An important parameter in concert hall design: Determination of directivity for instruments

Abstract

Instrument sound directivity is of great importance when defining the sound source for research in architectural acoustics. When it comes to the topic of instrument directivity, whereas there are various studies on Western music instruments, only a few studies could be found on the directivity information of Eastern music instruments. For this reason, during architectural acoustic design processes in concert halls, rehearsal rooms, music studios and other Turkish music performance areas, there may be insufficient approaches in terms of defining the sound source. Directivity measurements of the qanun, oud, tanbur and clarinet, which are important instruments of Turkish music, were carried out within the scope of the study. These measurements for all octave band regions were carried out by designing a measurement setup with 20 microphone measurement points in the hemispherical area created in the semi-anechoic room at TUBITAK UME. The effect of the tonal spread characteristics of the instruments on the directivity was taken into account and a total of 143 measurements were carried out for all the note regions in the octave ranges of the relevant instruments. The directivity differences among the instruments and the acoustic propagation characteristics of different octave bands for each instrument are interpreted at the end of the study. The obtained values and results will make an important contribution to source modelling in architectural acoustic simulations of concert halls and concert hall stages; and in relation to this, in musician stage arrangements and all the other musical acoustics research. Cite this article as: Ozgencil Y, Yugruk Akdag N. An important parameter in concert hall design: determination of directivity for instruments. Megaron 2022;17(4):617-628.