Information theory and the concert hall problem: The development of tone, ensemble, and diffusion

Wallace Clement Sabine expressly formulated the concert hall problem in terms of a stochastic theory: a theory of random reflections characterized by parameters, the chief parameter being the reverberation time. In fact, this formulation is wholly in error, which has misinformed the design of concert halls throughout this century. The correct formulation is in terms of the coherence length of the orchestral region and of the preservation of musical information by diffuse reflections in the body of the hall: discrete and causal physics. The wave-mechanical information theories of Henry, Gabor, and Leith and Upatnieks provide the definitive format for this solution. It agrees well with fact, is coherent, and has great explainatory power.