architectural acoustics - 1. Reflection, 2. Directional effects, 3 Reverberation, 4.

Designing for good acoustics

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architectural acoustics
1. Reflection, 2. Directional effects, 3 Reverberation, 4. Designing for
good acoustics
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Music performed in an enclosed space sounds different from the way it does when heard in the open air.

With practice, we can deduce with surprising accuracy the size, shape, and richness of furnishing of

our surroundings from the way the sounds of musical instruments or voices have been modified and added to

on their way to our ears. For the basic behaviour of sound waves, see acoustics. The following article considers

how sounds are affected by the room or auditorium acoustics.

1. Reflection

In completely free space, sounds travel outwards from their source with diminishing intensity until all the

energy has been dissipated in the ever-widening wavefront or lost as heat in the air itself. By contrast, sound

waves in a concert hall are repeatedly turned back on themselves and bounced in criss-cross patterns

throughout the enclosed space. The audience therefore hears not only the direct sound but also a mixture of later

and weakersounds. These multiple reflections are delayed in accordance with the extra distance travelled;

and they diminish in intensity through normal dissipation and absorption at each boundary reflection.

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architectural acoustics - 1. Reflection, 2. Directional effects, 3 Reverberation, 4. Designing for good acoustics

A near-perfect reflector such as a polished wood floor will reflect almost 100 per cent of the incident energy, but

soft furnishings, porous fibre-tiles, or pliant panels will absorb part of that energy. In practice, the different kinds

of absorber are frequency-selective, and good acoustic design depends on careful disposition of various absorbers

to control reflections evenly at bass, middle, and treble frequencies.

2. Directional effects

Sound sources are described as directional or non-directional depending on whether they are physically large

or small compared with the wavelength of the musical notes being radiated (see acoustics, 10). For similar

reasons, reflectors of different sizes and shapes may modify the distribution, i.e. diffusion, of sounds throughout

a room not only by frequency-selective reflection but also by re-radiating some bands of frequencies uniformly

and others in a directional manner. If curved surfaces are essential, a convex shape is generally preferred because

it tends to scatter sounds and help produce uniform listening conditions. Concave surfaces focus sounds back

along their axis and give rise to local echoes or dead spots.

A domed ceiling is a classic example of the concave shape to be avoided. The Royal Albert Hall in London is

perhaps specially unfortunate in having both an oval plan and a high domed ceiling focusing sounds on to parts

of the audience area. The effects of marked echoes were complained of for many years until arrays of flying

saucers were suspended beneath the huge dome. The underside of the saucers is convex, to scatter the

upward-travelling sound waves, and their tops carry absorbent material to capture any sounds that missed

the saucers on the way up and rebounded from the ceiling. In the same way, recesses or coffering should be

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architectural acoustics - 1. Reflection, 2. Directional effects, 3 Reverberation, 4. Designing for good acoustics

of generous proportions so that their scattering effect will be felt through most of the frequency spectrum.

3. Reverberation

Although members of an audience receive the direct sound followed by a wedge or tail of countless reflected

waves, they are not normally conscious of these as separate entities or echoes. The hearing mechanism (see ear

and hearing) works in such a way that sound repetitions arriving within about 1/20; of a second of each other are

run together and heard as one. Note, however, that flutter echoes can arise between parallel walls.

The prolongation effect is known as reverberation. A smooth decay is to be preferred, secured by careful

acoustic design to produce evenly diffused sounds. The time taken for sounds to fall to inaudibility is called

the reverberation time (strictly the time to fall to a millionth of its original value, or to 60 dB). Reverberation

time increases in direct proportion to the volume (size) of the enclosurethe greater distances stretching the

decay periodbut is reduced by the introduction of absorbent materials. An audience also mops up sound

energy quite effectively, so rehearsals in an empty hall sound much more reverberant than the actual concert.

To reduce this difference, modern concert-hall seating can be designed so that each seat absorbs about the

same amount of sound whether occupied or not.

4. Designing for good acoustics

For speech, the principal criteria for design are adequate loudness and a high degree of intelligibility. This

suggests a short reverberation time; yet too dry an acoustic will lack the reflected energy needed to carry
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adequate sound levels to listeners at greater distances from the platform. Attention to room shape and

seating layout is necessary, and a sloping or raked floor will help to give listeners in the back row a clear view of

the speakers and a better chance of hearing properly.

