Sound absorption in concert halls by seats, occupied

and unoccupied, and by the hall’s interior surfacesa),b)

Leo L. Beranek
975 Memorial Drive, Suite 804, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138

Takayuki Hidaka
Takenaka R & D Institute, 1-5 Otsuka, Inzai-machi, Inba-gun, Chiba 270-13, Japan

~Received 10 September 1997; revised 7 July 1998; accepted 20 July 1998!

From experimental data in concert and opera halls, absorption coefficients were determined for
audience seating, unoccupied and occupied, of different constructions, and for gypsum, wood,
plaster, and concrete interior surfaces of various thicknesses and densities. A total of ten halls were
involved in the bare hall ~before seats were installed! analysis, yielding ‘‘residual’’ absorption
coefficients, i.e., coefficients for those areas not including the areas to be covered by the seating. In
ten halls reverberation times were measured after installation of the seats ~unoccupied! and in seven
of these halls at concerts with seats fully occupied. The seating absorption coefficients are presented
for ‘‘acoustical’’ audience areas, i.e., with a 0.5-m-wide edge around each seating block. The results
are compared with the data of Appendix 5 in Beranek @Concert and Opera Halls: How They Sound
~Acoustical Society of America, Woodbury, NY, 1996!#. The sound absorption data presented for
interior surfaces and audience areas should permit more accurate estimation of reverberation times
as a function of frequency for large halls during the planning stage. © 1998 Acoustical Society of
America. @S0001-4966~98!02511-9#
PACS numbers: 43.10.Ln, 43.55.Fw, 43.55.Gx, 43.55.Hy @JDQ#

INTRODUCTION I. FORMULAS, DEFINITIONS, AND TERMINOLOGY

A. Sabine or Eyring Formula?
Although the oldest of the important measurable acous-
tical attributes of rooms is reverberation time RT ~Sabine, A question unanswered since the derivation of the rever-
1900!, it has been difficult to accurately predict RT as a beration equation credited to Eyring ~1930! has been which
function of frequency in concert halls. Tables of absorption equation to use when calculating room reverberation times,
that by Eyring or the earlier one by Sabine? In seeking an
coefficients for various internal surfaces assembled over the
answer to which to employ, we have used both a standard
years ~Egan, 1988; Fry, 1988; Harris, 1991; Beranek, 1996!
reverberation chamber and newly built bare ~no seats in-
have not been applicable to concert halls. Least understood stalled, otherwise fully finished! concert halls as reverbera-
of all is the absorption of chairs and of audiences seated in tion chambers. It is logical that if either of the formulas is
them in auditoriums, a subject that this paper addresses, and used to derive absorption coefficients from the reverberation
which is receiving increasing attention ~Bradley, 1996; times measured in actual concert halls, the same formula
Davies et al., 1994; Kirkegaard, 1996; Hidaka et al., 1996;
Beranek, 1996!. A survey of 30 consulting firms in 1990
revealed that for fully completed large halls, before the
chairs were installed, reverberation data were available for
only two ~Veneklasen, 1964; Commins, unpublished!. As
part of this study we have assembled data on eight more, one
by subtracting the known chair absorption.
In this paper absorption coefficients for seats and audi-
ences in the halls and a table of sound absorption coefficients
for a range of interior surfaces are presented. These data are
compared with those published in Appendix 5 of Beranek
~1996!.

FIG. 1. Application of sound absorption coefficients measured by different

a!
‘‘Selected research articles’’ are ones chosen occasionally by the Editor-
in-Chief that are judged ~a! to have a subject of wide acoustical interest,
and ~b! to be written for understanding by broad acoustical readership.
b!
Presented at the 133rd meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, State
College, Pennsylvania, 19 June 1997 @J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 101, 3134~A!
~1997!#.
methods to the prediction of reverberation times in the Vienna Grosser
Musikvereinssaal. Using the Sabine reverberation equation, the K&K and
ISO curves for reverberation time were calculated from reverberation cham-
ber measurements using the methods of the ISO and Kath and Kuhl papers
in the list of references. The C&OH curve was calculated from the method
given in Beranek ~1996, Appendix 5!. From Hidaka et al. ~1996!.

