Auditorium Acousticsf Final

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AUDITORIUM ACOUSTICS
Anushka K C
Katta Pavithra
Sannuthi R
Tejaswini C
Tejaswini S Y
Suhas R
Introduction
• An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and
watch performances.
• The large open rooms are often far too reverberant though, so – in
most cases – incorporating acoustical treatment into auditorium
design is a must.
• The larger the space is the more complicated the acoustics tend to
be.
EVOLUTION OF THEATRES
•Indoor theatres grew out of temporary theatres in existing
buildings set up for private performances; but they were
open to the public and charged an entry fee.
•The first permanent indoor theatre (St. Paul's) was built in
1575 and the next (Blackfriars) in 1576.
•The oldest existing spaces to be classified as “theatrical
areas” are in four Minoan palaces on the island of Crete.
The oldest of these, at Phaestus, dates to as early as
2000 BCE, while the one at Amnisus may have been built as
late as 700 BCE.
•These are L-shaped, open-air spaces built of stone with a
rectangular stage.
• Proscenium stage: A proscenium theatre is what we usually think of as
a "theatre". ...
• Thrust theatre: A Stage surrounded by audience on three sides. ...
• End Stage: ...
• Arena Theatre: ...
• Flexible theatre: ...
• Profile Theatres: ...
• Ancillary areas: ...
• Thrust theatres:
Ancient Greek and Roman
Theatres
• The history of theatre as it migrated from Greece to Rome, and the history of Medieval theatre
following the fall of the Roman Empire, a theatre dominated by an unlikely combination of the Church
and itinerant troupes of entertainers.
GREEK THEATRES
• The first identification of theatre as a distinctive art form in the city-state of Athens can be dated to
534 BCE.
• Thepisis and Thorikos, both of which were built before 500 BCE. These were open-air end stage theatres
in which the house (theatron, or “a place of seeing,” in Greek) was a bank of straight-line seats (perhaps
originally in wood but eventually in stone) supported by a hillside. while the stage (orchēstra, or “a place
of dancing”) was a roughly rectangular space at the bottom of the hill.
• Greek theatre took place in large (the largest ultimately held twenty thousand people).
• The players included a chorus and their leader, and the "lines" were more chanted than spoken. The
chorus performed in the "orchestra", not on a raised stage.
• The use of masks to represent characters and high-soled boots worn to add height to the players limited
the movement of the actors.
Theatre of Epidaraus
Theatre of Thespis
ROMAN THEATRES
• The Romans encountered Greek theatre design as they conquered the Greek colonies of

southern Italy between 343 and 341 BCE and added Sicily in 241 BCE.
• The start of Roman theatre is usually dated to 240 BCE. It was in all ways based on Greek
models, though it did not slavishly copy them.
• The Romans built their theatres of wood for a specific festival; when the festival was over,
the entire structure was taken down. Gradually these structures became fantastically
elaborate.
• wooden theatres with audience capacities of up to 80,000 were being built three stories
high, with decorations made of glass, marble, and gilded lumber.
• Designers of later Roman theatres made use of hillsides so as to reduce the cost of building
substructures. But while Greek theatres laid out most of the seating directly onto a hillside
Great Theatre Pompey
Coliseum, Rome
Acoustical Requirements
• The clarity of speech is most important in Auditoriums. Optimum
clarity depends on:
a) Correct reverberation time
b) absence of echo
c) correct loudness level at all parts of the hall
d) low background noise
The reverberation time should be in-between 3.1 and 3.2

