The sound diffusion in Italian opera houses: some examples
The sound diffusion in Italian opera houses: some examples
Soundfield diffuseness in rooms is considered a fundamental aspect of a high-quality room acoustics. Since early studies by Hodgson up to more recent studies of Shtrepi and Embrechts, it was shown that high levels of sound diffuseness could guarantee blending of music, as well as spatial sound perception by listeners, and this could enhance the global indoor acoustic quality. Conversely, Italian-style Opera houses represent an important architectural place, in which the special features of the rich decorations, and the specific characteristics of the volume, give a unique atmosphere, including a peculiar psycho-acoustics impression. However, some geometric properties of the opera houses could influence the global acoustic perception. The shape of the marmorino wall on the stalls, as well as the parallelism of the lateral walls in the boxes, often causes a lack of spaciousness and sometimes in the worst cases provokes focalization. This phenomenon leads to design special devices that could be inserted in the theatres, to avoid focalization, even if they are rarely accepted. This article deals with the design of some acoustic diffusing panels and their functioning in three different theatres, combining both acoustics needs with architectural constraints. The article starts analysing and commenting on the issues that resulted from the measurements conducted in an Italian opera house. In the following step, three examples of the design of diffusing panels are proposed. Finally, the results of diffusion and scattering coefficient of panels realized in the last theatre considered here are reported.
Italian opera houses, Sound diffusion, acoustic panels, room acoustic, scattering
333-355
Tronchin, Lamberto
8527a327-51fb-4865-b99d-eab721dadec9
Merli, Francesca
c9b7b0ce-9b5c-4858-a8f2-6d1e79420421
Manfren, Massimiliano
f2b8c02d-cb78-411d-aed1-c4d056365392
Nastasi, Benedetto
feb76017-aa21-4a3d-a57f-114985fecb06
December 2020
Tronchin, Lamberto
8527a327-51fb-4865-b99d-eab721dadec9
Merli, Francesca
c9b7b0ce-9b5c-4858-a8f2-6d1e79420421
Manfren, Massimiliano
f2b8c02d-cb78-411d-aed1-c4d056365392
Nastasi, Benedetto
feb76017-aa21-4a3d-a57f-114985fecb06
Tronchin, Lamberto, Merli, Francesca, Manfren, Massimiliano and Nastasi, Benedetto
(2020)
The sound diffusion in Italian opera houses: some examples.
Building Acoustics, 27 (4), , [1351010X2092921].
(doi:10.1177/1351010X20929216).
Abstract
Soundfield diffuseness in rooms is considered a fundamental aspect of a high-quality room acoustics. Since early studies by Hodgson up to more recent studies of Shtrepi and Embrechts, it was shown that high levels of sound diffuseness could guarantee blending of music, as well as spatial sound perception by listeners, and this could enhance the global indoor acoustic quality. Conversely, Italian-style Opera houses represent an important architectural place, in which the special features of the rich decorations, and the specific characteristics of the volume, give a unique atmosphere, including a peculiar psycho-acoustics impression. However, some geometric properties of the opera houses could influence the global acoustic perception. The shape of the marmorino wall on the stalls, as well as the parallelism of the lateral walls in the boxes, often causes a lack of spaciousness and sometimes in the worst cases provokes focalization. This phenomenon leads to design special devices that could be inserted in the theatres, to avoid focalization, even if they are rarely accepted. This article deals with the design of some acoustic diffusing panels and their functioning in three different theatres, combining both acoustics needs with architectural constraints. The article starts analysing and commenting on the issues that resulted from the measurements conducted in an Italian opera house. In the following step, three examples of the design of diffusing panels are proposed. Finally, the results of diffusion and scattering coefficient of panels realized in the last theatre considered here are reported.
Text
BUILDING-ACOUSTICS-ARTICOLO2_The sound diffusion
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 3 May 2020
e-pub ahead of print date: 7 June 2020
Published date: December 2020
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was funded by Regione Emilia Romagna POR-FESR 2014-20 “SIPARIO” grant number PG/2018/632038. Furthermore, some activities were carried out within the research project no. 201594LT3F, funded by PRIN (Programmi di Ricerca Scientifica di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale) of the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2020.
Keywords:
Italian opera houses, Sound diffusion, acoustic panels, room acoustic, scattering
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 441815
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/441815
ISSN: 1351-010X
PURE UUID: c67a3b77-8eb0-459b-9eef-72a88aac4205
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Date deposited: 29 Jun 2020 16:30
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:46
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Contributors
Author:
Lamberto Tronchin
Author:
Francesca Merli
Author:
Benedetto Nastasi
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