AN EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTS OF SCATTERED REFLECTIONS IN A SOUND FIELD

In this paper we outline and apply a procedure to evaluate sound fields in a concert hall which involve scattered reflections. We adopted an experimental method and used a 1/10 scale model of the concert hall. Arrays of circular columns were placed in front of its walls to act as the scattering obstacles. The acoustic properties of the hall were measured both with and without the arrays of circular columns. Here, the quality of the scattered sound field was evaluated in terms of four orthogonal physical factors: sound pressure level (SPL), initial time-delay gap between the direct sound and the first reflection (Δt1), subsequent reverberation time (Tsub), and magnitude of the interaural cross-correlation function (IACC). The IACC at central seats near the stage and seating area near the columns were improved by the arrays of circular columns.