Acoustics and Sonic Research
This section presents my research on acoustics, psychoacoustics, and immersive audio, spanning from my early work at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) to my current projects at Stanford’s CCRMA. My work investigates how acoustic environments—particularly reverberation, spatial diffusion, and sonic complexity—shape human perception, emotion, and the experience of awe. Combining architectural acoustics with sound synthesis and spatial audio technologies, I develop and study immersive environments using tools such as virtual acoustics, wave field synthesis, and multichannel spatial audio systems.
My earlier thesis research at RPI, conducted in the CRAIVE lab with a 128-speaker array and panoramic display, laid the foundation for this work by integrating architectural modeling, acoustic simulation, and perceptual experimentation. Building on this, my current research explores how sound can transform our sense of space, self, and emotion, with applications in virtual reality, artistic practice, and therapeutic design.
Research Interests:
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Architectural acoustics
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Psychoacoustics
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Acoustic simulation and virtual acoustics
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Immersive audio systems
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Perceptual and emotional responses to sound, including awe and self-transcendence
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Interaction between sound, space, and the sense of self (embodiment and presence)
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Virtual reality and audiovisual immersion for perceptual experimentation
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Sound-driven transformations of spatial awareness and cognition
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Artistic applications of immersive sound environments
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Therapeutic and well-being applications of sonic environments
Ph.D. Dissertation
Sonic Sublime
This project investigates how sound structure shapes the emotional and perceptual
experience of awe across both natural and architectural environments. It integrates
methods from psychoacoustics, affective neuroscience, and immersive spatial design to test how acoustic properties—particularly reverberation, diffusion, and spatial envelopment—mediate the core phenomenological dimensions of awe:
vastness,self-diminishment, and connectedness. Collectively, these variables form what is here termed the Sonic Vastness Bundle—a measurable constellation of acoustic parameters hypothesized to underlie experiences of sonic transcendence.
Publications & Presentations
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"Sonic Dimensions of Awe: A Review of Theories, Findings, and Experimental Approaches", I3DA Conference, September 2025, Bologna, Italy, DOI: 10.1109/I3DA65421.2025.11202094 - Link
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Lloyd May, Nima Farzaneh, Orchisama Das, Jonathan Abel, ”Evaluating Room Impulse Response Synthesis Methods Using a Racquetball Court", International Commission for Acoustics (ICA), 2022, Published in MDPI Acoustics Journal, September 2025, DOI: 10.3390/acoustics7030056, Link
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Session Organizer and Chair “Sounding Spaces”, Society of Architectural Historians, 78th Annual Conference, May 2025, Atlanta, GA
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“The Sonic Sublime: Investigating Auditory Awe in Immersive Experiences for Emotional Well-Being”, Symposium: Echoes Through Time: Perspectives on Sacred Space Acoustics Yale Institute of Sacred Music (ISM), March 27–28, 2025
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Sergio Alarco Robledo, Nima Farzaneh, “Researching the Soundscapes of North Saqqara at the Time of State Formation.” Symposium: Echoes Through Time – Perspectives on Sacred Space Acoustics, Yale Institute of Sacred Music (ISM), March 27–28, 2025.
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Sergio Alarco Robledo, Nima Farzaneh, ... et al., “Hearing North Saqqara: From Archives to Soundscapes”, November 21, 2024 ASOR Annual Meeting
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Jonathan Berger, Luna Valentine, Nima Farzaneh ... et al. "Exploring the Past with Virtual Acoustics and Virtual Reality", I3DA Conference, Bologna, Italy, September 8, 2023 - Link
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Sergio Alarco Robledo, Nima Farzaneh, ... et al. "An Approximation to the Acoustics of the North Saqqara Plateau", International Congress of Egyptologists, Leiden University, Netherlands, August 8, 2023
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Nima Farzaneh, "Understanding the Acoustical Environment of the Safavid Era", Thesis, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 2021 - Link
Spatial Audio
Spatial audio rendering techniques have created the opportunity for advancement in audio simulation and the study of auditory scene analysis. Pipe organs with their immense size, inherit their sound envelopment properties from the spatial characteristics of the architectural space that encompasses them. In other words, the instrument and space create an audio apparatus unique in its kind. This paper focuses on studying the spatial characteristic of pipe organ sound and the
sonic landscape created within a virtually modeled architectural space based on ray tracing. The design of the space is the result of a thorough study of an Iranian architecture element called “Muqarnas.” Muqarnas is a stalactite vaulting system based on the replication of uniformly scaled modules arranged in tiers. Its shape creates a smooth transition from walls to ceilings and a dome-shaped enclosure. The virtually designed space will be sculpted around the organ ranks in
such a way that together they create a spatially inhabitable musical instrument. Using wave field synthesis and panoramic visual rendering in RPI’s CRAIVE Lab, the goal is to create an immersive audio-visual experience. The system is also used to study the human perception of extended sound sources in reverberant environments. My Current research topic is Simulation Of Extended Sound Sources (Pipe Organ) using Wave Field Synthesis.
