Guest editors’ introduction to the special issue on “performance spaces for music: Acoustical and psychological measurements and their interactions” honoring Dr. Leo Beranek.

Abstract

This special issue of Psychomusicology: Music, Mind, & Brain, entitled Performance Spaces for Music: Acoustical and Psychological Measurements and Their Interactions, is dedicated to Dr. Leo Beranek not only in acclaim of his 100th birthday in 2014 but also in recognition of his lifelong contributions to the field of architectural acoustics. The significance his work as a researcher, consultant, and author is manifested in countless ways and seems impossible to overestimate. His books, Music, Acoustics, and Architecture (1962), Concert Halls and Opera Houses: How They Sound (1996), and Concert Halls and Opera Houses: Music, Acoustics, and Architecture (2004), represent one of the most important textbook series in concert hall acoustics, and has significance far greater than the sum of its parts. The impetus from reading these works ranges from fuelling an individual's interest and enthusiasm for concert hall acoustics to building bridges between experts from different fields collaborating on concert hall projects, allowing both scientists and practitioners to figuratively stand upon Leo Beranek's giant's shoulders so as to see a little further.There is no doubt that the initial publication of Beranek's book in 1962 on concert hall acoustics triggered ongoing research on how sound is perceived in auditoria. This ranges from the initial works of Hawkes and Douglas (1971) in London, United Kingdom; the works by the Gottingen group (e.g., Gottlob, 1973); and research in Berlin, Germany; (Wilkens, 1977) to more recent works by Barron (1988) in the United Kingdom and Lokki, Patynen, Kuusinen, and Tervo (2012) in Finland. Their studies and many others have refined the fundamental ideas that Leo Beranek had put into discussion.Scientific research on panel reflector arrays, audience absorption of grazing sound (also known as the seat dip effect), and interaural cross correlation as a predictor of spatial perception of sound all carry the distinctive signature of Leo Beranek's work as a consultant on many outstanding projects. Just to name a few, these projects include the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall, the New National Theater (also in Tokyo), the Philharmonic Hall in New York, The Koussevitzky Music Shed (formerly The Tanglewood Music Shed) in Massachusetts, and the Frederic R. Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv, Israel.To the present day, Leo Beranek is an active member of the acoustics community and continues to give lectures to an audience that eagerly absorbs the concepts he describes. One of the outstanding characteristics of these talks may be their clarity and the da Vinci-like simplicity that make the distinct multidisciplinarity of architectural acoustics seem easy to grasp. This achievement becomes clear when the diversity of the articles in this special issue are taken as a tangible example.This special issue begins with a biography that briefly chronicles Leo Beranek's life, illustrating the incredible development from his early days in farm-town Iowa to the present day being a world renowned expert of acoustics, a former Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor, and the founder of Bolt, Beranek, and Newman-just to name a few corner points of his multifaceted career. In his article, Leo Beranek shows in an unparalleled way how a long experience in the field allows him to present complex relations in a clear way with a distinct view to the core essentials.The editors of this special issue are in debt to the authors who have provided such a circumferential collection of papers that are worth the reading. Moreover, the support and enduring commitment from all the reviewers was of great assistance to the authors and editors, who together brought this special issue to completion after months of hard work.Organization of the Contributions: The Communication ChainThe order of manuscripts in scientific periodicals is often categorized by the severity of the review process undergone. …