THE ART AND SCIENCE OF CONCERT HALL ACOUSTICS

ABSTRACT. The sound quality of a performance depends greatly on the acoustics of the space surrounding both the players and audience. There is nothing quite like a beautiful sounding performance in a hall with wonderful acoustics. Likewise, the sound in a hall with poor acoustics can be disappointing to all no matter what the quality of the performance. Computational acoustics, the science of computer simulation applied to the transmission of sound within a closed system, can be used to study concert hall acoustics in detail. I wanted to determine the extent to which current computational techniques can predict and explain the acoustical characteristics of halls for music and speech performance. After reviewing the history of the field and the state of the technology, a current state of the art simulation package called ODEON was procured for evaluation. In public benchmarks comparing simulated results with collected data, this package has rated first or second in reproducing the acoustical characteristics of concert halls. Using this package, I studied three existing concert halls and several other hypothetical halls. These studies addressed many issues of interest to the hall designer, the performers, and the audience. Proscenia cause blend and synchronization problems. Reverberation chambers can create an added sense of fullness. Carpeting the isles has little or no impact on hall acoustics, dispelling a myth held by many concerning the use of carpet in halls. Tall halls create a sense of envelopment that audiences like. Decisions on how to perform in a hall can also be enhanced with information provided by these simulations, improving the enjoyment of the art for both the performers and the audience. . Finally, I tried to create an “ideal” hall from lessons learned in the earlier studies.