Virtual reconstructions of the Théâtre de l'Athénée for archeoacoustic study

The French ECHO project studies the use of voice in the recent history of theater. It is a multidisciplinary project which combines the efforts of historians, theater scientists, and acousticians. In the scope of this project an audiovisual simulation was created which combines auralizations with visualizations of former Theâtre de l'Athenee configurations issue from a series of renovations, enabling researchers to realistically perceive theater performances in foregone rooms. Simulations include the room, 2 actors on stage, and an audience. To achieve these simulation, architectural plans were studied from archives providing various details of the different theater configurations, from which the corresponding visual and room acoustic geometrical acoustics (GA) models were created. The resulting simulations allow for 360°audio-visual presentations at various positions in the theater using commercial standard hardware.