Editing Dome (section)

== Acoustics ==
Because domes are concave from below, they can reflect sound and create echoes.{{sfn|Kayili|2005|p=9}} A dome may have a "[[whispering gallery]]" at its base that at certain places transmits distinct sound to other distant places in the gallery.{{sfn|Ching|2011|p=63}} The half-domes over the apses of Byzantine churches helped to project the [[chant]]s of the clergy.{{sfn|Ousterhout|2008a|p=13}} Although this can complement music, it may make speech less intelligible, leading [[Francesco Giorgi]] in 1535 to recommend vaulted ceilings for the choir areas of a church, but a flat ceiling filled with as many [[coffer]]s as possible for where preaching would occur.{{sfn|Baumann|Haggh|1990|pp=208–209}}

Cavities in the form of jars built into the inner surface of a dome may serve to compensate for this interference by diffusing sound in all directions, eliminating echoes while creating a "divine effect in the atmosphere of worship." This technique was written about by [[Vitruvius]] in his [[De architectura|''Ten Books on Architecture'']], which describes bronze and earthenware resonators.{{sfn|Kayili|2005|p=9}} The material, shape, contents, and placement of these [[Resonator|cavity resonators]] determine the effect they have: reinforcing certain frequencies or absorbing them.{{sfn|Baumann|Haggh|1990|p=202}}