3169 J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 104 (6), December 1998 0001-4966/98/104(6)/3169/9/$15.00 © 1998 Acoustical Society of America 3169
must be used when making use of those absorption coeffi-
cients in calculating RTs for other concert halls. The ratio-
nale is that all concert halls should have similar reverberant
fields because their floor surfaces are highly absorbent ~by
the chairs or the audience! and the walls and ceiling are
highly reflective. Also, absorption by the audience is gener-
ally 75%–85% of the total. The procedure of deriving ab-
sorption coefficients in real concert halls, using the Sabine
formula, and then applying them to the prediction of RTs in
other concert halls has been presented in Beranek ~1996! and
was examined in detail earlier ~Beranek, 1962, 1969; Kosten,
1965!.
There is another need. When consulting on the design of
concert halls, where predicting reverberation times is neces-
sary, engineers may be interested in testing a variety of
chairs, for example, unoccupied and occupied. Usually, less
than 20 chairs are available, so that they must be tested in a
standard reverberation chamber for their sound absorbing
properties. Which formula is proper for calculating RTs in a
concert hall when using the absorption coefficients obtained
in a reverberation chamber?
The authors addressed this problem by making measure-
ments of absorption coefficients for 20 chairs, occupied and
unoccupied, of 4 different types, in a standard reverberation
chamber ~ISO 3741! ~Hidaka et al., 1996!. We employed
two methods of test for the chairs, one of which is recom-
mended in ISO 345 and the other was developed by Kath and
Kuhl ~1965!. The coefficients so obtained were then used to
determine their efficacy in predicting measured reverberation
times in Boston Symphony Hall, Vienna Grosser Musikvere-
inssaal, Tokyo Hamarikyu Hall, and Mitaka ~Japan! Munici-
pal Hall. The efficacy of Appendix 5 of Beranek ~1996! was
also evaluated.
The three methods were consistent in their degrees of
ability to predict the RTs in all four halls, of which the data
of Fig. 1 for the Vienna hall are an example. We found that
using the Sabine reverberation equation with the reverbera-
tion chamber coefficients, the Kath and Kuhl ~K&K! method
predicted concert hall RTs satisfactorily for the 500–4000
Hz octave bands. The K&K method was closer than the ISO
method. However, for the 125- and 250-Hz octave bands, the
reverberation chamber absorption coefficients were much too
small, i.e., the predicted RTs for actual halls with them were
much too high. The Appendix 5 method predicted the RTs

TABLE I. Sample calculations of residual absorption in concert halls.

1. Calculation of residual sound absorption Munich, Fubertssaal in Schloss Nymphenburg

Frequency, Hz
Area Alpha or
Name of area sq m absorp. 125 250 500 1k 2k 4k

Ceiling, walls and balcony surfaces alpha 0.140 0.123 0.084 0.063 0.061 0.041
30-mm plaster 1107 absorption 154 136 93 70 68 45

Floor, concrete, no seats alpha 0.01 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02
S(A) 374 absorption 4 7 7 7 7 7

Total absorption, A 1481 sq m 158 143 100 77 75 52

Av. absorption coefficient, bare hall 0.107 0.097 0.068 0.052 0.051 0.035
Residual coef. ~w/o floor! 1107 0.14 0.12 0.08 0.06 0.06 0.04

Calculated and measured RT ~bare hall, no seats!

4 mV ~24C, 47%! V52614 m3 0 0 0 14 26 66
Calc. RT50.161* V/(A14 mV) 2.67 2.93 4.19 4.60 4.15 3.55
Measured RT, bare hall 2.69 2.96 4.22 4.61 4.15 3.56

2. Calculation of residual sound absorption in Mitaka, Japan, Concert Hall

Frequency, Hz
Area Alpha or
Name of area sq m absorp. 125 250 500 1k 2k 4k

Walls, ceiling, balcony surfaces alpha 0.133 0.097 0.084 0.072 0.073 0.080
33-mm heavy gypsum 1934 absorption 257 188 162 139 141 155

Floors, heavy wood, 33 mm alpha 0.09 0.06 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05
S(A) 539 absorption 49 32 27 27 27 27

Doors, wood, 38 mm alpha 0.13 0.09 0.06 0.04 0.04 0.04

48 absorption 6 4 3 2 2 2

Total absorption, A 2521 312 224 192 168 170 184

Av. absorption coefficient, bare hall 0.124 0.089 0.076 0.067 0.067 0.073
Residual coef. ~w/o floor! 1982 0.13 0.10 0.08 0.07 0.07 0.08

Calculated and measured RT ~bare hall, no seats!

4 mV ~20C, 50%! V55500 m3 0 0 0 35 64 117
Calc. RT50.161* V/(A14 mV) 2.84 3.95 4.61 4.36 3.79 2.95
Measured RT, bare hall 2.85 3.96 4.60 4.39 3.78 2.96

