Forum-Pre-Sabine room acoustic assumptions on reverberation and their influence on room acoustic design.

Abstract

With his work on the Fogg Art Museum and Boston Symphony Hall between 1895 and 1900, Wallace C. Sabine laid a foundation for the field of architectural acoustics as a science. Prior to that, architects employed various quantifiable notions in acoustic design. Previous studies have reviewed metric guidelines based on the directivity of the human voice, which was utilized in at least 11 rooms in pre-Sabine times. Others studies have reviewed pre-Sabine design guidelines that were based on the quantification of the perception threshold between direct sound and first order reflections and which were followed in several rooms with acoustical performance needs. As the first studies concerned the direct sound and the second set concerned first order reflections, this study reviews opinions and knowledge regarding the later part of the acoustic response, also known as reverberation, during the 19th century. This effort brings to light a room acoustic design evolution showing why concert halls at the end of the 19th century mainly had surface finishes of wood and plaster as well as limited ceiling heights. While not equal to Sabine's thoroughness and completeness, numerous early experimental and theoretical reverberation approaches were found to hint at similar notions with both qualitative and quantitative efforts.