Air dome acoustics

Air dome is an air supported structure, it is a building composed by one or more layers of continuous flexible membrane anchored to the ground, inflated and supported by pressurized air. In the present work are shown the results of acoustic measurements inside an air dome. In this type of structure, reverberation time values, at the medium frequencies, are over 8 s and therefore with an excessive reverberation the ability to speech understanding is significantly reduced, so that during the training phases it does not correctly allow to understand the instructions of coaches. With the help of a software for architectural acoustics, a possible acoustic correction to reduce reverberation time was evaluated by introducing some sound absorbing material into the turned area of the air dome.