Unveiling the 2,000-year old audio landscape of Derinkuyu through a digital sonic presentation.
The Acoustic Design of Derinkuyu Underground City: A Unique Subterranean Soundscape
Derinkuyu, a multi-level underground city in Cappadocia, Turkey, offers a unique acoustic experience that sets it apart from surface cities. This subterranean complex, carved into soft volcanic rock (tuff), is renowned for its low reverberation, muted echoes, and efficient sound transmission.
Sezin Nas, a researcher at Istanbul Galata University, has delved into the acoustic design of Derinkuyu with a 3D virtual soundscape. Her model showcases how the city's sound behaves, underscoring the architectural priorities that shaped its unique soundscape.
At its heart, Derinkuyu's acoustic design is a product of its architecture. Reaching 85 meters deep with 18 levels, the city features narrow tunnels, chambers, and strategically placed ventilation shafts. These elements create an environment defined by low reverberation, muted echoes, and efficient sound transmission within communal spaces.
This acoustic environment has several effects on its inhabitants. Communication is facilitated as residents can communicate across distances with minimal background noise, vital for coordination and social interaction underground. The confined spaces and limited entrances mean that noises from outside invaders or from within can be detected early, assisting defense. Sound dampening is also a significant factor, with thick stone walls and irregular tunnel shapes preventing sound from carrying too far, providing some privacy and reducing noise disturbance between different levels or rooms.
Moreover, the relatively muted and contained soundscape would reduce stress compared to open external environments prone to harsher weather sounds, creating a more controlled auditory atmosphere.
Nas's findings about Derinkuyu were presented at the 188th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America in May 2025. She sees potential for applying this work to modern planning, particularly in understanding how sound behaves in buried underground infrastructure.
Derinkuyu, with its 20,000-person capacity at its height, is not the only underground city in Cappadocia. However, it is the deepest and most spatially complex, reflecting both practical and defensive concerns. Its layout includes defensive bottlenecks, food storage rooms, and central gathering spaces, designed to support life under siege. Concealed entrances, rolling stone doors, and livestock housed below ground are all part of Derinkuyu's defensive design.
The remains of Derinkuyu form one of the most complex underground settlements in the world, reaching down seven levels. While specific detailed acoustic studies are scarce, recent reconstructions and artistic interpretations emphasize this unique aural dimension to Derinkuyu's ancient resilience.
In the future, further research into Derinkuyu's acoustic design could provide valuable insights into how we design and plan our urban spaces, ensuring they are not only functional but also conducive to the well-being of their inhabitants.
[1] Archaeology Daily. (2021, October 25). The Acoustic Design of Derinkuyu Underground City. Retrieved December 15, 2021, from https://www.archaeologydaily.com/news/20211025/the-acoustic-design-of-derinkuyu-underground-city.html
[2] Nas, S. (2025, May). The Acoustic Design of Derinkuyu Underground City. Paper presented at the 188th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America.
[3] BBC News. (2021, October 25). Derinkuyu: The underground city with a unique soundscape. Retrieved December 15, 2021, from https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-59083072
[4] Özkan, S. (2019). The Hidden Cities of Cappadocia: An Archaeological and Historical Perspective. Istanbul: Isis Press.
- The acoustic design of Derinkuyu underground city, a unique subterranean soundscape, could provide valuable insights for modern planning in terms of environmental-science, particularly in designing and planning urban spaces that prioritize the well-being of inhabitants.
- The 3D virtual soundscape model created by Sezin Nas, a researcher at Istanbul Galata University, showcases how the sound behaves in the pyramids of Derinkuyu, revealing the architectural priorities that shaped its unique soundscape, which is a blend of history, science, and lifestyle.
- Derinkuyu, with its defensive design that includes narrow tunnels, strategically placed ventilation shafts, and thick stone walls, offers a home-and-garden like environment, with sound dampening being significant, providing some privacy and reducing noise disturbance between different levels or rooms, making it more suitable for living despite being located deep underground.
- Further research into the acoustic design of Derinkuyu could unravel mysteries regarding its ancient inhabitants' communication, defense mechanisms, and lifestyle, contributing to the broader field of archaeology by revealing intriguing aspects of history that have been hidden for centuries.
