Acoustics and Devotional Soundscape in British Islam: An Exploratory Study on the Aural Architecture of Cambridge Central Mosque

Alessia Frescura
University of Liverpool, UK
alessia.frescura@liverpool.ac.uk

Pyoung-Jik Lee
University of Liverpool, UK
pyoung@liverpool.ac.uk

Introductory Note

“All authentic academic research is based on the simultaneous pursuit of the True, the Beautiful, and the Good—if any is pursued separately, imbalance ensues.”

― Keith Critchlow

It is in the spirit of dedication that the study presented here has been conceived, designed, and conducted. Its origins are rooted in a wider investigation aiming at a multisensorial renewal of contemporary healthscapes, with particular emphasis on their auditory dimension. Its character reflects and cherishes the comprehension of sacred and spiritual sounds, and their interplay with beliefs in creating spiritually relevant and cultural meaningful atmospheres, conducive to healing. How can one pursue the True, the Beautiful, and the Good – simultaneously – in academic research? Can the spoken word and the act of listening offer a pathway towards this aspiration? Following is the presentation of a humble attempt to conduct authentic academic research, which explores the aural architecture of Cambridge Central Mosque.

Abstract

This contribution introduces an ongoing study exploring the acoustic, sonic, and aural dimensions of British Islam in the context of Cambridge (UK). The study pioneers a novel methodology pairing quantitative acoustics measurements with qualitative art-based research and apply it to the case study of Cambridge Central Mosque. The research theoretical framework set off from the reflections of Juhani Pallasmaa(1), according to whom the experience of space cannot be reduced to the visual dimension but must be understood as a profoundly multimodal phenomenon. Chiefly, as suggested by Michael Frishkopf(2), when perceiving mosque spaces, we engage with two primary sensory aspects: from one side, the luminous visible mosque, from the other the sonorous audible one. In particular, the mosque’s spiritual and affective experience is conveyed mostly through sound, as its structure shapes and is shaped by it in nearly every element. This interconnectedness of sound and space may stem from the centrality of the sounded word in Islamic devotional life. Notably, core practices such as Qur’anic recitation, prayer, and sermons rely fundamentally on orality and auditory transmission. While devotional language is also written, its essence is sounded, both in ritual and in teaching. In the case of Islam, carried across generations through an unbroken chain of transmission, all the way back to the paragon of the Prophet, to whom it was revealed directly, in 7th century Arabia. Yet despite this profound sonic dimension, only a small proportion of existing scholarship (12.2%) addresses the soundscapes of Islamic mosques, compared with approximately 75% focusing on Christian churches(3). This reveals a substantial gap in the exploration of soundscape in Islam, the world’s second-largest religion. 

Given this context, we proceeded to investigate the soundscape – and sound space – of an Islamic space of worship as a particularly relevant and understudied element of British Islam. On a positionality note, the research was conducted by a team external to the Islamic faith.

The Cambridge Central Mosque was inaugurated in 2019 as the first purpose-built ecological mosque in the United Kingdom. It accommodates approximately 1,000 worshippers across its prayer halls, with a total built volume of around 4,500 cubic meters. The building is characterised by a timber structure, featuring expressive glulam columns symbolising and resembling a forest, and it embed sacred geometry at different scales(4). To investigate the nuanced character of aural experiences generated within its space, the current research pioneers a novel mixed-methods approach. Quantitative acoustics measurements are here paired with qualitative, interpretative, and exploratory discourses, centred around participant-led recordings and interviews with both imams and worshippers. 

Firstly, acoustic measurements were conducted in the main prayer hall using microphones, recording devices, and omnidirectional loudspeaker, for the acquisition of impulse responses and subsequent extraction of acoustic metrics (e.g., reverberation time, early decay time). Binaural recordings of the impulse response using a Head and Torso Simulator (HATS) were acquired to extract information on the spatial characteristics of sounds by comparing the signal arriving at the two ears (i.e. interaural cross correlation, IACC). 

Figure 1: Two distinct moments during the acoustic measurements in the main prayer hall of the Cambridge Central Mosque: (a) Measurement of the impulse response, and (b) Measurement of spatial characteristics using a Head and Torso Simulator. (Images captured by authors and approved for publication by mosque’s admin)

Acoustics measurements in the main prayer hall revealed a very low background noise level (NC-20), meeting the standard required for concert halls. The average reverberation time (T₃₀) and early decay time (EDT) were 2.8 seconds and 2.7 seconds, respectively. These values are longer than average reverberation times reported for large mosques in Saudi Arabia(5) (volume >3,000 m³). The sense of spaciousness in terms of listener envelopment, was found to be good, with consistently high values of IACC_L3 across different locations. This indicates that the late reverberant energy is highly diffuse and spatially homogeneous throughout the main prayer hall.

