Abstract
The first question of an acoustician regarding a new concert hall is too often: What is the reverberation
time? Such tradition has historical reasons as reverberation time and sound strength
have been considered the most important objective measures of concert halls. However, although
they are indeed important—music should be loud enough and reverberated to sound good—they
do not tell much on the multidimensional acoustical conditions of a hall. This paper collects the
recent research to understand concert hall acoustics beyond these traditional measures. The
results indicate that a concert hall is considered exceptional if it renders music expressive, i.e.,
conveys the subtle nuances of music from the stage to the audience as well as possible. In other
words, a concert hall is preferred if it renders proximate sound with large dynamics and wide
frequency range. This paper links together musical acoustics, room acoustics and human spatial
hearing to highlight recent findings in concert hall acoustics research.
time? Such tradition has historical reasons as reverberation time and sound strength
have been considered the most important objective measures of concert halls. However, although
they are indeed important—music should be loud enough and reverberated to sound good—they
do not tell much on the multidimensional acoustical conditions of a hall. This paper collects the
recent research to understand concert hall acoustics beyond these traditional measures. The
results indicate that a concert hall is considered exceptional if it renders music expressive, i.e.,
conveys the subtle nuances of music from the stage to the audience as well as possible. In other
words, a concert hall is preferred if it renders proximate sound with large dynamics and wide
frequency range. This paper links together musical acoustics, room acoustics and human spatial
hearing to highlight recent findings in concert hall acoustics research.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | 22nd International Congress on Acoustics ICA 2016 : Proceedings |
| Publisher | Asociación de Acústicos Argentinos |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 978-987-24713-6-1 |
| Publication status | Published - 2016 |
| MoE publication type | B3 Non-refereed article in conference proceedings |
| Event | International Congress on Acoustics - Buenos Aires, Argentina Duration: 5 Sep 2016 → 9 Sep 2016 Conference number: 22 |
Publication series
| Name | |
|---|---|
| ISSN (Electronic) | 2415-1599 |
Conference
| Conference | International Congress on Acoustics |
|---|---|
| Abbreviated title | ICA |
| Country/Territory | Argentina |
| City | Buenos Aires |
| Period | 05/09/2016 → 09/09/2016 |
Keywords
- concert hall
- acoustics
- music perception