Acoustical conditions of the Korean traditional royal palace, Gyeongbokgung

Built in 1395, the Gyeongbokgung Palace, located in the heart of Seoul, is the main royal palace of the Joseon Dynasty. Acoustic conditions of the palace were checked by performing field measurements on the nucleus wooden buildings, including throne hall compound, official quarters and king's living quarters. In the open courtyard of the throne hall where major state events were held, the distribution of RT and sound pressure level attenuation along the sourcereceiver distance were measured. The effects of reflecting boundaries at the building façade, stone pavement and enclosure were examined using the Raynoise(Ver. 3.1). In the official quarters where the king routinely discussed national affairs with his court officials, roomacoustic parameters, such as RT, RASTI and sound insulation of the building façade were measured and analyzed. Finally, sound attenuation was measured between the adjacent rooms in the king's living quarters that used mulberry paper walls or doors to separate rooms.