3170 J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 104, No. 6, December 1998 L. L. Beranek and T. Hidaka: Sound absorption in concert halls 3170
FIG. 2. Residual sound absorption coefficients calculated from measure- FIG. 3. Same as Fig. 2, except for five other halls.
ments made in five concert halls. This is the average a R for all interior
surfaces except those surfaces occupied by audience and orchestra. Heavily
absorbent areas and pipe organ absorption were handled by special terms in
the reverberation equation. In all but one case, the halls were fully com- where S A is the acoustical audience area, which consists of
pleted and only the seats had not been installed. the sum of ~a! floor space, S a , over which the audience
chairs are located and ~b! areas of strips 0.5 m wide around
each of the separated blocks of the seating area, except that
satisfactorily in all six bands, often better than shown in Fig.
such strips are neither included at the front edge of a balcony
1. Using the reverberation chamber coefficients for the chairs
where the audience is seated against a balcony rail nor where
with the Eyring formula to predict the RTs in a concert hall
the seats abut a wall. S 0 is the area of the stage ~no added
would have led to absurd results in the 500–4000 Hz bands.
strip is assigned!, except that S 0 is the area actually occupied
To summarize, the Hidaka et al. study showed that the
by the players when the entire stage area is not occupied by
Sabine equation is applicable for prediction of RTs in real
the players. The S i ’s are the areas of the principal surfaces of
halls for the 500 Hz or higher octave bands when used with
the hall, i.e., ceiling, sidewalls, underbalcony soffits, and bal-
coefficients measured in a reverberation chamber by the K &
cony facia. If any nonseating or nonstage surface has a high
K method or with coefficients for all six octave bands when
absorption coefficient, such as an absorbing material used for
derived by the methods of Beranek ~1996! and this paper.
echo control, it is designated S M and is not averaged into the
The Sabine equation is
sidewalls/ceiling absorption. V is the volume of the room;
RT50.161V/ ~ A14mV ! s. ~1! and m is the energy attenuation constant for sound traveling
through air in units of m21. The a’s are the sound absorption
In a concert hall or opera house, the total room absorption A
coefficients associated with their corresponding areas and all
is
are of the a sab type.

( S i a i 14mV m2 ,
When expressing the average sound absorption coeffi-
A5S A a A 1S 0 a 0 1 ~2!
cients for a room, separate from the absorption of the stage

TABLE II. Residual absorption coefficients measured before installation of seats. Group A: Halls lined with
wood, less than 3 cm thick, or other thin materials. Group B: Halls lined with heavy materials, e.g., 2.5 cm or
more thick plaster or concrete block or cinder block plastered.

Frequency, Hz

Name of hall 125 250 500 1k 2k 4k

Group A
Kanagawa, Chamber Hall 0.17 0.14 0.11 0.08 0.08 0.07
Boston, Symphony Hall 0.17 0.14 0.11 0.09 0.09 0.08
Tokyo, TOC Concert Hall 0.14 0.12 0.09 0.08 0.08 0.06
Tokyo, Hamaryku-Asahi Hall 0.16 0.14 0.11 0.10 0.09 0.07
NY Avery Fisher Hall 0.15 0.11 0.07 0.06 0.07 0.06
Seattle, Opera House 0.15 0.12 0.10 0.10 0.11 0.11
Average 0.16 0.13 0.10 0.09 0.08 0.08

Group B
Mitaka, City Concert Hall 0.13 0.10 0.08 0.07 0.07 0.08
Nantes ~France! Concert Hall 0.12 0.11 0.09 0.09 0.09 0.08
NY Philharmonic Hall 0.11 0.09 0.08 0.08 0.08 0.08
Average 0.12 0.10 0.08 0.08 0.08 0.08

Appendix 5 average: Residual coefficients that are used in the tables that follow for halls not above.
Other halls in later tables 0.14 0.12 0.10 0.09 0.08 0.07

3171 J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 104, No. 6, December 1998 L. L. Beranek and T. Hidaka: Sound absorption in concert halls 3171
TABLE III. Sample calculations of seat and audience absorption in concert halls.

Frequency, Hz

125 250 500 1000 2000 4000

1. Calculated sound absorption, unoccupied seats, Mitaka Hall

Residual coef: Alpha~R! ~w/o floors! 0.134 0.096 0.083 0.072 0.074 0.079
4mV ~27C; 45%! V55500 m3 0 0 0 33 57 133

Measured RT, unoccupied seats, no orchestra 2.02 2.22 2.38 2.60 2.41 2.03

Eq. for calculation of Alpha~A!: RT5886/@ (1902) * Alpha~R!1413*Alpha~A!!14 mV# , or

Alpha~A!5886/~RT*413!21902*Alpha~R!/41324 mV/413
Alpha~A!, unoccupied seats 0.44 0.52 0.52 0.41 0.41 0.37

2. Calculated sound absorption, occupied seats, Mitaka Hall, no orchestra

4mV ~23C; 53%! V55500 m3 0 0 0 29 53 128

Measured RT, occup. seats, without orchestra 1.90 1.99 1.95 1.88 1.74 1.44

Eq. for calculation of Alpha~A!: RT5886/@~1902!*Alpha~R!1413*Alpha~A!14 mV], or

Alpha~A!5886/~RT*413!2Alpha~R!*1902/41324 mV/413
Alpha~A!, seated audience absorption 0.51 0.64 0.72 0.74 0.76 0.82

3. Calculated sound absorption, unoccupied seats, TOC Concert Hall

Residual coef: Alpha~R! ~w/o floors! 0.140 0.115 0.089 0.079 0.075 0.059
4mV ~27C; 55%! V515 300 m3 0 16 43 97 166 341

