Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 96, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 April 1913 — Acoustics of Halls. [ARTICLE]

Acoustics of Halls.

Dr. Castex read a paper recently on the relation between the acoustic (sound) properties of public halls and hearing and phonation, that is, voice production. He said that the acoustics of many halls were excellent, but in other cases they were bad. There were yet others in which the acoustic properties were satisfactory for the audience, but deplorable for the speaker, on account of the strain imposed on him. The reason of these differences he could not explain. Halls might be bad by reason of deadness, of overresonance, or on account of echo. The materials of construction undoubtedly exercised an influence. Wood, glasswork and marble afforded good resonance, draperies bad. Stone and plaster were regarded as neutral. In course of time the drying of the material Improved its sonorousness. Cupolas created unfavorable conditions, which exaggerated resonance. Speaking generally, good halls were those in which one of the dimensions exceeded the other. Round and square halls were less satisfactory.