For music, there are additional acoustic requirements, making acoustic design as much art as science. From

an examination of existing halls generally rated as having good acoustics, Leo L. Beranek, for example, listed

18 criteria of quality in his book Music, Acoustics and Architecture. Historically, increasingly large halls have

been built, with correspondingly greater reverberation times, as the size of orchestras has grown. Thus Baroque

and chamber music are suited to a reverberation time of less than 1.5 seconds, Classical music about 1.7,

and Romantic music about 2.2 seconds. A longer decay at low frequencies makes for fullness of tone or

warmth, whereas good definition or clarity demands a rise at high frequencies.

Modern concert halls often incorporate some means of varying the reverberation characteristics to suit

different musical or non-musical events. A good example is Symphony Hall in Birmingham (opened in 1991 )

where a movable circular canopy over the platform area directs sound towards specific regions of the

auditorium, and reverberation chambers round the periphery can be opened to increase reverberation time.

Performing musicians naturally demand a sense of ease and power in producing adequate tone without fatigue.

This is helped by strategic placing near the players of reflecting surfaces which also enable them to hear each

other clearly. There seems no doubt that composers of all periods consciously or unconsciously wrote in such a

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architectural acoustics - 1. Reflection, 2. Directional effects, 3 Reverberation, 4. Designing for good acoustics

way as to suit the environment in which their music would be performed.

5. Problems of small rooms

In the reverberant sound field of a large hall, the random streams of reflected sound waves produce a

reasonably consistent diffusion of sound. In small rooms, however, distinct interference patterns are set up

by multiple reflections between parallel walls, floor, and ceiling. These standing wave resonances, which form

a kind of three-dimensional organ-pipe effect, occur at frequencies of which the distances between the

parallel surfaces are multiples of a half-wavelength. A harmonic series of these room resonances, or

eigentones, exists for each room dimension, and the uneven boosting of certain frequencies causes coloration

of the sound. Selective bass absorption is needed, or a special design using non-parallel walls.

6. Sound reinforcement

It is economically impossible to limit the use of most halls to musical forces of optimum size and acoustic

power. The question of amplification then arises for quiet instruments or voices. In many churches and

lecture theatres, the building shape or shortcomings in the acoustic distribution call for augmentation of the

natural sounds, either overall or selectively in particular areas. The basic components for sound reinforcement

or public address are a microphone, amplifier, and loudspeaker. The arrangement is inherently unstable,

however, as most users can testify, since any amplified sound from the loudspeaker that falls on the microphone

is again amplified and sent to the loudspeaker with the possibility of uncontrolled feedback.

Directional microphones can ease the problem since their less sensitive side(s) can be directed towards

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architectural acoustics - 1. Reflection, 2. Directional effects, 3 Reverberation, 4. Designing for good acoustics

the loudspeaker(s) and so reduce unwanted pickup of the amplified sound. Directional loudspeaker arrays can

also beam the sound waves into specific areas to give more efficient reinforcement without feedback.

7. Assisted resonance

A special kind of sound reinforcement, called assisted resonance, is used in some halls to increase the

reverberation time within certain frequency bands. A classic example is the Royal Festival Hall in London,

where the original 1948 design had called for a reverberation period of 1.7 seconds, rising to 2.5 seconds at

low frequencies. When the hall was built, however, the low-frequency reverberation time measured only 1.4

seconds and, while this gave excellent definition, the hall was criticized as lacking fullness of tone. In 1964

matters were improved by assisted resonance using 172 microphones at roof level, amplifiers tuned to

narrow frequency bands in the range 58700 Hz, and arrays of loudspeakers.

8. Sound insulation

A requirement in every type of auditorium is for the lowest practical level of extraneous noise, whether airborne

or transmitted through the structure of the building. A first step in planning is to choose a quiet sitenot

very practicable in a large cityand to design the building with as many layers or shells as possible on the

side nearest to railway lines or other identifiable sources of noise. Aircraft noise is an increasing problem

requiring the use of massive roofs on insulating supports, with suspended ceilings, floating floors, and multi-

layered exterior walls. The Bridgewater Hall in Manchester (opened in 1996 ) has achieved almost total exclusion

of external noise. Its massive 22,500-tonne weight is suspended on some 300 isolation spring bearings, and

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architectural acoustics - 1. Reflection, 2. Directional effects, 3 Reverberation, 4. Designing for good acoustics

its three-layer roof has an outer sheet of steel lined with acoustic panels.

See also concert halls.

Bibliography and More Information about architectural acoustics

L. L. Beranek , Music, Acoustics and Architecture (New York, 1962)

C. Gilford , Acoustics for Studios and Auditoria (London, 1972)

John Borwick

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