Orchestrating an Indoor City

Abstract

The acoustic space of shopping malls is orchestrated by mall management to promote a stimulating, enjoyable sense of place conducive to their economic, political, and social purposes: to get people inside their corridors to spend time and money. The perceived qualities of the sounds and the physical intensity of the sound pressure levels have auditory, extra-auditory, and social effects that may be detrimental to the well-being of mall patrons and the nature of their social relations. Using the West Edmonton mega-mall (WEM) as a case study, it is shown through several patron questionnaires and on-site sound pressure-level measurements that there is a noise pollution problem inside the corridors of the mega-mall. A literature review of the potential effects of moderate sound-level intensities supports the contention that mall management should rethink their sonic strategy. Long-term solutions to the problem of indoor ambient noise pollution lie not simply in architectural and legislative measures, but in convincing the operators of WEM and other indoor public places of the potential economic benefits to be realized through noise abatement.