Measured RT, unoccupied seats 2.23 2.62 2.86 2.98 3.12 2.92

Eq. for calculation of Alpha~A!: RT52463/@~4791!Alpha~R!11052Alpha~A!14 mV], or

Alpha~A!52463/~RT*1052!24791*Alpha~R!/105224 mV/1052
Alpha~A!, unoccupied seats 0.41 0.36 0.37 0.33 0.25 0.21

4. Calculated sound absorption, occupied seats, TOC Concert Hall, no orchestra

4mV ~23C; 63%! V515 300 m3 0 14 38 85 147 326

Measured RT, seats occupied, without orchestra 2.17 2.10 2.20 2.11 2.02 1.80

Eq. for calculation of Alpha~A!: RT52463/@~4791!Alpha~R!11052Alpha~A!14 mV], or

Alpha~A!52463/~RT*1052!24791Alpha~R!/105224 mV/1052
Alpha~A!, occupied seats 0.44 0.58 0.62 0.67 0.68 0.72

and audience and any strongly absorbing materials, the re- equal the measured reverberation times ~see the last two lines
sidual absorption is defined in this paper of part 1!. The residual absorption coefficient is the ratio of
the total absorption for the ceiling, walls and balcony sur-
S Ra R5 ( S ia i , ~3! faces divided by their area, e.g., at 500 Hz, 9341107
50.08.
where a R is the residual absorption coefficient, and S R
5(Si .

II. PROCEDURE
For each hall, fully built but lacking seats, a tabulation
was made of the materials used on different interior surfaces.
Sample calculations for the unchaired Munich Fubertssaal
and Mitaka ~Japan! Concert Hall are given in Table I. In part
1 of this table, the Fubertssaal is seen to have only two
important sound absorbing surfaces, that over which the au-
dience will sit ~floor! and the remaining surfaces. The ab-
sorption for chandeliers and ventilation openings are in-
cluded in the latter. Absorption coefficients for areas that
contribute little to the total absorption ~i.e., the concrete
floor! can be taken from the literature ~Beranek, 1996, p.
626, as an example!. Because the absorptions for the ceiling FIG. 4. Absorption coefficients for unoccupied chairs in ten halls deter-
mined from measurements before and after their installation. Note that the
and walls will dominate, their values ~the first line of absorp-
area S A associated with these absorption coefficients includes a 0.5-m edge
tion coefficients! are obtained by adjusting them until the correction around each block of seating area, except for the edge of a seating
computed reverberation times, using the Sabine equation, block when it is adjacent to a wall or a balcony front.

3172 J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 104, No. 6, December 1998 L. L. Beranek and T. Hidaka: Sound absorption in concert halls 3172
 TABLE IV. Unoccupied chair absorption coefficients derived from the acoustical reverberation times presented
in Appendix 4 with the use of Eqs. ~1!–~3!. The halls are grouped according to four degrees of upholstering and
were selected because the data were judged reliable and no significant amount of added acoustical materials are
known to exist in the halls for which adjustments could not be made. Group 1: Heavily upholstered seats ~see
Table V!. Group 2: Medium upholstered seats ~see Table V!. Group 3: Lightly upholstered seats ~see Table V!.
Group 4: Extra lightly upholstered seats ~see Table V!.

Frequency, Hz

Name of hall 125 250 500 1k 2k 4k

Group 1
Berlin, Philharmonie 0.80 0.93 0.84 0.85 0.75 0.69
Cleveland, Severance Hall 0.57 0.74 0.83 0.89 0.91 0.85
Edmonton, Jubilee Hall 0.60 0.72 0.79 0.83 0.93 0.89
N.Y. Philharmonic Hall ¯ 0.69 0.80 0.80 0.82 0.78
Nantes, Palais des Congres 0.61 0.79 0.88 0.94 0.95 0.94
Rotterdam, De Doelen 0.88 0.94 0.79 0.86 0.75 0.76
Salzburg, Festspielhaus 0.76 0.66 0.71 0.76 0.75 0.74
Average 0.70 0.78 0.81 0.85 0.84 0.81
Average from smoothed curve 0.70 0.76 0.81 0.84 0.84 0.81

Group 2
Buffalo, Kleinhans Hall 0.31 0.50 0.58 0.71 0.68 0.63
Stuttgart, Liederhalle 0.73 0.80 0.70 0.66 0.60 0.52
Bristol, Colston Hall 0.52 0.77 0.75 0.78 0.74 ¯
Liverpool, Philharmonic Hall 0.56 0.64 0.74 0.80 0.77 0.75
Hamarikyu Asahi Hall 0.62 0.67 0.72 0.70 0.64 0.64
N.Y. Avery Fisher Hall 0.58 0.66 0.67 0.64 0.62 0.55
Seattle, Opera House ¯ 0.55 0.52 0.60 0.62 0.59
Boston, Symphony Hall 0.46 0.53 0.56 ~includes wooden floor beneath!
Average 0.54 0.64 0.66 0.70 0.67 0.61
Average from smoothed curve 0.54 0.62 0.68 0.70 0.68 0.66

