The Acoustics of Stockholm Concert Hall and Artificial Reverberation Systems : Evaluation of Stora salen and simulation of its electronic reverberation system

Abstract: This master thesis examines the effects on the acoustical properties of a concert hall caused by an artificial reverberation system (ARS) and the possibility of simulating these properties. By examining the case of the Stockholm Concert Hall, which recently installed such a system, a greater understanding of the ARS will be gained and additional improvements of simulating such systems will be explored. This study comprises two parts: (1) objective data obtained through acoustical measurements are evaluated both internally and to other halls and (2) by computer simulation of the concert hall and its electronic reverberation system evaluate the acoustics of the hall. The study shows that the effect of the ARS on the acoustical properties of Stockholm Concert Hall is not excessive but noticeable. An 0.3 second increase in reverberation time is a desirable outcome but comes at the cost of clarity, which sees a reduction of 0.7 decibels. Moreover, it is possible to simulate a concert hall, having an ARS installed, with fairly realistic results. However, in order to compile the simulated impulse response, a script had to be created -combining the transfer functions related to each component of the reverberation chain from source to receiver, including all the microphones and loudspeakers of the ARS.