Joanne Black: Hear and now

When it comes to bad acoustics, egg cartons may be the answer.

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9th June, 2012

Journalist Derek Round’s funeral at the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul reminded me again how dreadful its acoustics are. The eulogies were amusing and touching, but it required constant concentration to pick up all the words. I suspect the committal is still, days later, reverberating around the belfry. Only the beautiful solo by one of Derek’s granddaughters was easily audible, perhaps because she was not in the centre of the cavernous space. I don’t know what causes the problem, but it seems a shame that this building, which occasionally hosts some of New Zealand’s finest oratory, ...

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