Pre-Sabine room acoustic design guidelines based on human voice directivity

Abstract

With the work of Wallace C. Sabine on the lecture hall of the Fogg Art Museum and concert hall of Boston Symphony Hall, a foundation for the field of architectural acoustics as a science was laid between 1895 and 1900. Prior to that, architects employed various notions in acoustic design. Previous studies by the authors have reviewed 18th and 19th century design guidelines that were based on the quantification of the perception threshold between direct sound and first order reflections, with these guidelines being followed in the design of several rooms with acoustical demands. This study reviews an alternate metric guideline, based on the directivity and propagation distance of the human voice, which was utilized in several halls also during the 18th and 19th centuries. The related acoustic experiments tested how far sound was perceivable towards the front, sides, and rear of a speaking person. These ratios were used in the acoustical design of at least five lecture halls, four theater halls, one opera hall, and one concert hall, constructed in Germany, England, and the USA. These historic designs, and comparisons to modern measures and guidelines, are reviewed.

A History of Audio Effects

“…However, it is debated if this design was initially intentional [30,56]. Over the 18th century, a number of theatres were designed with specific instructions and guidelines aiming at making them more functional for their purpose [57]. The horse-shaped theatre optimised for opera developed around this time [58].…”

Italian-Style Opera Houses: A Historical Review

“…Concerning the design of theatres, it should be remarked Saunders's work [50], who surveyed the dimensions of the ancient and the modern theatres, founding the most advantageous form for the voice and sight. His works was rediscussed in a contemporary way in several papers on Pre-Sabinian design criteria [51][52][53]. After the birth of architectural acoustics as a science, the engineer H. Bagenal (1888Bagenal ( -1979 and the physicist A.…”

The acoustic designer: Joining soundscape and architectural acoustics in architectural design education

“…It is widely acknowledged that the first person writing about Architectural Acoustics was the architect-engineer Marcus Vitruvius Pollio. 7–9 Vitruvius wrote the acclaimed 10 books on architecture, called ‘De Architectura’, between 40 and 20 bc . 10 This publication has been for many centuries the first and only handbook on architecture and architectural acoustics, fostering interest in the discipline.…”

“…Vitruvius introduced his famous theory on dis-sonnantes, con-sonnantes, circum-sonnantes and re-sonnantes design solutions, as reminded by Postma et al 8 and D’Orazio and Nannini. 13 Thanks to his contribution, acoustic design through centuries largely focused on the control of the building shape and the application of the resonant tuning devices called echeia.…”