Courtrooms present more stringent acoustic and electro-acoustic design requirements than any other speech communication venues, including live theatre, conference facilities and parliaments. Within a courtroom environment, a number of human factors uniquely combine to present substantial difficulties for the delivery of intelligibility to all listeners.
These factors relate to:
• multiple speaking locations around the courtroom
• orientation of talkers with respect to the listeners (counsel often face away from the public)
• need to support nervous, softly spoken witnesses who are unfamiliar with speaking in public
• critical listening requirements due to prevalence of technical legal language
• heritage and architectural constraints
• court reporting audio feeds must be clear
• long listening periods need high acoustic comfort to help listener concentration on the subject matter
ICE Design Australia’s team is arguably the most skilled and experienced team in the southern hemisphere for courtroom situations. Our project experience includes:
• High Court of Australia – Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne
• New Zealand Supreme Court – Wellington
• Queens Square Law Courts (44 courts) – Sydney
• Supreme Court of NSW (Banco) – Sydney
• Adelaide Commonwealth Law Courts
• High Court of New Zealand Hamilton and Dunedin
• ACT Supreme and Magistrates Courts, Canberra
• Coffs Harbour Courthouse and Police Station
• King Street Courts, St James Court – Sydney
• Sir Sameul Way Court – Adelaide
• Supreme Court – Darwin
click on an image for project details.