To complement the description of the acoustic signature of the mosque, two imams were invited to take part in a dedicated interview. As the imam is the only permitted sound source (i.e. the only performer) inside the mosque during group prayer(6), including their perspectives on the acoustics of the space seemed particularly appropriate. Besides, the interactions with the imams mediated the entrance into another dimension of the study, moving beyond the analysis of the physical structure to consider the social and spiritual interactions and cultural meanings that the architecture of the mosque demarcates and enables. Accordingly, these conversations expanded to include spiritual dimensions of sonic Islam, offering valuable context and grounding, that helped preparing the non-Muslim research team to engage more sensitively and effectively with the worshipping community.

The next phase was informed by an arts-based research method developed by Shortt and Warren(7), originally focused on participant-led photography. In this case, their approach was declined for auditory investigation, incorporating participant-led recordings instead. Ten participants from within the mosque’s congregation were recruited. They were asked to use their mobile devices to capture and share a series of sound clips unique, characteristic, symbolic, or meaningful to them. The shared recordings generated rich aural narratives, bringing together motivations, sound objects, recording locations, and contextual details. Follow-up sound-elicitation interviews explored the significance of these recordings for each participant, generating textual narratives to accompany the aural material.  All the collected data will subsequently undergo analysis based on Shortt and Warren’s ‘Grounded Visual Pattern Analysis’(8), here declined for aural dimension as ‘Grounded Aural Pattern Analysis’. Findings from the analysis aim at bringing to light the most subtle and ‘overheard’ aspects of the mosque atmosphere, in doing so contributing to narratives of British Islam from unique and diverse perspectives. Furthermore, it will offer insights into how the mosque is experienced not only individually, but also collectively as a space for congregation. In this phase, the methodological choices centre around the participants’ voice, allowing their lived experiences to shape the findings and supporting a more equitable researcher–participant relationship. Moreover, mirroring its revered place in the vast and multifaceted Islamic sensorium, the act of listening reclaims a key role in this whole study. 

Approaching Islamic spatial experience in a British context through the investigation of a UK mosque’s acoustic, sonic, and aural dimensions thoughtfully challenge the ocular-centric tendencies of Western architectural discourses and advance a culturally sensitive approach to British Islam. Drawing on diverse disciplines including architecture, acoustics, soundscape, and sound studies, this research ultimately seeks to expand conversations on the cultural and spiritual significance of the built environment, by deepening its multisensorial and multidimensional comprehension. 

References

• Abdou, Adel A. “Measurement of acoustical characteristics of mosques in Saudi Arabia.” The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 113, no.3 (2003): 1505-1517. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.1531982.
• Cambridge Central Mosque. “About: Design.“ Accessed November 1^st, 2025, at https://cambridgecentralmosque.org/design/.
• Elkhateeb, Ahmed A. “What should the reverberation inside a masjid be? a study exploring the demands of Imams. ” In Worship Sound Spaces: Architecture, Acoustics, and Anthropology. Routledge, 2019.
• Frishkopf, Michael. “The Sonorous Audible Mosque. ” In Mosque. Routledge, 2024.
• Pallasmaa, Juhani. The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses. Academy Edition, 1996.
• Shortt, Harriet L., and Samantha K. Warren. “Grounded visual pattern analysis: Photographs in organizational field studies.” Organizational Research Methods 22, no. 2 (2019): 539-563. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094428117742495.
• Ward, Jenna and Shortt, Harriet L. “Using arts-based methods of research: a critical introduction to the development of ats-based research methods.” In Using Arts-Based Research Methods – Creative Approaches for Researching Business, Organisation, and Humanities. Palgrave Macmillan Cham, 2020.
• Zhang, Dongxu, Yue Shan, Xinyi Chen, and Zixia Wang. “Soundscape in religious historical buildings: a review.” Heritage Science 12, no. 1 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-024-01148-x.

Footnotes

1.  Pallasmaa, The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses.
2.  Frishkopf, “The Sonorous Audible Mosque,” 107-124.
3.  Zhang et al., “Soundscape in religious historical buildings: a review,” 12:45.
4.  Cambridge Central Mosque, ”About: Design.” 
5.  Abdou, “Measurement of acoustical characteristics of mosques in Saudi Arabia,” 1505-1517.
6.  Elkhateeb, “What should the reverberation inside a masjid be? a study exploring the demands of Imams, ” 77-103.
7.  Ward and Shortt, “Using arts-based research methods: Creative approaches for researching business, organisation and humanities,” 1-13.
8.  Shortt and Warren, “Grounded visual pattern analysis: Photographs in organizational field studies,” 539-563.