Sounds of Royalty: Accessing Valois Soundscapes (c. 1400) Digitally

Introduction

The VALSOUNDS project will design a prototype multimedia digital valorisation tool that allows museums and cultural heritage institutions to highlight the sonic aspects of their collections or sites. This will be done through an innovative, immersive (3-D, AR) digital interface with a focus on audio.

The Sonic Gap

Existing applications tend to privilege visual communication (images, text), deploying no or inadequate audio components. This ‘sonic gap’ often means missing out on sonic aspects that are crucial for fully appreciating and experiencing the cultural meaning of a given site or object.

Challenges in Historical Soundscapes

A significant number of sites have also been irrevocably altered or destroyed, making it impossible by analogue means to produce the sounds required for a historically informed hearing experience.

Archaeo-Acoustics

The new field of archaeo-acoustics enables digital reconstructions (‘auralizations’) of lost or altered spaces and sites. Existing case studies concerning the European Middle Ages were carried out primarily on sacred spaces (e.g., Pentcheva & Abel 2017), and only quite recently on court architecture (Sluyts et al. 2021).

Case Study: Valois Palaces

VALSOUNDS will build on the latter and conduct a case study of Valois palaces (c. 1400). The Valois courts have long been identified as sites of some of the most significant musical developments of their time; but they were also sites of conspicuous architectural innovation, making them a prime object for archaeo-acoustic study.

Collaborative Approach

Through a collaboration of acousticians, architectural historians, historical musicologists, heritage sites, performers, and private enterprise, VALSOUNDS reconstructs the Valois courts’ soundscape digitally.

Immersive Multimedia Environment

The project embeds the resulting audio experience in an immersive multimedia environment that will be both sustainable and transferable for similar mediation concepts. This enhanced level of mediation for audio content not only anticipates the marketing needs of heritage sites in the digital age but also lends itself to multiple commercial applications.