4,1,2,1,2- 1School of Computing and Engineering, University of West London, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain – England, Scotland, Wales (atsael@uwl.ac.uk)
- 2The Faringdon Research Centre for Non-Destructive Testing and Remote Sensing, University of West London, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain – England, Scotland, Wales
- 3Department of Architecture, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
- 4Department of Civil, Computing and Aeronautical Technologies Engineering, Roma Tre University, Via Vito Volterra 62, 00146, Rome, Italy
- 5Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), United Kingdom of Great Britain – England, Scotland, Wales
Heritage structures are widely recognised as irreplaceable cultural assets that connect communities with their history, and their preservation serves both current and future generations [1, 2]. As definitions of heritage have expanded to include tangible and intangible values and a broad range of stakeholders, conservation and refurbishment approaches aim to safeguard heritage significance by protecting material authenticity, cultural values, structural integrity, functional performance, and use.
In specific heritage spaces such as religious buildings and theatres, the acoustic environment plays a central role in cultural practices, symbolic meaning, and functional performance, making acoustics an integral component of aural heritage. Recent works in archeoacoutics highlight growing interest in a multisensory, sound-focused approach to heritage communication and interpretation. Since auditory perception is observer-centred and inherently spatial, effective communication of acoustic or aural heritage requires spatially representative, immersive media such as auralisation and extended reality (XR), which can reproduce listener-centric sound fields rather than purely visual reconstructions [3, 4].
This study thus investigates a stakeholder-centred framework for the visualisation and communication of acoustic data from heritage architecture, using immersive technologies to support the maintenance and preservation of archeoacoustic information. A three-dimensional digital model of the Roman Theatre at Palmyra, Syria, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was refined, and room-acoustic simulations were conducted to generate auralisations representing the theatre’s acoustic performance under different listener and source configurations. These simulated acoustic outputs were integrated into an extended reality (XR) environment, enabling interactive exploration of the theatre’s acoustic characteristics through combined audio–visual–spatial representations of sound.
This immersive, auralised, interactive system is designed to support stakeholder-centred evaluation and knowledge exchange, thereby informing its refinement in relation to visualisation, interpretation, and decision-making needs.
Keywords: Auralisation; Extended Reality; Archeoacoustics; Human-in-the-loop
Acknowledgements: This research was funded by the Vice-Chancellor’s PhD Scholarship at the University of West London.
References
[1] T. Penjor, S. Banihashemi, A. Hajirasouli and H. Golzad, "Heritage building information modeling (HBIM) for heritage conservation: Framework of challenges, gaps, and existing limitations of HBIM," Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, vol. 35, -07-29. 2024.
[2] J. Mu, T. Wang and Z. Zhang, "Research on the Acoustic Environment of Heritage Buildings: A Systematic Review," Buildings, vol. 12, -11-11. 2022.
[3] V. Hohmann, R. Paluch, M. Krueger, M. Meis and G. Grimm, "The Virtual Reality Lab: Realization and Application of Virtual Sound Environments," 2020.
[4] C. Innocente, L. Ulrich, S. Moos and E. Vezzetti, "A framework study on the use of immersive XR technologies in the cultural heritage domain," Journal of Cultural Heritage, vol. 62, pp. 268, -06-15. 2023.
How to cite: Doe Atsakpo, E., Donati, E., Squartini, N., Bianchini Ciampoli, L., Tessema, T., Uzor, S., and Tosti, F.: Immersive Auralisation (IA-XR): Visualising and Communicating Acoustic Data from Cultural Heritage Structures via Extended Reality Technology, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-16485, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-16485, 2026.
