Eurocentricity is the Achilles Heel of Acoustics: An Acoustical Comparison of Performance Spaces at Union College

Contemporary acoustics has usually focused on Western classical music and European art standards. At the inception, this focus helped establish an accepted standard for acousticians, but many musical genres prefer different parameters for an ideal performance. Assessing performance spaces based on one style of music is a flawed choice; rather, one should assess the space's unique qualities and conclude which musical genres sound best. In this research, I compare and contrast the architectural acoustics of seven performance spaces on one college campus---three traditional musical auditoriums, one lecture space, two event halls, and a sound recording studio. While most spaces generally handle most varieties of sound well, some are predisposed to certain styles of music, and many could be improved to welcome more styles. My suggestions include various acoustic treatments to improve sound quality, as well as a more open-minded approach to the field of acoustics that rejects contemporary Eurocentricity.