistical evidence of the development of the course, especially for the duration of online teaching during the pandemic and the hybrid teaching period after it.

This article contributes to the development of teaching and learning of architectural engineering in the local Emirati context by putting original theories of teaching into practice. This paper further contributes to the field of architectural pedagogy in terms of the effect of active learning in the architecture field in the non-studio courses in higher education in the United Arab Emirates.

Some facilities managers will be in the position of adapting existing space to cope with changing needs, while others will be concerned with drawing up specifications for new spaces. Both need practical advice from the acoustician about how to deal with existing problems of speech and noise in rooms. Many offices facing crises in space planning and in staff management are also faced with difficulties concerning speech acoustics, particularly in the areas of speech intelligibility, speech privacy and noise. Research into these aspects of room acoustics by the present author has resulted in an improved approach to measuring the information characteristics of both speech and noise in rooms. A design index is described for predicting the intelligibility of speech and is illustrated by a typical example of conditions in the open plan office. Advice is also needed on the implications of new speech technologies (speech synthesis and speech recognition) on office layout. These new products have already been in everyday use for over 10 years in some office environments and are becoming more commonplace. It is shown that as the new, speech‐driven equipment is taken up, the problems of containing noise in open‐plan spaces will increase, unless speech acoustics in the office is given a new priority.

The movie substitutes such as home cinema, video on demand (VOD), and plasma televisions leaded to a declining attendance of patrons to movie theatres, which urged the invention of IMAX theatre to call movie lovers back to cinemas. Many cinemas plan to renovate their regular digital theatre auditoriums into IMAX theatre auditoriums, but there lack of study for built environmental variations between regular and IMAX theatres. Through the combination of a questionnaire survey and a case study on a leading cinema company in Malaysia, the Tanjong Golden Village Cinemas (TGV), this paper aims to identify the structural and architectural differences between regular digital theatre auditorium and IMAX theatre auditorium in the perspectives of acoustic and visual experiences. The most significant factor influencing the satisfaction of visualization in IMAX is “immersive of picture” followed by “sharpness of colour” and “feels as part of the picture”. The most significant indicators for audio experience in IMAX is “direction of object”, which enable an audience to trace the direction and position of an object on the screen without looking at it. The built environmental variations between regular and IMAX theatres in terms of screen, camera and projection methods, seating, architectural layout, wall design, and sound system arrangement were thoroughly compared in the case study.

Informed by acoustic design standards, the built environments are designed with single reverberation times (RTs), a trade-off between long and short RTs needed for different space functions. A range of RTs should be achievable in spaces to optimise the acoustic comfort in different aural situations. This paper proclaims a novel concept: Intelligent passive room acoustic technology (IPRAT), which achieves real-time room acoustic optimisation through the integration of passive variable acoustic technology (PVAT) and acoustic scene classification (ASC). ASC can intelligently identify changing aural situations, and PVAT can physically vary the RT.

A qualitative best-evidence synthesis method is used to review the available literature on PVAT and ASC.

First, it is highlighted that dynamic spaces should be designed with varying RTs. The review then exposes a gap of intelligently adjusting RT according to changing building function. A solution is found: IPRAT, which integrates PVAT and ASC to uniquely fill this literature gap.

The development, functionality, benefits and challenges of IPRAT offer a holistic understanding of the state-of-the-art IPRAT, and a use case example is provided. Going forward, it is concluded that IPRAT can be prototyped and its impact on acoustic comfort can be quantified.

To maximise acoustic comfort in a classroom, the acoustic conditions of the space should be variable. So, the optimal acoustic state also changes when the classroom changes from a study environment into a lecture environment. Passive Variable Acoustic Technology (PVAT) alters a room’s Reverberation Time (RT) by changing the total sound absorption in a room. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the improvements to classroom acoustic comfort when using PVAT.

The study is conducted in an existing tertiary classroom at Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand. The PVAT is prototyped, and the RTs are measured according to international standards before and after classroom installation. The acoustic measurement method used is a cost-effective application tool where pre- and post-conditions are of primary concern.

