page_title: Architectural acoustics
section_title: Interior space acoustics
hierarchical_section_title: Architectural acoustics / Interior space acoustics
caption_attribution_description: English: The Culture Palace (Heichal Hatarbut) concert hall in Tel Aviv
context_page_description: Architectural acoustics is the science and engineering of achieving a good sound within a building and is a branch of acoustical engineering. The first application of modern scientific methods to architectural acoustics was carried out by Wallace Sabine in the Fogg Museum lecture room who then applied his new found knowledge to the design of Symphony Hall, Boston.
  Architectural acoustics can be about achieving good speech intelligibility in a theatre, restaurant or railway station, enhancing the quality of music in a concert hall or recording studio, or suppressing noise to make offices and homes more productive and pleasant places to work and live in. Architectural acoustic design is usually done by acoustic consultants.
context_section_description: This is the science of controlling a room's surfaces based on sound absorbing and reflecting properties.  Excessive reverberation time, which can be calculated, can lead to poor speech intelligibility.
  Sound reflections create standing waves that produce natural resonances that can be heard as a pleasant sensation or an annoying one. Reflective surfaces can be angled and coordinated to provide good coverage of sound for a listener in a concert hall or music recital space. To illustrate this concept consider the difference between a modern large office meeting room or lecture theater and a traditional classroom with all hard surfaces.
  Interior building surfaces can be constructed of many different materials and finishes. Ideal acoustical panels are those without a face or finish material that interferes with the acoustical infill or substrate.  Fabric covered panels are one way to heighten acoustical absorption. Perforated metal also shows sound absorbing qualities. Finish material is used to cover over the acoustical substrate. Mineral fiber board, or Micore, is a commonly used acoustical substrate. Finish materials often consist of fabric, wood or acoustical tile. Fabric can be wrapped around substrates to create what is referred to as a "pre-fabricated panel" and often provides good noise absorption if laid onto a wall.
  Prefabricated panels are limited to the size of the substrate ranging from 2 by 4 feet (0.61 m × 1.22 m) to 4 by 10 feet (1.2 m × 3.0 m).  Fabric retained in a wall-mounted perimeter track system, is referred to as "on-site acoustical wall panels". This is constructed by framing the perimeter track into shape, infilling the acoustical substrate and then stretching and tucking the fabric into the perimeter frame system. On-site wall panels can be constructed to accommodate door frames, baseboard, or any other intrusion. Large panels (generally, greater than 50 square feet (4.6 m²)) can be created on walls and ceilings with this method.  Wood finishes can consist of punched or routed slots and provide a natural look to the interior space, although acoustical absorption may not be great.
  There are four ways to improve workplace acoustics and solve workplace sound problems – the ABCDs.
  A = Absorb (via drapes, carpets, ceiling tiles, etc.)
  B = Block (via panels, walls, floors, ceilings and layout)
  C = Cover-up, or Control (background sound levels and spectra) (via masking sound)
  D = Diffuse (cause the sound energy to spread by radiating in many directions)
caption: Ceiling of Culture Palace (Tel Aviv) concert hall is covered with perforated metal panels
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "2560", "Image ImageLength": "1920", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "CYBERSHOT", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "240", "Image YResolution": "240", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CC (Windows)", "Image DateTime": "2014:10:01 18:31:58", "Image ExifOffset": "268", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "706", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5508", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/30", "EXIF FNumber": "2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "320", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2014:10:01 12:43:50", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2014:10:01 12:43:50", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "4906891/1000000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "33/16", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "97/10", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2560", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1674", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed"}