The effects of wall diffusing elements on the perception of sound fields were investigated in 1:10 scale models and a recital hall. Acoustical measurements were carried out in both halls with and without diffusers. The front halves of both side walls in the recital hall were covered by plastic panels and/or absorptive materials. Then the impulse responses recorded in diffusive, reflective, and ...

Supplying sufficient early reflections to audience members is an important prerequisite to good acoustic quality in performing arts spaces. However, the relationship between the geometry of a room and its acoustic efficiency in terms of early energy has rarely been investigated using basic geometrical principles. The present study demonstrates the possibility of predicting the average value of ...

The question whether or not double basses can benefit from a compliant and radiating stage floor in the low end of their tonal register, similar to the well-known tuning fork-tabletop effect, was examined through field experiments in five concert halls. The topic comprises several aspects: (1) How well the mechanical impedances of double basses and the stage floor match, (2) amount of vibration...

The main purpose of a concert hall is to convey sound from musicians to listeners and to reverberate the music for more pleasant experience in the audience area. This process is linear and can be represented with impulse responses. However, by studying measured and simulated impulse responses for decades, researchers have not been able to exhaustively explain the success and reputation of certa...

The performance of various spatialization techniques is evaluated for a distributed audience using the nonideal speaker arrangements found in small concert halls. The methods under evaluation are Second Order Ambisonics, Vector Base Amplitude Panning, Delta Stereophony and Spat with B-format Ambisonics encoding. Each method is assessed in terms of its localization accuracy. The data is presente...

Text presented in lecture halls often simultaneously appears on multiple visual displays (e.g., blackboards, projection screens, video monitors), which should be legible to the entire audience seated in an ideal viewing area. Existing guidelines identify this area as fanshaped, but the origin of those guidelines and the data on which they are based are not specified. To supplement the guideline...

Praying over longer time spans can foster self-control. Less is known about the immediate, short-term consequences of praying. Here we investigated the possibility that praying may counteract self-control depletion. Participants suppressed or did not suppress thoughts about a white bear before engaging in a brief period of either personal prayer or free thought. Then, all participants completed...

A concert is a mass entertainment event held indoors, at halls, or outdoors (open-air festivals). These two formats differ greatly from each other. However, the goal of both events remains same – to allow audience enjoy musical performance. Indoor halls are designed for best acoustics sound. They often circular and let sound waves travel around inside building, like an echo bouncing back forth....

We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate how performing formalized and improvised forms of praying changed the evoked BOLD response in a group of Danish Christians. Distinct from formalized praying and secular controls, improvised praying activated a strong response in the temporopolar region, the medial prefrontal cortex, the temporo-parietal junction and precuneus. ...