PVAT is found to offer statistically significant improvements in RT, but the key benefits are realised in its’ ability to vary RT for different classroom situations. It is predicted that the RT recommendations for two room types outlined in the acoustic standard AS/NZS 2107:2016 are satisfied when using PVAT in a single classroom space. By optimising RT, the acoustic comfort during both study and lecture is significantly improved.

When PVAT is combined with an intelligent system – Intelligent Passive Room Acoustic Technology (IPRAT) – it can detect sound waves in real time to identify the optimal RT. This paper details a pilot case study that works towards quantifying the benefits of IPRAT, by prototyping and testing the PVAT component of the system.

1. A pilot case study outlines the development and test of a variable acoustic prototype in a tertiary classroom

2. A method is adopted to measure acoustic conditions, using three under-researched Android applications

3. The benefits of PVAT are realised in its ability to vary RT by adjusting the prototypes’ sound absorption

4. By using PVAT in a single space, the recommended RTs for two room types outlined in the acoustic standard AS/NZS 2107:2016 can be satisfied

5. The improvements in acoustic comfort due to PVAT are statistically significant

A pilot case study outlines the development and test of a variable acoustic prototype in a tertiary classroom

A method is adopted to measure acoustic conditions, using three under-researched Android applications

The benefits of PVAT are realised in its ability to vary RT by adjusting the prototypes’ sound absorption

By using PVAT in a single space, the recommended RTs for two room types outlined in the acoustic standard AS/NZS 2107:2016 can be satisfied

The improvements in acoustic comfort due to PVAT are statistically significant

This paper aims to investigate the diners’ preference and perception on six acoustic classifications in eatery places during their casual dining. These classifications’ relationship with diners’ experience and significant impacts on diners’ preferences and perceptions during casual dining will be analyzed.

The data was collected quantitatively with randomly distributed self-administrated questionnaires during the restaurants' operating hours; 449 respondents who dined in at two casual dining restaurants in Melaka city area participated.

Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) tests revealed that the majority of the diners were not adversely affected by the noise level, and they did not have difficulties with their conversations. The results also indicated that the respondents felt that the noise did not stop them from returning to the restaurants. This study's findings may lay the groundwork for future studies to provide the acoustic comfort classification in eatery places, which can also be integrated and synthesized to be used as a reference for acoustic design and practice.

The number of participants used simple random sampling method. Therefore, the sample cannot be typical for the target population, and there is a limited possibility of generalizing the present findings. The data collection was only gathered from two eatery places with similar typologies at the similar demographic background of customers because it was collected at Melaka city. Thus, the impacts of customers may differ at other typologies and locate in different regions, and the physical environment and the quality offered are also different in other places. The measured determinant factors only focus on the diners’ characteristics; thus, future research should be done to investigate other determinant factors impacting the preference and perceived acoustical comfort in eatery places.

The findings in this study would provide a basis reference to assess and evaluate the acoustic classification in eatery places that suits the customers’ perceived satisfaction.

This study identified that demographic characteristic, gender and age are not the prominent determinant factors influencing the diners’ preference and perceived acoustical comfort in eatery places. Moreover, the days and dining hours were also found to be the determinants that will influence the preferences.

This paper has developed determining factors on acoustics classification that can be applied upon designing eatery places as well as a fundamental approach in developing rating for acoustics comfort index as reference for the diners to choose where to dine based on their preference and activities.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the design elements of environmental features that affect consumer experience in shopping malls and develop a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between architectural design and consumer experience.

Through the systematic literature review, 13 design elements were obtained and then verified through interviews of 30 professional designers. The obtained elements were made into a questionnaire to collect data across China from 1,016 consumers of different groups. Data were analyzed using cluster analysis, principal component analysis and difference analysis.

The results show that design elements that influence consumer experience in shopping malls are a four-dimensional construct: visual atmosphere, physical environment comfort, space structure and business planning, among which space structure and business planning play a larger role in the consumer experience. In addition, the perception differences of consumers for those elements are significant due to the individual differences.

This paper comprehensively investigates the architectural design elements affecting consumer experience in the Chinese mall context. Moreover, it provides unique insights about the relationship between architectural design and consumer experience by exploring the categories, weights and perception differences of those elements.