MODULE-3

• Acoustical Design of Auditoriums

• Acoustical Design and Detailing of Other Spaces

 HISTORY OF THEATRE
GREEK THEATRE
(From 7th Century B.C.E)

• Greek theatre was created to celebrate religious festivals.

• A chorus was used to either sing or chant the script.
• It is unknown if Thespis was a playwright, an actor or a priest, but he has
been credited for creating the “first actor” who broke away from the chorus
and would speak to the chorus as an individual character.
• This is why actors are also known as “Thespians”.
• This lead to the creation of character.
• Masks were used to allow the actors to play more than one character.
The sound quality in ancient times was likely much better than
it is today.
• The acoustics of ancient Greek theaters were so sophisticated that spectators
in the back row could hear the actors with perfect clarity, long before
microphones came into the picture.
• The elusive factor that makes the ancient amphitheater an acoustic marvel. It’s
not the slope, or the wind — it’s the seats.

• The rows of limestone seats at Epidaurus form an efficient acoustics filter

that hushes low-frequency background noises like the murmur of a crowd and
reflects the high-frequency noises of the performers on stage off the seats and
back toward the seated audience member, carrying an actor’s voice all the
way to the back rows of the theater.

• The corrugated, or ridged, material of the theater’s limestone structure was

acting as a filter for sound waves at certain frequencies,

• The seats themselves were the secret of its acoustics success.

• The site’s wind — which blows primarily from the stage to the audience —
was the cause, while others credited masks that may have acted as primitive
loudspeakers or the rhythm of Greek speech.
ROMAN THEATRES
• The Romans were greatly influenced by Greek Theatre.
• The word “play” comes from the Latin word “ludus” which means recreation
or play.
AUDITORIUM ACOUSTICAL DESIGN
ACOUSTICS FOR MULTIPURPOSE HALL
THE LITTLE THEATER : ( 300 capacity)
• For 300 capacity vol. should not exceed 50,000 cft.
• All seats are located on one floor.
• With a steep slope to have good line of sight and sound in all parts of the
auditorium.
• The lower 6’to 8’ of the side walls should be of reflective material.
• The rear wall should not be concave.

• It should be treated with highly abs. material and deeply inset doors, hangings
and ornaments which will reduce effect of long delayed reflections & help in
diffusing the sound.

• For additional acoustical treatment to achieve required R.T. upper portion of

side walls may be treated with non uniform strips or panels.

• The chairs should be upholstered.

• Stage with rear, side & over head surfaces should be treated with reflective
plywood.

• The stage should be well elevated (42”) above the front floor level and orchestra
pit should be avoided.

• Optimum R.T. is 1.5 sec at 125 cycles and 1.00 at 500 & 4000 cycles for
speech and music.

• Noise level of 30 to 35 db is acceptable.

• Doors and windows should be made sound proof to protect from outside
noise.
• Main auditorium should be segregated by coupled spaces ( interposed spaces
)like corridors.
• Promenades , lobbies and vestibules which must be treated with highly
absorptive material.
• The floor should be carpeted to avoid outside noise and to prevent “feed
back” from these spaces to audiences.
• The auditorium is isolated by two side walls adj. to streets in combination
with promenades, lobby which provides approx. T.L. of 60 dbs.
• If the site is located nearby road and air traffic it is advisable to treat these
enclosed spaces with highly abs. material or even double wall construction.
• The aisles to be covered with carpet to reduce the noise of foot falls and the
floor underneath the seats with marblex or lenoleum to reduce the noise of
scuffing of feet.

• Small set of reflectors made of pressed fiber board or plywood placed forward
on stage will project the sound towards auditorium.
MOTION PICTURE THEATERS
• Concave rear walls, parallel side walls, parallel ceiling and floor, and
surfaces that give long delayed reflections in the seating area must be
avoided.
• Because the sound is produced by means of electro-acoustical equipment, the
acoustical design of a cinema is not completely dependent on beneficial
reflections from walls, proscenium, splays, and ceilings as in legitimate theater.
• The ave. sound level of speech is 65 db. for dialogue and a capacity of 1000
seats should have an amplifier of at least 20 watts.
• Lengths greater than 150’ should be avoided. (1/7 second) since it will create
lack of synchronism between sight and the sound.
• The floor should rise steeply towards the rear, the loudspeakers and screen
should be well elevated.

• Splays and other functional deviations in the wall and ceiling contours can be
used to give proper diffusion of sound.
• A relatively deeper overhang of balcony can be tolerated since the ave.
speech level is somewhat higher.
• The balcony soffit should slope downward toward rear and should not be
absorptive.
• Vol ./seat ---- 125 to 150 cft is good but lower vol. is still better.
• By this building cost is reduced, load on A.C.is reduced, (smaller units both
for A.C. & sound amplification system)
Treatment of the walls behind the screen with highly abs. material prevents
sound radiating from the back of the loudspeakers from being reflected to the
audience.

Since the projection booth is potential source of noise , it should be treated with
fireproof acoustical material. Doors and windows must be made sound proof.