Group 3
Basel, Stadt-Casino 0.33 0.41 0.65 0.68 0.62 0.61
Berlin, Konzerthaus 0.36 0.46 0.64 0.72 0.70 0.67
Vienna, Gr. Musikvereinssaal 0.33 0.39 0.46 0.50 0.51 0.56
Amsterdam, Concertgebouw 0.40 0.54 0.60 0.61 0.60 0.62
Average 0.36 0.45 0.59 0.63 0.61 0.62
Average from smoothed curve 0.36 0.47 0.57 0.62 0.62 0.60

Group 4
Mitaka, Concert Hall 0.44 0.52 0.52 0.41 0.41 0.37
Tokyo, NNT Opera 0.38 0.35 0.40 0.37 0.34 0.25
Tokyo, T.O.C. Concert Hall 0.38 0.32 0.36 0.32 0.24 0.18
Average 0.40 0.40 0.43 0.37 0.33 0.27
Average from smoothed curve 0.35 0.40 0.41 0.38 0.33 0.27

It is apparent that the absorption coefficients for 30-mm

plaster ~Fubertssaal! and 33-mm heavy gypsum ~Mitaka
Concert Hall! can be calculated to three decimal places by
this procedure because their absorption is 85%–95% of the
total absorption and the values for the floors are known
within 10%–15%. Obviously, when using these data in other
halls, one must allow for the fact that there will be some
uncertainty because the structural conditions may not be ex-
actly the same. The inaccuracies in the absorption coeffi-
cients for this reason are expected to be less than 10%. We
also note that in every hall there are lights, ventilation open-
ings, and doors that are lumped into the values for the ceiling
and the walls. Even though these are present in all halls,
differing amounts or kinds of them might make a small dif-
ference in the coefficients.
For each hall, the residual absorption coefficients as a
FIG. 5. Unoccupied chair absorption coefficients for 23 halls, plotted from
function of frequency, excluding the acoustical floor area data in Table IV. The average upholstering on the chairs of each group is
S A , were determined from a table like Table I. For example given in Table V.

