Description:
<jats:p>Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Washington, was inaugurated on September 12, 1998. This 2500-seat concert hall has a rectangular plan, follows the traditional “shoebox” form, and has a volume of 680 000 ft3 (19 244 m3). To obtain excellent diffusion over a wide frequency range requires surface irregularities of different sizes and shapes; to obtain excellent diffusion at very low frequencies requires scattering surfaces of very large dimensions. These considerations were essential to the acoustical design of Benaroya Hall. The two principal reasons for providing a high degree of diffusion across the frequency range were (1) to increase the uniformity of the distribution of sound throughout the concert hall, and (2) to smooth out significant variations in the rate of growth and the rate of decay in the hall. The values of reverberation time, at all measured frequencies, for fully occupied Benaroya Hall are within 0.1 sec of the corresponding values in the Grossermusikvereinssaal in Vienna. Noise is inaudible throughout the auditorium, having a measured value of between NC-10 and NC-15 with air conditioning systems in operation.</jats:p>