Sound absorption in concert halls by seats, occupied and unoccupied, and by the hall’s interior surfaces

Abstract

From experimental data in concert and opera halls, absorption coefficients were determined for audience seating, unoccupied and occupied, of different constructions, and for gypsum, wood, plaster, and concrete interior surfaces of various thicknesses and densities. A total of ten halls were involved in the bare hall (before seats were installed) analysis, yielding “residual” absorption coefficients, i.e., coefficients for those areas not including the areas to be covered by the seating. In ten halls reverberation times were measured after installation of the seats (unoccupied) and in seven of these halls at concerts with seats fully occupied. The seating absorption coefficients are presented for “acoustical” audience areas, i.e., with a 0.5-m-wide edge around each seating block. The results are compared with the data of Appendix 5 in Beranek [Concert and Opera Halls: How They Sound (Acoustical Society of America, Woodbury, NY, 1996)]. The sound absorption data presented for interior surfaces and audience areas should permit more accurate estimation of reverberation times as a function of frequency for large halls during the planning stage.