3173 J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 104, No. 6, December 1998 L. L. Beranek and T. Hidaka: Sound absorption in concert halls 3173
 TABLE V. Upholstery details on seats in 23 concert halls of Table IV.
Front side of
Type of seat seat Back
Heavily upholstered, group 1 7.5 cm
Medium upholstered, group 2 2.5 cm
Lightly upholstered, group 3 1.5 cm
Specially upholstered,a group 4 65%, 2 cm
a
Upholstery cushion is covered with a vinyl sheet reducing absorption at high frequencies.
in the Fubertssaal at 250 Hz the residual absorption coeffi-
cient is 0.12, and that in the Mitaka hall is 0.10. Thus from
the halls analyzed a list of coefficients for plaster, heavy
gypsum, wood, and concrete of different thicknesses was de-
veloped. In some halls there were two surfaces of large area,
e.g., ceiling of plaster and walls of wood. The absorptions
for each can be determined by simultaneous equations. If
there were more than two such surfaces in a hall, the calcu-
lations of their absorption coefficients were not used in the
final table.
III. RESIDUAL SOUND ABSORPTION COEFFICIENTS
The residual sound absorption coefficients so obtained
for ten halls are plotted in Figs. 2 and 3 and are tabulated,
less the Fubertssaal, in Table II. In this table they are divided
into two groups: ~A! those with interior surfaces of wood
~thickness of 3 cm or less! and ~B! those with heavy interior
surfaces, e.g., concrete block, painted or plastered, porous
block, plastered and painted, thick plaster on wire lath, heavy
~thick! wood. For comparison, the average residual absorp-
tion given in Appendix 5 of Beranek ~1996! is shown at the
bottom of Table II. The Appendix 5 average is close to the
average for these ten halls, provided the Munich Fubertssaal
of Fig. 3 is disregarded. This Munich hall has nonporous
heavy surfaces throughout. Data for it are included to show
the lowest residual absorption to be expected in the higher-
frequency bands.
Philharmonic Hall ~Fig. 2! was constructed with heavy
sidewalls and ceiling, which accounts for the low residual
absorption at low frequencies. However, because of a large
panel array, the presence of a large pipe organ, and a screen
around the stage, the absorption was higher than that of the
Fubertssaal at high frequencies. Its successor, the Avery
Fisher hall, has higher residual absorption at low frequen-
cies, because of the extensive use of wood, but has lower
high-frequency absorption because of the elimination of the
absorption of the panels, screen, and pipe organ.
The surprisingly high residual absorption in Boston
Symphony Hall is caused by the many open areas in the
ceiling and the sidewalls made through the years for lights,
air conditioning, and microphones.
IV. ABSORPTION COEFFICIENTS FOR SEATS,
UNOCCUPIED
After the seats were installed in these halls, the rever-
beration times, averaged throughout the rooms, and the rela-
tive humidities and temperatures were measured. The com-
putational process for determining the seat absorption is
3174 J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 104, No. 6, December 1998
Rear side of Top of seat Arm
seat back bottom rests
Sometimes 10 cm 2 cm
0 5 cm Solid
0 2.5 cm Solid
0 4–6 cm Solid
shown in Table III for the Mitaka and the TOC concert halls.
In those halls, the total absorption of the surfaces consisted
of only three components, the residual absorption, the air
absorption, and the chair absorption. Using the equation for
calculation of Alpha ~A!, given in the table, the absorption
coefficients for the chairs, unoccupied or occupied, were de-
termined from the quantities listed above. For example, in
the unoccupied Mitaka Hall, the per-unit-area seating ab-
sorption coefficient, to be used with the ‘‘acoustical area,’’ at
500 Hz is 0.52 ~No. 1!, and that in the TOC Hall is 0.36 ~No.
3!. Occupied, as the Nos. 2 and 4 show, the absorption co-
efficients at 500 Hz are 0.72 and 0.62, respectively.
The absorption coefficients calculated in this manner for
the unoccupied seats in ten halls are shown in Fig. 4. In
Table IV the results for 23 unoccupied chairs are listed, di-
vided into four groups. The smoothed averages, made for use
in the design stages of a hall, are plotted in Fig. 5. The
managers of the concert halls listed in Table IV were asked
for details on the upholstering of the seats in their halls, and
the averaged responses are shown in Table V.
Boston’s seats are almost unupholstered, but their ab-
sorption at low frequencies is high. The reason is that during
the regular concert season, the main floor seats are raked,
reaching a height of 1.8 m at the rear of the hall, accom-
plished by constructing a second floor of 19-mm-thick
boards on frames which are supported by metal jacks. The
absorption of the added wooden floor is assigned to the seats
in Fig. 4. The low absorption coefficients at 2k and 4k Hz
for the Boston hall are due to the impervious leather uphol-
stery covering. The upholstery covering in the halls of
groups 1–3 is porous cloth. The low coefficients of the chairs
for the Japanese halls ~group 4 of Fig. 5 at these frequencies!
are confirmed by reverberation chamber measurements.
V. ABSORPTION COEFFICIENTS FOR AUDIENCES
„SEATS, OCCUPIED…
In Fig. 6 the absorption coefficients for the occupied
seats in seven of the halls of this study are presented. The
major differences among the curves are in the two lowest-
frequency bands. People do not absorb much at low frequen-
cies so that the chair mostly determines the absorption coef-
ficients there. The TOC Concert Hall is discussed in Sec.
VII. As in Sec. IV, the calculations for 21 halls are given in
Table VI, and the smoothed averages for three groupings are
shown in Fig. 7. As already noted, the principal differences
among the chairs are at low frequencies.
L. L. Beranek and T. Hidaka: Sound absorption in concert halls 3174
 FIG. 7. Occupied chair ~audience! absorption coefficients for 21 halls, plot-
ted from data in Table VI.
FIG. 6. Absorption coefficients for occupied chairs in seven of the ten halls
of Fig. 4 determined from measurements before and after the audience en-
tered the hall. Note that the area S A associated with these absorption coef-
ficients includes a 0.5-m edge correction around each block of seating area,
except for the edge of a seating block when it is adjacent to a wall or a
balcony front.

TABLE VI. Occupied chair ~audience! absorption coefficients derived from the reverberation times presented
in Appendix 4 with the use of Eqs. ~1!–~3!. The halls are grouped according to three degrees of upholstering,
as listed in Table A5.4 and were selected because the data were judged reliable and no significant amount of
added acoustical materials are known to exist in the halls for which adjustments could not be made. Group 1:
Heavily upholstered seats ~see Table V!. Group 2: Medium upholstered seats ~see Table V!. Group 3: Lightly
upholstered seats ~see Table V!.

Frequency, Hz

Name of hall 125 250 500 1k 2k 4k

Group 1
Berlin, Philharmonie 0.70 0.81 0.88 0.85 0.86 0.87
Cleveland, Severance Hall 0.65 0.78 0.92 0.99 1.02 0.96
Edmonton, Jubilee Hall 0.91 0.83 0.88 0.95 0.93 0.98
Kanagawa, Chamber Hall 0.68 0.74 0.77 0.77 0.84 0.89
N.Y. Philharmonic Hall 0.59 0.78 0.87 0.86 0.88 0.87
Rotterdam, De Doelen 0.85 0.84 0.89 0.86 0.83 0.77
Salzburg, Festspielhaus 0.69 0.78 0.89 0.91 0.92 0.90
Average 0.72 0.79 0.87 0.88 0.90 0.89
Average from smoothed curve 0.72 0.80 0.86 0.89 0.90 0.90

