Acoustics of Concert Halls and Rooms
SUBJECTIVE AND
OBJECTIVE ROOM
ACOUSTIC
PARAMETERS
Science of Sound, Chapter 23
Concert Halls and Opera Houses (Beranek 1966, 2004)
Handbook of Acoustics, Chapter 9 (Gade), Chapter 10 (Ando)
WHAT ARE GOOD ACOUSTICS?
Every concert hall and opera house has its own distinct
acoustics. Any music lover, of course, feels the effect of a
hall’s acoustical design, often without realizing its
importance—unless he or she has made a practice of listening
to music in many different venues. Consequently, an attempt
to determine which acoustical qualities concertgoers prefer
usually elicits recollections about the particular concerts that
gave a listener the deepest pleasure. For that individual, a
number of elements come together to create that pleasure—
the composition, the conductor, the orchestra, and the hall
must in combination be excellent to produce a memorable
listening experience. For the music professional, however,
whether a conductor, a performer, or an acoustical engineer, it
is vital to distinguish among these ingredients and to
understand what each contributes to the totality.
L. L. Beranek (2004)
A COMMON LANGUAGE FOR MUSICIANS,
ARCHITECTS, ACOUSTICIANS
•Reverberation and
fullness of tone
•Definition
•Resonance
•Intimacy
•Liveness
•Spaciousness
•Warmth
•Listener envelopment
•Loudness
•Timbre
•Acoustical glare
•Brilliance
•Balance
•Blend
•Ensemble
•Immediacy of response
(attack)
•Texture
•Echoes
•Dynamic range and
background noise level
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
CONDITIONS FOR PERFORMERS
It is also important to consider the performers’
conditions
Musicians will be concerned about reverberance and
timbre, of course, but also ease of ensemble and early
support
Ease of ensemble relates to how well musicians can
hear and play together with their colleagues. Related to
the amount of early reflection energy on the stage.
Early support (STearly) depends on ratio of early
reflection energy to direct sound (one meter from
source)
Desirable
reverberation
times for various
sizes and
functions
Variations of
reverberation time
with frequency in
good halls
SUGGESTED VALUES FOR OBJECTIVE
PARAMETERS (GADE, 2007)
SUBJECTIVE PREFERENCE THEORY
OF Y. ANDO
Orthogonal parameters
•Listening level (LL)
•Early reflection time after the direct sound
•Reverberation time (Rtsub) after the early reflection
•Interaural cross correlation function (IACC)
CALCULATED VALUES OF FOUR ORTHOGONAL
FACTORS AT DIFFERENT SEATS IN THE KRISHIMA
INTERNATIONA CONCERT HALL (JAPAN)
listening level (LL)
total reflection
initial time delay
IACC