23rd Annual Student Research Conference
Acoustical Measurements in the Ophelia Parrish Concert Hall
James K. Schoelz
Dr. Ian Lindevald, Faculty Mentor
The reverberation time is an important acoustical parameter related to the rate of sound decay in a room. Ideally the time should be long enough for the acoustical chamber to sound lively, however short enough that echoes do not interfere with the clarity of sounds in the room. In October of 2007 our group found that the Ophelia Parrish concert hall had two reverberation times: an early decay time of (2.07±0.02) seconds and a late decay time of (5.8±0.6) seconds. Since these measurements, Ophelia Parrish has undergone renovations designed to increase sound absorption in the room. We found that these renovations did decrease the reverberation time by a significant amount. With the curtains drawn, the early time was (1.6±0.1) seconds and the late time was (2.0±0.3) seconds. This coincides with qualitative observations that sound clarity in the hall has improved.
Keywords: Acoustics
Topic(s):Physics
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 51-4
Location: MG 1096
Time: 3:30