| Background | Experiment | References |
HISTORY
First United Methodist Church is located in downtown New Philadelphia, OH. It was first built in 1914. The first addition happened in 1959, when an education wing was built to create space for Sunday school classroom and a library. The second addition is currently taking place, starting in 2009. The first part is now complete, the new wing, while the second part involved revamping the old sanctuary to make it more modern and compatible for new technology. The cost of the 2009 renovation is an estimated 3.2 million dollars, raised through members of the congregation and community.
The biggest part of the current renovation is a new, multi-purpose room. The current acoustics of the room make it very difficult to hear anything. The church services are very hard for older adults to hear, especially if they have hearing aids. After conducting my experiment, I expect to find that the reverberation time of the room is very long and mainly responsible to the poor sound quality.
The room is 54 feet wide by 84 feet long. The ceiling is slanted down towards the front of the room, and it has the markings of a basketball court on the floor.