General Principles Of Design
According to
IS 2526, 1963
Site Selection and Planning:
• The problem of noise is an important consideration. A noise survey of the
site should be made in advance so that noisy locations are avoided.
• When air-conditioning is provided special care should be taken to attenuate
the plant noise and the grill noise. For this purpose plant should be suitably
isolated and ducts as well as the plenum should be so designed that noise
gets adequately reduced so as to be within the permissible limits
• Depending on the-ambient noise level of the site, orientation, layout and
structural design should be arranged to provide necessary noise reduction,
so that the background noise level of not more than 40 to 45 dB (as
measured on 'A' scale of sound level meter) is achieved within the hall,
Size and Shape:
• The size should be fixed in relation to the number of audience required to
be seated.
• The floor area of the hall including, gangways ( excluding the stage) should
be calculated on the basis of 0-6 to 0.9 m2 per person.
• The average height may vary from 6 m for small halls to 7·5 m for large
halls. Ceiling may be flat but it is preferable to provide a slight increase in
the height near the center of hall.
• Suitable volumes for different types of auditoriums are given below but it is
recommended that higher values be adopted only in special cases: (Cubic
Meters per Person)
a) Public lecture halls 3·5 to 4.5
b) Cinemas or theatre. 4.0 to 5·0
c) Musical hall or concert halls 4.0 to 5.0
• The shape which is considered to give satisfactory results without
introducing complications in the acoustical treatment of the hall is the
fan-shaped plan.
• The side walls should be arranged to have an angle of not more than
100 degrees with the curtain line.
• The distance of the farthest seat from the curtain line should not
normally exceed 23 meters.
• The auditorium rear walls should be either flat or convex in shape.
Fan Shaped Seating
Convex Ceiling
• Balcony: Where a balcony is provided, its projection into the hall
should not be more than twice the free height of the opening of the
balcony recess.
• The elevation of the balcony seat should be such that line of sight is
not inclined more than 30 degrees to the horizontal.
• Auxiliary Spaces: All the enclosed spaces, such al foyers, Lounges,
flanking verandahs, etc. adjacent to the Auditorium should be isolated
from the main hall by suitable (well fitting) doors so that the acoustics
of the hall are not influenced by these rooms; heavy curtains may be
used to aid absorption of external noise from foyers, verandahs, etc.
• At least 20 percent of the seating area of the hall is recommended for
foyer.
• Seats: The seats should be arranged in concentric arcs of circles drawn
with the center located as much behind the center of the curtain line
as its ( curtain line) distance from the auditorium rear wall.
• The width of a least should be between 45 cm and 56 cm.
• The back to back distance of chairs in successive rows of seats shall be
at least 85cm. If extra comfort is required higher spacing may be
provided which shall vary between 85 cm and 106 cm.
• Seats should be staggered sideways in relation to those in front so that
a listener in any row is not looking directly over the head of- the
person in front of him
CEILING
• In many large halls, ceiling reflectors, sometimes
called clouds, are used to direct sound energy
from the stage to the sitting areas.
• Both dimensions of the square reflecting pannel
should be atleast five times the wavelength of
the lowest frequency to be reflected
• When ceilings are high, care must be taken to
ensoure that the path length difference between
direct and reflector sound are not too great, and
particularly should not exceed 20m/s.
• In some cases, clouds are made absorptive, to
avoid late reflections.
FLOORS
• A sloping floor allows a more direct angle of incidence which in turn allows less
absorption. Generally the slope of an auditorium floor should not be less than 8ft.
• The floor of lecture hall might have 15ft angle of inclination.
• Staggering of seats is also recommeded.
WALLS
• Because of its potential to create undesirable late reflections, the rare wall of the large
requires special attention.
• Reflections from the rare wall would create a long path length difference to a listener at
the front of the hall. This can result in audible echoes, particularly because of otherwise
low reverberation level.
• A reflective concave rear wall would also undesirably focus sound.
• For these reasons, the rear of a large hall is usually adsorptive.
Flooring Of an Auditorium
ROOM SHAPES
• Splayed walls to increase seating capacity.
• Min. Angle 30 degrees, max. Angle 60 degrees
SOUND DIFFUSERS
SOUND ABSORBING MATERIALS:
The materials generally used may be broadly classified into the following categories:
a) Acoustic plaster- A plaster which includes granulated insulation material with cement.
b) Good compressed cane or wood fibre board (unperforated and perforated)
c) Wood particle board
d) Compressed wood wool
e) Mineral/ glass wool quilts and mats
f) Mineral /compressed glass wool tiles
g) Composite units of perforated hardboard backed by perforated fibre board
h) Composite units of perforated board( hardboard, asbestos or metal sheets) backed by
glass wool quilt olr slab
i) Special absorbers constructed of hard board, teak, ply etc backed by air.
• Acoustic Panels treat the acoustical problem of echoes by absorbing
the sound waves rather than allowing them to reflect off hard surfaces.
• Placing Acoustic Panels on walls or ceilings is the best way to eliminate
echo, reverb and reduce overall ambient noise in any room.
• Common sound issues are caused mostly by sound waves reflecting off
walls. Therefore strategically placing acoustical panels on your known
reflection points will not only effectively clean up the sound in the room,
but the right amount will eliminate all echo and noise issues.
Recommended Volume‐per‐Seat Values (m3) for Auditorium
Type of Auditorium Minimum Optimum Maximum
Rooms for Speech 2.3 3.1 4.3
Concert Halls 6.2 7.8 10.8
Opera Houses 4.5 5.7 7.4
Catholic Churches 5.7 8.5 12
Other Churches 5.1 7.2 9.1
Multipurpose Halls 5.1 7.1 8.5
Cinemas 2.8 3.5 5.6
DISTRIBUTION OF ACOUSTIC MATERIAL
•Reflecting surfaces shall be designed as to aid distribution of sound. Those areas which
cause objectionable sound reflection and need to be treated with sound absorbents
should be earmarked for treatment with sound absorbing material.
These areas are,
a) the rear wall
b) the balcony parapet
c) any areas which may reflect sound back to the stage
d) concave areas which have tendency to focus sound in certain places
e) Such areas which contribute to indirect sound arriving at any point in the
hall later than 50 milli-seconds after the direct sound.
• The rest of the sound absorbing material required to be introduced in the room should
be distributed over the various remaining surfaces.

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• The Romans encountered Greek theatre design as they conquered the Greek colonies of

The reverberation time should be in-between 3.1 and 3.2

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