> noise (not music, nature, voices). Design is too much 'looks' centered
> nowadays, you can't hear a building when looking at the image on the
> net...
It is a learned skill to be able to "hear" a building from the
drawings. Rarely am I surprised. Although, there are some really
creative ways to trap sound that can really fool you. The absorbtion
on the bottom of tables, for example is one nifty trick, but not
really a good one. However, this is a great way of deadening an old
church where nothing visible can be done and it has hard-surface
floors. We cover the bottom of the pews with absorption. In a typical
church structure, that one change can cut RT by a third. Any surfaces
not visible from the floor gets treatment too. If we can't touch any
other part of the room, if we can treat the pews (even converting them
to cushioned) and combine it with a new speaker system with highly
directed coverage, we can make the place usable. But when you start
with a RT of 8 seconds, getting down to under 2 seconds is
challenging.
I've retrofitted a school cafeteria one time. The noise level was
simply obscene. I did an SPL measurement and found that it exceeded
all current government regulations for worker safety. We installed the
panels and lowered the SPL well over 10dB. (it was calculated at 15 dB
at 1000Hz). Instead of a constant ringing sound in the room, you could
actually have an enjoyable conversation and not have to shout over the
conversation occuring on the other side of the room. We could have
lowered the SPL even more, as well as the RT, but as it was a private
school, we were trying to be cost-sensitive. I spec'd the retrofit to
get the maximum benefit for the least cost.
The greatest challenges come from some of the shapes people have
designed into rooms. Trust me, nothing good will EVER come from a
dome.
--
Ken Norton
ken@xxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.zone-10.com
--
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