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Acoustic Design Of An Auditorium

PRESENTED BY
MANSHA SAMREEN
INTRODUCTION
The room in which we listen to sounds has an important influence
on what we hear.
most important thing an auditorium must do is to provide a place
where speech can be clearly understood
The background noise in the hall has to be fairly quiet.
The hall acoustics should be fairly free from echoes and other
types of late reflections
Types of auditorium
For speech
eg. Conference hall, lecture theater, law court
For music
eg. music practice room, concert hall
For multipurpose
eg. Town hall, school, assembly hall
INTRODUCTION
Room Shape Volume

Sound shadows

Sound Propagation in an Auditorium

Direct Sound and Early Reflections


A GOOD ACOUSTICAL
DESIGN DEPENDS UPON Late Reflections

Calculating Reverberation Time

Absorption

Background Noise

Acoustics in auditorium
Intelligibility = Power + Clarity
FACTOR EFFECTING INTELLIGIBILITY
Power is affected by
Distance from speaker
Directional relationship to speaker
Audience absorption of direct sound
Reinforcement by reflectors
Sound shadows

Clarity is affected by
Delayed reflections: echoes
o Near echoes
o Reverberation
Duplication of sound source by loudspeakers
Ambient noise
Intrusive noise
DISTANCE FROM SPEAKERS
The importance of keeping the distance to rear rows of seats to a
minimum is quite evident. Measures taken are:
Economy in seat spacing
Economy in row spacing
Economy in gangway widths
Optimum shape of audience area
Spacing of rows of
Introduction of a gallery
seats from back-to
back
Shall be neither less
than 850 mm nor
less than
700 mm plus the
sum of the thickness
of the back and
inclination of the
back. There shall be
a space of not less
than 350 mm
between the back of
one seat and the
Above graph shows the extent to which the sound of" the human front of the seat
voice is attenuated by distance alone, in an auditorium with 30 immediately behind
rows of seats. it
DIRECTIONAL RELATIONSHIP TO SPEAKER

The optimum
arrangement of seats
will be within the
shaded area
Speech intelligibility varied in enbraced by all three
accordance with the directional contours
relationship of speaker to listener
AUDIENCE ABSORPTION OF DIRECT SOUND

Audience absorption of direct sound can be


reduced, and even eliminated by raking the floor
because sound is more readily absorbed when it
travel over the audience at grazing incidence.

The initial sound wave reaching listeners in the


rear row is well above the heads of listeners in
the front rows and therefore subject to little or no
absorption
REINFORCEMENT BY REFLECTORS
Sound source should be closely and abundantly
surrounded with large sound-reflective surface in order to
supply additional reflected sound energy to every portion
of the audience area, particularly to the remote seats.
The dimension of the reflecting surface must be
comparable to the wavelength of the sound wave to be
reflected.
Its minimum dimension should be of the order of 3m, so
that the reflected sound is not materially weakened by
edge diffraction.
The reflectors should be as low as possible so that the
initial time-delay gap between direct and first reflected
sound should be relatively short, possibly not exceeding
30 milliseconds.
Good use can be made of the ceiling and wall surfaces in
order to provide the greatest amount of short-delayed
sound reflections.
The ceiling and the front portion of the side wall of the
auditorium are always suitable surface for the
accommodation of sound reflectors. The reflectors should
preferably be overhead so that reflected sound is not
reduced by audience absorption. Additional reflective
surface must be provided which direct the sound back to
the performers particularly true in auditorium designed
for vocal purposes.
REINFORCEMENT BY REFLECTORS
In large auditoriums, requiring fairly high ceilings may
result in excessive delay between reflected and direct
sound, suspended reflectors are frequently employed at
a lower level.
Reflections from a convex surface are weaker as it is
dispersive. A concave surface will strengthen reflections,
but this may result in localizing the reflections to the
neglect of other areas of seating.
THE LOUDSPEAKER SYSTEM
Auditorium design begins with the loudspeaker
and how it plays sound into the hall and ends with
how the hall returns reflections of the sound back
to the audience.
speakers should produce a sound level at about 65
dB, everywhere in the seating area.
It should have at least 20 dB of head room so
that short lived bursts of sound up to 85 dB, can
be replicated without any hint of distortion.
Generally the ambient noise levels for an empty
good auditorium would be about 25 to 30 dB.
sound system is expected to meet the following
criteria:
It should properly transmit a wide range of
frequencies (from about 30 Hz to about 12,000 Hz)
It should provide a wide dynamic range
It should be free from disturbing echoes or
feedback
It should create a sufficiently low room
reverberation
It should remain undetected.
THE LOUDSPEAKER SYSTEM