Group 2
Buffalo, Kleinhans Hall 0.56 0.62 0.85 0.90 0.89 0.95
Stuttgart, Liederhalle 0.73 0.78 0.83 0.82 0.79 0.83
Bristol, Colston Hall 0.62 0.71 0.77 0.81 0.82 0.92
Liverpool, Philharmonic Hall 0.74 0.78 0.82 0.85 0.86 0.90
Tokyo, Hamarikyu Asahi Hall 0.61 0.76 0.82 0.82 0.82 0.77
N.Y., Avery Fisher Hall 0.70 0.80 0.87 0.88 0.81 0.80
Seattle, Opera House 0.43 0.63 0.82 0.82 0.80 0.80
Boston, Symphony Hall 0.54 0.70 0.77 0.77 0.85 0.86
Average 0.62 0.72 0.82 0.83 0.83 0.85
Average from smoothed curve 0.62 0.72 0.80 0.83 0.84 0.85

Group 3
Amsterdam, Concertgebouw 0.60 0.69 0.81 0.91 0.93 0.99
Basel, Stadt-Casino 0.45 0.6 0.77 0.83 0.87 0.82
Berlin, Konzerthaus 0.56 0.67 0.79 0.82 0.87 0.88
Mitaka, Concert hall 0.51 0.64 0.72 0.74 0.76 0.80
Tokyo, TOC Concert Hall 0.44 0.58 0.62 0.67 0.68 0.72
Vienna, Gr. Musikvereinssaal 0.53 0.63 0.76 0.83 0.86 0.85
Average 0.52 0.64 0.75 0.80 0.83 0.84
Average from smoothed curve 0.51 0.64 0.75 0.80 0.82 0.83

3175 J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 104, No. 6, December 1998 L. L. Beranek and T. Hidaka: Sound absorption in concert halls 3175
TABLE VII. Sound absorption coefficients for building materials and audience areas. These coefficients must be used in the sabine equation. The measure-
ments were made in the types of diffuse sound fields found in concert halls.

Frequency
Mass
Materials 125 250 500 1000 2000 4000 kg/sq m

Gypsum, 2 layers, fiberglass reinforced, 25 mm w/lighting and 0.15 0.12 0.10 0.08 0.07 0.06 0
Gypsum, plaster board, not reinforced, mass per sq m equals @thickness in mm#31.0 kg/sq m, approximately

Wood, ceiling, 2 layers, 28 mm w/lighting & ventilation 0.18 0.14 0.10 0.08 0.07 0.06 17
Wood, sidewalls, 1 layer, 20 mm w/doors & lighting 0.25 0.18 0.11 0.08 0.07 0.06 12
Wood, sidewalls, 1 layer, 12 mm w/doors & lighting 0.28 0.22 0.19 0.13 0.08 0.06 6.2

Wood, audience floor, 2 layers, 33 mm on sleepers over concr 0.09 0.06 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.04 N/A
Wood, stage floor, 2 layers, 27 mm over airspace 0.10 0.07 0.06 0.06 0.06 0.06 17

Wood, 19 mm, over 25 mm compressed fiberglass, 0.20 0.15 0.08 0.05 0.05 0.05 N/A
screwed to 150 mm concrete block w/doors & lighting

Plaster, ceiling, 60 mm w/lighting & ventilation 0.10 0.08 0.05 0.04 0.03 0.02 60
Plaster, ceiling, 30 mm w/lighting & ventilation 0.14 0.12 0.08 0.06 0.06 0.04 30

Plastic, fiberglass reinforced phenolic foam, filled with 0.25 0.23 0.16 0.12 0.11 0.10 4
aluminum hydroxide, faced with very thin layer plywood,
8 mm ~Tokyo, Hamarikyu-Asahi Concert Hall!

Concrete floor, linoleum cemented to it 0.04 0.03 0.03 0.03 0.03 0.02
Concrete floor, woods boards, 19 mm, secured to it 0.10 0.08 0.07 0.06 0.06 0.06
Concrete block, plastered 0.06 0.05 0.05 0.04 0.04 0.04

Organ absorption, case opening 75 m2 ~Boston, behind grille! 41 26 19 15 11 11

Organ absorption, free standing ~Tokyo, TOC Concert Hall! 65 44 35 33 32 31

Audience, seats fully occupied

Heavily upholstered 0.72 0.80 0.86 0.89 0.90 0.90
Medium upholstered 0.62 0.72 0.80 0.83 0.84 0.85
Lightly upholstered 0.51 0.64 0.75 0.80 0.82 0.83

Seats unoccupied
Heavily upholstered 0.70 0.76 0.81 0.84 0.84 0.81
Medium upholstered 0.54 0.62 0.68 0.70 0.68 0.66
Lightly upholstered 0.36 0.47 0.57 0.62 0.62 0.60

Absorption power of orchestra ~sq m!, Tokyo, TOC Concert Hall and NNT Opera House
Concert Hall ~stage 170 sq m, vertical walls, sides ~ends! splayed!
13 string instruments 3 4 6 17 52 64
44 players ~2 brass! 12 21 24 46 74 100
92 players ~4 brass! 22 37 44 64 102 132

Opera House ~pit opening 100 sq m!

