Acoustics in buildings

Open-air theater
 These are used for motion pictures, dance drama and music
performances.
 It may have enclosing barrier around
 Large crowds can be accommodated without the problems of ventilation
 No roof required thereby reducing structural problems and problems of
reverberation and dead spaces.
 Portable open air theaters are possible with foldable seating and rear, side
walls and stage.
Design of open-air theater
 Site should afford space free of traffic noise, industrial noise or any other
noise.
 It should be in the shadow zone of hills or buildings etc if possible
 Trees can absorb some amount of noise
 Orientation should decided after considering the wind direction if it is likely
to affect the sound quality
 Stage rear wall of hard material provides necessary reflection for sound,
and prevents interference of wind to some extent. Should be convex
corrugation in shape. Stage ceiling should be sloping to throw sound in the
auditorium. Angle of stage roof = (45+ angle of seating /2)
 Walls on sides enhance the reflection quality. They should not be parallel
and should be splayed outwards to avoid fluttering of sound. These help in
controlling the audience.
 Trees at the rear prevent delayed reflection from rear wall.
 The floor can be either hard floor or soft lawn etc.
 The slope for permanent “OAT” should be worked out for proper sight
lines. For drive in theaters, a local gradient is provided to make the vision
of screen clear from inside the vehicle. Tiered seating may be planned for
proper sight lines and for ease of seating. Lawns with slope must be
provided considering the slopes necessary for sight lines and angles of
repose for earth.
 The shape should be suitable for the type of stage. For music etc, the
shape can be semicircular. For drama the shape may be fan shaped. For
outdoor movie theatres the shapes cannot be fan shaped.
 When the area is too large, amplifiers may be located in proper spaces to
avoid lag between sight and sound.
 Capacity should not be more than 600 without any amplification of sound.
 Gangways, aisles to be treated with soft surface treatment to avoid noise
of walking as the spectators walk in OAT.
 Paving of tiers and the bodies of spectators must be considered in
calculating the sound absorption and reflectance.
 Humidity, Temperature, Fog and wind velocity to be considered.

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Cinema
 Sound energy of 10 watts is adequate for 500 persons
 Volume of 4.5 cubic meters per person.
 Very high amplification of sound, hence ambient level of sound can be
very high, as high as 40 to 45 dB.
 Wall behind the screen also should be treated for absorption.

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School Auditoria
These should be multipurpose in nature. Should be placed in such a way as
not to create noise nuisance for classrooms.
Easily removable non-noisy furniture should be provided.
Surface may be used for plying also with small number of players. This calls
for soft flooring. Sound absorption treatment for walls necessary to reduce
problems of sound flutter, reverberation etc.
To many hard surfaces may result into very high decibel levels inside the hall.
The hall is multipurpose and must be treated with adjustable sound
absorption capacities as shown in sketches.

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Studios for recording or broadcasting.

Location for studios should be selected with a low ambient sound level such
as 25 db.
A slightest of sound coming from outside will be broadcasted or recorded. So
all unwanted sound must be cut off.
The microphones should be as close to the source of sound and they should
have minimum pickup angle.
Reverberation time must be very low. This is necessary because the sound
picked up in one room may get reproduced in another room and it will have its
own reverberation time.
It must be adjustable for different performers. This can be done with help of
thick curtains that can be rolled up or down to reduce or increase absorption.
Convex surfaces may be used to defuse the sound.
The treatment must be scattered in all direction to avoid un-uniform decay of
sound.
A volume of 27 cubic meters may be provided per performer. If audience is
accommodated an additional volume of 2 Cubic meters per person may be
added.
Shape: No two dimensions of the studio should be equal or should be in the
proportion of a whole number.
Amplification System
Amplification systems should be installed in auditorium wherein the
capacity necessitates boosting of sound. It is generally considered that a
capacity of 500 onwards, amplification of sound will be necessary. Amplification
may be provided in case of such low capacities as 200 to 300. But in fan shaped
auditorium where the seating has a large angle in relation to stage, larger
capacities can be accommodated close to the stage. This reduces the distance
of rear wall from the stage. Hence with good acoustical treatment even a crowd
of 1000 can have good quality sound without any amplifiers.
The microphones should have a capacity to amplify sound generated in an
angle of not more than 120 degrees in front of it. Any sound generated outside
this angle should not be amplified. This is necessary to keep unwanted sounds
out.
The power provided by the amplifiers can be about 10 watts per 500
capacities, without humming sound. The loudspeakers throw the sound in a
conical way hence a number of loud speakers may be provided at different
heights like 3.5 m, 4.5 m above stage to provide coverage to various sections of
the audience.
The location of microphones must be such that the amplified sound should
not feed back into the amplifier. This is necessary to avoid howling sound that
may be generated due to feedback.
The sound generated on the stage must be related to the direction from
where the sound appears to be coming to the spectator. Otherwise the
movement on stage and the direction of sound will not be related. Hence it is
necessary to have stereophonic system of sound.
In stereophonic system, the sound will appear to be coming from Amplifier
A if microphone A is mainly in use. This establishes a spatial relation between
the actor on stage and the direction of sound. (See diagram)

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