THE CENTRALLY THE DISTRIBUTED THE STEREOPHONIC


LOCATED SYSTEM SYSTEM, USING A SYSTEM, WITH TWO
WITH A SINGLE NUMBER OF OR MORE CLUSTERS
CLUSTER OF OVERHEAD OF LOUDSPEAKERS
LOUDSPEAKERS OVER LOUDSPEAKERS AROUND THE
THE SOUND SOURCE LOCATED PROSCENIUM
THROUGHOUT THE OPENING OR THE
AUDITORIUM SOUND SOURCE.
THE LOUDSPEAKER SYSTEM
The central system Required where Stereophonic sound
gives maximum auditorium with a system preserves
realism because the ceiling height too low the illusion that
amplified sound for installation of a the sound is coming
comes from the same central system from the original,
direction as the unamplified source.
When sound has to be
original sound
provided for overflow
audiences
In large halls for
flexibility to amplify
sound source where
the amplified sound .
has to override the
prevailing high
background-noise level
In halls where the
possibility exists of
dividing the space into
several smaller areas
THE LOUDSPEAKER SYSTEM- PROBLEM CAUSED
Introduction of even one loudspeaker in an auditorium
means that members of the audience will bear two sound
arriving at different times and from different directions. For
both the central loudspeaker system and distributed
loudspeaker system, the time intervals, as found by
comparing the lengths of the sound paths, should be
checked to ensure that they are not more than about 1/30
sec
The second problem arises when a loudspeaker is introduced
half way down a large auditorium . the sound reaching the
listener from the speaker travels a 345m/s through the air.
The sound emanating from the loudspeaker much closer to
listener has travelled along a wire at very high speed(10,000
m/s). He will hear the loudspeaker first and the sound from
the platform either as a weak echoes or a blurring of the
speech. The problem can be overcome by introducing a
delayed mechanism into the loudspeaker circuit, so that
sound from the loudspeaker is produced a few milliseconds
after the arrival of the sound through the air.
The use of 'column speakers' may cause a third problem, the
possible increase of reverberation due to the increased
power of the sound. By 'fanning' most of the amplified
sound over the highly absorbent audience this effect can be
reduced.
Sound Propagation in an Auditorium
Sound waves travel at about 345 meters/second,
the sound coming directly from a source within
an auditorium reaches a listener after 0.01 to 0.2
seconds.
After the arrival of the direct sound, a series of
semi-distinct reflections from various reflecting
surfaces (walls and ceiling) will reach the listener.
These early reflections typically occur within
about 50 milliseconds.
The reflections which reach the listener after the
early reflections are typically of lower amplitude
and very closely spaced in time. These reflections
merge into what is called the reverberant
sound or late reflections.
If the source emits a continuous sound, the
reverberant sound builds up until it reaches an
equilibrium level.
When the sound stops, the sound level decreases
at a more or less constant rate until it reaches
inaudibility.
Direct Sound and Early Reflections
Direct sound will decrease by 6 dB for each doubling
of distance propagated.
Our auditory system will determine the direction of a
sound source from the direct sounds reaching the
ear.
Early reflections which arrive within about 35
milliseconds are not heard as separate from the
direct sounds. Rather, they tend to reinforce the
direct sound.
The source is perceived to be in the direction from
which the first sound arrives provided that
1. successive sounds arrive within about 35
milliseconds,
2. the successive sounds have spectra and time
envelopes reasonably similar to the first sound, and
3. the successive sounds are not too much louder than
the first. This is referred to as the precedence
effect.
a concert hall is considered ``intimate'' if the delay
time between the direct and first reflected sound is
less than 20 milliseconds.
First reflections usually arrive from the nearest side
wall or from the ceiling for those seated in the center.
Direct Sound and Early Reflections
A bright and clear sounding auditorium will be
providing something like 30 separate early
reflections, each arriving well within the first
1/40th second following the initial impact of the
direct signal.
Some of these will be strong and some will be weak
but the overall summed power of all the early
reflections should be in the range of 60 dB to
provide good speech reinforcement.
Direct Sound and Early Reflections
It is important to focus reflections to the rear of the auditorium,
The direct sound will be reduced due to the decay of sound over distance and the grazing
effect of the audience. These reflections are focused by correctly angling the surfaces at the
front of the auditorium so that sound is directed towards the rear of the audience.
Angling the side walls of a given auditorium is often difficult due to the inherent restraints
imposed by the building.
The angle and layout of the ceiling becomes the critical
factor affecting the acoustic performance of
The theatre
Late Reflections
During a continuous sound, the reverberant sound level is reached when the rate at which
energy is supplied by the source is equal to the rate at which sound is absorbed by the room
and its contents.
Too much reverberant sound results in loss of clarity.
The late reflections is to be avoided.
They are those that arrive at the listeners ear within a time delay following the direct signal
between 1/40th second and second.
These reflections should be relatively indistinct and quiet, about 15 dB below the speech signal
range.
Late Reflections
The late reflections and echoes are the most
problematic part on auditorium acoustics.
One way is to simply eliminate all late reflections by
absorbing them. Other is to cover the surfaces of the
hall with sound scattering devices to disburse late
reflections, breaking them up into a plethora of fairly
quiet reflections.
Following this should be a low level rise and fall of
reverberation, again in the range of about 15 dB
below the direct and early reflected signals.
overall reverberation should fall away and become
inaudible within 1 second following the initial direct
signal
Reverberation Time & Air Absorption
Reverberation time
When expressed in units of cubic and square
Is typically defined as the time required
meters,
for the sound level to decrease by 60 dB
the reverberation time is given by
The ``total absorption'' area is calculated RT =
as the sum of all surface areas in the V is the volume of the room and
room, each multiplied by its respective A is the effective ``total absorption'' area.
absorption coefficient.
Air Absorption Taking account of air absorption
Air contributes a substantial amount to
the absorption of high frequency sound.
where m is a constant which varies with air
temperature, humidity, and frequency.

