A mega church in Knoxville TN approached us through their audio-visual integrator to address a serious speech intelligibility issue affecting certain areas of the sanctuary. The problem became especially noticeable when a new pastor with a perceived accent began speaking, highlighting gaps in how clearly congregants could hear.
We conducted on-site acoustical and electro-acoustical measurements, capturing multi-time-windowed impulse responses from each of the four line array clusters. This allowed us to get a clear picture of the full sound spectrum and how the loudspeaker configuration interacted with each other, and with the room acoustics. We studied both direct sound and reverberant sound interactions. Our analysis revealed that the placement and layout of the arrays caused direct sound interference, creating frequency response issues in the speech range, while long-delayed side wall reflections smeared the overall sound image.
The solution combined a redeployment of the existing loudspeaker system with targeted surface-mounted acoustic treatments. This approach improved speech clarity and consistency throughout the sanctuary, ensuring that all seating areas received a balanced, intelligible, and comfortable listening experience.
