AUDITORIUM

ACOUSTICS

REFERENCES:
Science of Sound, 3rd ed., Chapter 23
Springer Handbook of Acoustics, 2007, Chapters 9, 10
Principles of Vibration and Sound, 2nd ed., Chapter 11
Concert Halls and Opera Houses, 2nd ed.,Leo Beranek,
 SOUND FIELD OUTDOORS AND INDOORS

p vs r log p vs log r
Free field

Reflections
 DIRECT AND EARLY SOUND

SOUND TRAVELS AT 343 m/s. THE DIRECT SOUND REACHES

THE LISTENER IN 20 to 200 ms, DEPENDING ON THE DISTANCE
FROM THE SOURCE TO THE LISTENER.
A SHORT TIME LATER THE SAME SOUND REACHES THE
LISTENER FROM VARIOUS REFLECTING SURFACES, MAINLY
THE WALLS AND THE CEILING. THE FIRST GROUP OF
REFLECTIONS, REACHING THE LISTENER WITHIN ABOUT 50 to
80 ms, IS OFTEN CALLED THE EARLY SOUND.
EARLY REFLECTIONS FROM SIDE WALLS ARE NOT EQUIVALENT
TO EARLY REFLECTIONS FROM THE CEILING OR FROM
OVERHHEAD REFLECTORS. IF THE TOTAL ENERGY FROM
LATERAL REFLECTIONS IS GREATER THAN THE ENERGY FROM
OVERHEAD REFLECTIONS, THE HALL TAKES ON A DESIRABLE
“SPATIAL IMPRESSION.”
 PRECEDENCE EFFECT

RATHER REMARKABLY, OUR AUDITORY PROCESSOR DEDUCES

THE DIRECTION OF THE SOUND SOURCE FROM THE FIRST
SOUND THAT REACHES OUR EARS, IGNORING REFLECTIONS.
THIS IS CALLED THE PRECEDENCE EFFECT OR “LAW OF THE
FIRST WAVEFRONT.”
THE SOURCE IS PERCEIVED TO BE IN THE DIRECTION FROM
WHICH THE FIRST SOUD ARRIVES PROVIDED THAT:
1. SUCCESSIVE SOUND ARRIVE WITHIN 35 ms
2. SUCCESSIVE SOUNDS HAVE SPECTRA AND ENVELOPES
SIMILAR TO THE FIRST SOUND
3. SUCCESSIVE SOUNDS ARE NOT TOO MUCH LOUDER THAN THE
FIRST
GROWTH AND DECAY OF REVERBERANT SOUND

SOUND SOURCE

SOUND AT LISTENER
 GROWTH AND DECAY OF REVERBERANT SOUND

RT = K (volume / area)
RT = 0.161 V/A (V in m3; A in m2 )
If room dimensions are given in feet, the formula may be written:
RT= 0.049 V/A (V in ft.3 ; A in ft.2 )
Sound decay

Sound decay in a
400 m3 classroom

Sound pressure level as a

function of time for that room
DECAY OF REVERBERANT
SOUND
CALCULATING REVERBERATION TIME
CALCULATING REVERBERATION TIME
 CRITERIA FOR GOOD ACOUSTICS

●ADEQUATE LOUDNESS
●UNFORMITY
●CLARITY
●REVERBERANCE
●FREEDOM FROM ECHOES
●LOW LEVEL OF BACKGROUND NOISE
ACOUSTIC PARAMETERS (Gade, 2007)
Reverberance (RT, EDT)
Clarity (C)
Sound strength (G)
Spaciousness
apparent source width (ASW)
listener envelopment (LEV)
Timbre or tone color (balance between hi, med, low freq)
Ease of ensemble
Early support
Speech inteligibility
 Desirable
reverberation times
for various sizes and
functions

Variation of
reverberation time
with frequency in
good halls
Avery Fisher
Hall (New
York)
McDermott Concert
Hall (Dallas)
Orchestra Hall
(Chicago)
 Meyerhof
Symphony Hall
(Baltimore)
Walt Disney Concert Hall
Disney
Kimmel
Center
Auditorium
(Philadelphia)
 BING CONCERT HALL (Stanford)

Named in honor of donors

Helen and Peter Bing ´55,
this 842-seat concert hall
opened in 2013.
 BING CONCERT HALL (Stanford)

Architect: Ennead
Acoustical consultant: Nagata Acoustics
Seats: 842
Room Volume: 17,000 m3

V/N = 19 m3

RT=
2.6 s (empty), 2.4 s (occupied)
 BING CONCERT HALL (Stanford)

(From Nagata Acoustics website)

BACKGROUND NOISE CRITERIA
 •Spatial impression
Important criteria for •Intimacy
•Early decay time
concert halls: •Clarity
•“Warmth”
 Concert
halls
throughout
the
World
 CHURCHES

CHURCHES AND SYNAGOGUES ARE NOT PRIMARILY

CONCERT HALLS, BUT THEY SHARE MANY OF THE SAME
REQUIREMENTS FOR GOOD ACOUSTICS
OLD CATHEDRALS HAVE LONG REVERBERATION TIMES,
AND THE SPOKEN WORD IS NOT AS IMPORTANT AS IN
CONTEMPORARY WORSHIP. MUCH ORGAN MUSIC WAS
COMPOSED FOR THESE SPACES
BACKGROUND NOISE SHOULD BE VERY LOW
ELECTRONIC REINFORCEMENT OF SOUND SHOULD BE
USED ONLY WHEN NECESSARY!
 CLASSROOMS

NEED FOR GOOD ACOUSTICS: STUDENTS MUST BE

ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THE TEACHER AND EACH OTHER

MUST CONROL:
• REVERBERATION
• HEATING, VENTILATION, AND AIR CONDITIONING
• NOISE FROM OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM
ANSI STANDARDS: NC-25 to NC-30
 WALLS AND NOISE BARRIERS

The transmission coefficient is the ratio of transmitted to incident

intensity: τ = IT/I0 and the transmission loss is: TL = -10 log τ.
At low frequency, the sound transmission loss follows a mass law,
increasing with increasing frequency and mass density M of the
wall:

Transmission loss for a wall may fall

below that predicted by the
mass law, due to any of the
following:
1. Wall resonances
2. Excitation of bending waves at the
critical frequency where they
travel at the same speed as
certain sound waves in air
3. Leakage of sound through holes
 TRANSMISSION LOSS

THE EFFECT OF A HOLE ON TRANSMISSION LOSS