The Romans Built Arenas for Immersive Sound 2,000 Years Ago

The historic Arena of Nimes in France is still in use today

If immersive sound in sports venues sounds like a new concept, think again. The Romans were doing it nearly two millennia ago. Such was and is the case at the Arena of Nimes, a historic Roman amphitheater in the south of France that is still active today hosting sports and other entertainment.

Dating to 100 AD, the Roman-built Arena of Nimes combines geometry and materials for naturally immersive sound.

A vast oval amphitheater — 436 ft. long and 331 ft wide, enclosing an arena measuring 223 ft. by 125 ft. — with a stunning 69-ft.-high façade resplendent with archways and ornamentation, the Nimes Arena could seat 24,000 people in its 34 terraces (a capacity similar to Georgia State’s Center Parc Stadium in Atlanta). The people of the city — then known as Nemausus — would sit according to their social status to watch the games played there, not unlike today’s stratification from suites to bleachers. Events ranged from animal hunts involving lions, tigers, and even elephants to the iconic gladiatorial matches and chariot races, with the occasional public execution thrown in.

Today, the historic Arena of Nimes serves as a venue for sports, music, and other events.

The Arena de Nimes — its proper French expression — underwent a number of identity changes over nearly 2,000 years, from sports venue to walled city housing residents to fortress protecting them. (The Miami Dolphins’ Hard Rock Stadium has had at least six names, including Joe Robbie Stadium (1987-96), Pro Player Park/Stadium (1996-2005), and Land Shark Stadium (2009-10) since 1987.) Having been restored as an events venue in the mid 19th century, it has hosted everything from bullfights to rock concerts by Dire Straits, Metallica, and Dua Lipa. Sports were a staple through the centuries. Chariot races returned in 1840, followed by gymnastics competitions in 1850, and wrestling in 1853.

Sight and Sound

Nimes, like all Roman venues, took care to ensure that all spectators could both see and hear the action clearly. The architectural design is essentially two amphitheaters (thank you, ancient Greeks) set face to face with an oval arena between them. Romans built more than 230 of these venues throughout their empire, allowing some fairly precise examinations of their acoustical properties.

Today, the historic Arena of Nimes serves as a venue for sports, music, and other events.

Essentially, the architects made use of a combination of geometry and materials: the curved shape of the amphitheater created a natural reverberant chamber that amplified sounds and added ambience, and the use of marble, stone, and other hard materials throughout the structure helped reflect and direct sound waves. Additionally, the seating was designed at different heights and distances from the stage, which served as diffusion for the sound, preventing build-up of distracting bumps in certain frequency ranges and enhancing speech intelligibility.

More recently, events have had to depend less on the arena’s natural acoustics. In 2019, for a festival of ancient Roman gladiatorial sports, Canadian firm Zero-Ohm Systems installed a surround-type PA system comprising more than 100 German-made Fohhn loudspeakers and its immersive Gallery processor.

Some of the 100 Fohhn loudspeakers installed at the Arena of Nimes

Now seating 16,000 fans, the Arena de Nimes has a music festival scheduled for next summer, headlined by Jamiroquai, Sting, Lorde, Marilyn Manson, and Neil Young. And bullfights will be back at some point. But the venue stands as a reminder that people have always wanted a place to gather to see — and hear — sports.