Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-07-09
ACOUSTICS
|NCOURT ROOM NO. |
IS TO Be REMED|ED
Contract is Let for Much Needed
Improvement and Job Will be
Started Within Short Time.
TOO BUSY SOUND WAVES

Those faulty acoustic conditions in
Court Room No. /. which have been n
source Of ANNOYANCE to the degree Of
actual hardship 10 bench, bar, jurors and
spectators every SINCE the county courts
began their sessions in the Public Building
will soon nc thing of the past. The Job
nf eliminating them will he started with
IN few days and Will have been completed
bv the time September and the rropca-
ing Of court rolls around.
This news will be received with deep
satisfaction Inv everybody whose business
takes them into the court room II means
that when the work Is over it will be pos
slble to hear distinctly and without ear
strain just what Judge, counsel ar witness
is saving. thing that heretofore has been
exceedingly difficult, even 10 those only n
lcw feet away from the speaker, and viz
tualy impossible when the auditor is
~ feet or more distant from the voice
Complaints were heard about the bad
acoustics OF the chamber rs soon rs the
courts began work there. The old cham
her in the old courthouse was particularly
good acoustiCally and the change in tho
new quarters was MI the more marked,
therefore. At FIRST, IL was thought time
and usage would acc,stom all who daily
used the room to IFS Deficiencies, hut such
Was not the case. II anything, the
situation seemed to grow worse
The annoyance WAS specially marked
when there were few VERSIONS IN the room
and much less so when the place was full,
the clothing OF its human occupants
seeming to take up the excess sound vibra-
toms said To bc at the bottom of the
truuslc The same state cf affairs prevail
pd. 1t Wa. found, IN City Councils cham
her. almost an exact duplicate of Court
Room No.
THE MATTER TAKEN UP
The Building Commission was not IN
Ignorance of the situation and lsid the
matter before the city fathers as To what
should be done about their chamber, IN
forming them what the price would DO for
correction OF the trouble. That ended
things. so far as the council WAS concerned,
.S the figure WAS = tTitie more than 5000.
Council had nothing to do with the bills
which might be incurred IN reme,lylng
the faulty acoustics III Court Room No. /,
however, which matter WAS up to the
Levy Court.
Back ID MAY May -, TO be exact
Every Evening called attention EDITOR
ally to the matter, following the publioa
tion of local story regarding IT. Later IT
Is understood, at least one member Of TIE
Judiciary and some of the members 81 the
bar went further with il, The result was
thc recent awarding Of contract by the
building Commission 10 the Mazer
Acoustic Co, Pittsb,rg concern which
specializes III such things, for work which
Will remedy the whole evil The Job viii
cost $1,000.
1t is no small task, either First, all the
plaster work of the room walls and cell
ing will be treated with peculiar felt,
over which will then be placed sort Of
frame upon which will be stretched q
cloth membrane, frightened like drum
head somewhat, which Will absorb the
vagrant sound waves that have been
causing the trouble. At the same time, IL Is
probable that certain other changes for
the betterment of the room viii be made,
particularly with regard 10 lighting and
the dull appearance II has under certain
conditions
And when court sits in September
those in attendance literally Will not be
able TO believe the evidence of their own
cars
The Job viii take about three weeks to
complete and rs this Is the period when the
room IS not IN Use, the workIpen will be
able to have It all to themselves. Material
for the work Is understood TO have been
shipped