Absorption of sound in air at 20C (68F) as a function


of frequency for three humidities
SOUND SHADOWS
A phenomenon caused by the absorption or
obstruction of a sound wave by an object in its path.
The effect produced is perceived as a reduction in
loudness depending on the observer's position with
respect to the sound source and obstructing object and
is greatest when the three are aligned.
Galleries should be kept shallow to avoid sound
shadow.
In these cases when delegates are allowed to speak
from their seated position, balconies should not
overhang the main seating area to a low reflecting
ceiling should be provided.

The phenomenon of sound


shadow is noticeable under the
balcony that protrudes to far into
the air space of an auditorium.
Such under spaces, with the
depth exceeding twice the
height, should be avoided.
Room Shape
Volume
The floor area and volume of the auditorium
should be kept at a reasonable minimum, thus
shortening the sound paths. The following table
details recommended Volume-per-seat values for
various auditoria

Length
Visual gestures made by the speaker can greatly improve the recognition of what is said.
Although the benefit is not easily quantifiable, it is generally thought that the maximum distance
from source to receiver should be no more than 20m.
Firstly because this is the maximum distance a typical person can identify these visual prompts, and
secondly, it ensures a good direct sound pressure level; essential for localization.
Room Shape
FLOOR SHAPES OF AUDITORIUM FLOOR SHAPES OF AUDITORIUM
Rectangular floor shape- Cross reflectors Curvilinear
between parallel walls contribute to increase normally associated with a dome roof of
fullness of tones. excessive height
Fan-shaped- unless treated acoustically, curvilinear
bring the audience close to the sound source enclosure may create echoes, long-delayed
permit the construction of balconies reflections, and sound concentrations all of
make good sight lines which can contribute to an excessively long
reverberation time should be avoided.
the curved rear wall and the curved balcony
front, when acoustically treated or rendered Irregular
diffusive, are likely to create echoes or sound can bring the audience unusually close to
concentrations the sound source
Horseshoe-shaped can secure acoustical intimacy and
traditional layout of opera house definition since surfaces used to produce
short-delayed reflections can be early
rings of boxes on top of each other, integrated into the overall architectural
contribute efficiently to sound absorption, design,
producing a relatively short reverberation
time suitable for the rapid peerages of opera free relationship between audience area
but and platform
short for orchestral performances.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://www.church-acoustics.com/pdf/aa104.pdf
http://www.accessscience.com/overflow.aspx?searchStr=Sound&stype=10&term=Sound&rootID=797148
http://www.church-acoustics.com/pdf/aa104.pdf
https://ccrma.stanford.edu/CCRMA/Courses/152/sound_reinforcement.html

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