Acoustics in Islamic Architecture
Architectural acoustics in historic Islamic architecture is a relatively untouched domain for researchers and acousticians. However, a wide variety of architectural spaces with unique forms and geometries, especially in public buildings such as mosques, schools, public baths, can offer ample opportunities for curious architectural acousticians. For instance, in a typical mosque, spaces like prayer hall, courtyard, mihrab, portal, or features like minarets and domes all
Muqarnas (the understudy element)
contribute to the sonic landscape of these architectural entities. Furthermore, one should not neglect the role of ornamentation, which adds another layer of complexity and aesthetic values to the formation of these spaces.
In this research, one of the most articulated archetypal forms of Islamic Architecture called Muqarnas - that has both structural functionality and ornamental beauty - is the subject of investigation. Muqarnas is a decorative vaulting system that creates a smooth transition from a room's walls into a domed ceiling.[1] This element originated in Egyptian Islamic architecture and later was articulated by Iranians during the Safavid era, and is one of the most
Music and Religious Spaces
significant motifs of their architecture. The application of Muqarnas is not limited to the interior space of a building. Moreover, it contributes to the urban landscape in entrance portals (Iwan) of mosques, public buildings, and bazaars' arches. The unique geometrical properties of this element, which have a modular and rotational nature, along with the proportional and volumetric specification of the space it encompasses, is the acoustical subject of study in this research.
Despite the shortage of literature in the acoustical study of Islamic Architecture, researchers have done a considerable amount of work in the analysis and modeling of equivalent building types in the western world. In contrary to the Islamic world, the utilization of music in the practice of Christianity has made churches an engaging topic for acousticians. During the years, 800 and 900 pipe organs started to find their place
Pipe Organ
in religious services and therefore started to become a component of churches and Monasteries. [2]
Pipe organs with their immense size are bound to the architectural space that inhabits them, and the sound of the instrument reflects the space's acoustical properties, which makes the architectural space analogous to the body of the instrument. Also, due to their pipes' distribution pattern, pipe organs can be the subject of study as an extended sound source. As a result, this instrument has been borrowed by the author as a tool for
Methodology
acoustical analysis of the targeted architectural space under study. The known impact of church acoustics [3] on the sound of this instrument is a building block for comparison and evaluation of the sonic landscape created in Islamic Architecture and, more specifically, the subject of interest in this research Muqarnas.
The methodology pursued in this project's acoustical analysis is based on some known techniques in architectural acoustics such as the ray-tracing method and measurement algorithms introduced by simulation software like CATT acoustics. However, to optimize the computation time and validity of collected data, a decomposition method is proposed in which a large-scale acoustics problem is broken down into smaller
problems with different scales and measurement accuracy requirements. [ ] For the small scale, Muqarnas itself as an architectural motif is the test's subject. This part of the study reveals the impact of the element's geometrical properties as an acoustical device and its behavior in a specific sound field to reflect, diffuse, or diffract sound. In order to achieve this goal, this element is subtracted from the rest of the space and being analyzed as an individual object in a neutral acoustical environment. On a larger scale, this architectural element will be studied
as the building block of an architectural entity such as a mosque. Based on the small scale analysis, an imaginary architectural space is virtually created and modeled that uses muqarnas acoustical properties as the primary tuner of the sonic environment. Eventually, a pipe organ sound is being simulated within the virtual space as a tool for qualitative measurements and the study of extended sound sources in the realm of psychoacoustic and musical acoustics.
Ray-tracing Method