40 players 10 13 17 41 50 57
80 players 12 17 23 56 67 71

Note: Surface density values do not include the mass of furring or wooden nailing strips.
Note: The coefficients following were taken from the literature, references given in text.
Carpet, heavy, cemented to concrete 0.02 0.06 0.14 0.37 0.6 0.65
Carpet, heavy, over foamed rubber 0.08 0.24 0.57 0.69 0.71 0.73
Carpet, thin, cemented to concrete 0.02 0.04 0.08 0.2 0.35 0.4

VI. SOUND ABSORPTION COEFFICIENTS FOR VII. NEARLY IDENTICAL SEATS IN DIFFERENT
BUILDING MATERIALS ARCHITECTURAL VENUES

The sound absorption coefficients for building materials
derived from the 11 halls included in this study are listed in
Table VII. The values shown are reasonably close to those
tabulated in Appendix 5, Beranek ~1996, p. 626!. At the
bottom of the table, total absorptions for orchestras on stage
and in pits are shown, as measured in two halls. The data for
carpets are from the literature. The values for audiences and
chair absorption coefficients are slightly lower than those
shown in Appendix 5, p. 626.
From Fig. 4 we can see the absorption coefficients for
nearly identical seats determined in three Japanese halls, Mi-
taka Concert Hall, NNT Opera, and TOC Concert Hall. The
range in absorptions among these three halls is due in part to
differences in the thickness of the cushions on the seat bot-
toms but, we believe, the larger part of the differences is
determined by the state of the sound diffusion in these rooms
at these reverberation times with most of the sound absorp-
tion contributed by horizontal areas. In plan, both the Mitaka

3176 J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 104, No. 6, December 1998 L. L. Beranek and T. Hidaka: Sound absorption in concert halls 3176
and the TOC halls are rectangular, and both seat less than
1700 persons. The Mitaka ceiling is nearly horizontal, built
of three levels, each of smaller area and ascending about 1.3
m per level. The TOC hall has a distorted pyramidal-shaped
ceiling, rising at its peak to about 14 m above the level at
which it intersects the side walls. The NNT Opera is narrow
fan-shaped, with balcony fronts that appear to give the upper
part of the hall a rectangular shape. The mid-frequency re-
verberation time in the NNT Opera House is about 1.5 s,
while that in the two concert halls is between 1.85 and 2.0 s,
when fully occupied. The absorption coefficients for the oc-
cupied seats in the TOC Concert Hall are also lower than
those in the Mitaka Hall.
VIII. THE ‘‘EDGE EFFECT’’ SURROUNDING AN
ABSORPTIVE AREA
It is well known that the sound absorption of a finite
sample of acoustical material measured in a reverberation
chamber must have an ‘‘edge’’ correction because of diffrac-
tion effects at the edges. As the sample becomes larger, this
‘‘edge’’ correction becomes smaller. It is also known that
this effect varies with frequency. Our measurements indicate
that a strip of 0.5 m around the actual area of a block of seats
is an adequate approximation to this effect, mostly because
the ‘‘sides’’ of an audience section as well as its ‘‘surface’’
absorbs sound.
An unexpectedly very large ‘‘edge effect’’ was encoun-
tered during our measurements in the NNT Opera House.
Measurements of the absorption coefficients in the NNT Op-
era for the seating areas were performed with the proscenium
opening ~205 sq m! closed by a fire shutter with a mid-
frequency absorption coefficient of about 0.15. In that con-
figuration, the mid-frequency reverberation time was 2.2 s.
When the shutter was raised to expose a highly absorbent
stage house, the reverberation time decreased to 1.8 s and the
calculated absorption coefficient for the actual proscenium
area was about 1.7 over the entire frequency range from 250
to 4000 Hz! In the drama theater, with the proscenium closed
by the fire curtain the RT was 1.5 s. When open it decreased
to 1.3 s. The absorption coefficient for this opening calcu-
lated to be about 1.2. In both cases, it had been expected that
the absorption coefficient would lie close to 1.0, or if the
0.5-m edge was added as for the seating, the ratio of S A to S a
~actual! would be 1.09. This large an ‘‘edge effect’’ requires
further study.
3177 J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 104, No. 6, December 1998
IX. FUTURE DIRECTION
The authors and their colleagues are engaged in a study
designed to develop an analytical method for going at all
frequencies from sound absorptions of seats measured in a
reverberation chamber to the sound absorptions measured in
concert halls ~Hidaka et al., 1996!.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors wish to thank Noriko Nishihara for her in-
valuable help with the measurements, with data reduction,
and with detailed crosschecking of the tables of absorption
coefficients for the 11 halls.
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