The Challenge:
To help make sure passengers can understand announcements in a busy and noisy transit station.
The Innovation:
One of the main challenges for acoustical engineers with subway station acoustics is to make sure people can hear and understand announcements from the Public Address (PA) systems. Through acoustic research, we developed acoustic modelling techniques for the Toronto Transit Commission specific to the shape of typical subway platforms and concourse levels. This helped us determine the strategic locations and type of acoustic material to use at these levels. The selection of material types plays an important role in these areas given the sheer volume of people and activity within these spaces. The result is a more acoustically comfortable area where messages are clearly understood, creating a better overall transit experience.
