Welcome to the world of Church Acoustics

The Bible – Written by man but inspired by God.

The Bible is the most important book given to humankind. For all of those who have read the entire Bible, in the end, you are given a choice. That choice determines your eternity whether you believe in it or not. Then there is this warning in the final chapter of Revelations.

Rev 22:18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: (KJV)

Rev 22:19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. (KJV)

Most people hear about God before they read about God. For many people, besides hear about God from family, friends and other people, most people hear a message about God for the first time in a church or TV, Radio or on a Digital Device. When in a church, and eventually almost everyone goes to one in their lifetime, the Acoustics and Sound System combined can determine if a person can understand what is being said or not.

When a church has good Acoustics and Sound System, everything that everyone hears is the almost the same as the sounds that were created. When a church has good reverberation, that sound effect does not change the quality or accuracy of what is heard. When a church has poor acoustics and/or a poorly designed or adjusted sound system, what is heard and understood is often changed from what was said or sung. That change of what was said could be enough – and it often is – that it changes the meaning of what was said.

The broadcasting of sound in a large room carries a huge responsibility. When the words spoken by the minister is one thing and what is heard by the time it arrives into someone ears meters away becomes something else, that is like adding or taking away the message of the Bible. The changed words can have a huge impact on a person life. Who is responsible for controlling how a worship space performs?

Here is an example. Try saying these two sentences in your church. Have your minister say these two lines without pauses as they would do at any time of worship.
How to recognize speech.
How to wreck a nice beach.
If the listeners can’t tell these two sentences apart or they sound the same your worship space has a serious problem.

(Should You decide to do a real aural speech test, you can follow the link below and print out this speech test and try it at your church.
https://www.jdbsound.com/art/art519.html
You will need about 25 people sitting in different places in the worship space. Have each person circle one word from each row on the list of what the minister said from their list. Then compare. If everyone gets 45 to 50 of the words correct, then your worship space passes. If there are more than 5 people who have less than 45 words correct, then your church has a problem. The listeners should be all people who can have normal conversations at 5 feet away in an office, library or living room with carpet. Ages should be 35 and up.)

Ultimately, that responsibility of how well your worship space performs lays with the church board, church leaders and the minister, who should be demanding the best. The acoustics of a church is a tool to preach the Gospel. The sound system can only work as well as the acoustics of a room allows it. You can only tune, redesign, and use the best state of the Art technology in a sound system and get only so far, and then there is no choice but to fix the room.

Most Sound Equipment manufacturers do not care if people in a church cannot understand the message because the room changed the words. They just want to sell equipment and make a profit. Instead, equipment manufacturers keep making claims and promises as is if their products, their algorithms, and their digital technology is going to push the limits of physics. When you read some of the claims and advertising, if you know the science, often their claims seem to ignore physics. Physics comes from God.

Do we know everything about physics? Probably not but what we do know about Physics and Sound has not changed in the history of man. Many churches are so caught up with getting the latest and greatest technology that they put off fixing their acoustics – which is cheaper to fix – waiting for the next round of technology to miraculously break the laws of physics and make physics bow down to them. Church leaders should not be forcing people to put up with the bad sound that changes the meaning of Gods message.

Short of giving everyone a Bluetooth headset when you enter a church, the acoustics of your church is critical in whether or not a person is hearing the message word for word as a minister speaks every syllable. Hearing the Gospel is the most important thing that happens in a church. Singing and praising God together is the strongest thing that a church does to build a community. When that is followed up with fellowship, having meals together and helping people in your community, your neighbour and local town you are in, that is the full package of what a House of Worship does for the people.

The first clue that your acoustics are questionable is if you are struggling with your sound system. A sound system cannot change the acoustics of a room; it is a reflection or mirror of the performance of your worship space. I have fixed the acoustics of many churches around the world and the most interesting comments people make when they continue to use their sound system – whether properly designed or not is people can now understand what their minister is saying. More than once people who have upgraded their Sanctuary acoustics have said, “It’s too bad our minister is leaving. Now that I can understand everything that is being said, I wish the minister can stay and preach the sermons all over again. Now I understand why our church has not been growing.”

Church acoustics is not complicated, nor is it expensive to change. The Bible tells us how to get Church Acoustics right and affordable. Sadly, there are many “experts” who make church acoustics seem complicated and expensive. As long as people are spreading around such myths and those who hear these myths keep on believing them, many churches are convinced that good acoustics is beyond their financial abilities. As a result, many churches are left not living up to their obligation in creating a worship space where no words are altered and the message is so clear that people are able to make that critical decision of where they will be spending their eternity.

Finally, for those churches that have poor acoustics and the leading members who have the position and authority to make the changes to make the church building to be included in fulfilling the Great Commission, the book of Revelation is clear. For those who refuse to take the courage to make a House of God a vessel that can fulfill the Great Commission, God promises them “plagues of the Bible” or “God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” As a person who has heard many ministers, one thing that is often said is that God does keep his promises. If this makes you feel uncomfortable, it should. Eternity and having a relationship with God is important. No one should be denied the opportunity to choose and your sanctuary should never get in the way of that.

Most existing churches can fix their own acoustics. There are dozens of examples on my website of churches that have made the change from a bad room to a great room. If your church looks like one of those, you can copy them and get similar results. If your church is not comfortable with DIY, give me a call. For most churches, that is all that is needed, just a phone call and those are free. If you need further help, I can recommend someone else to help you or myself.

By Joseph De Buglio
Church Acoustics by JdB Sound Acoustics

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