評論
打印
Listen to part of a lecture in an architecture class.
聽一段建筑課程。
Today I'd like to talk a bit about the relationship between the built world and sound.
今天我想講一點建筑和聲音的關系。
Uh, the design of buildings like concert halls or theaters.
像是音樂廳或劇院的建筑設計。
So, what's the most important aspect in the design of such a building?
設計這些建筑時最重要的是什么？
Acoustics?
音響效果？
Yes. Now, people have been concerned about how sound carries in auditoriums and theaters for at least 2,000 years.
對。至少兩千年來，人們都很關心聲音在禮堂和劇院里是怎么傳遞的。
But it was not until the beginning of the twentieth century that architectural acoustics became a scientific field - that was when the physicist Wallace Sabine started to do extensive studies on reverberation.
但直到20世紀初，物理學家華萊士·賽賓開始廣泛研究回聲現象，建筑聲學才成為了一門科學。
Sabine wanted to find out why the audience could not understand speakers at a lecture hall in Boston.
賽賓想知道，在波士頓的一個講堂里，為什么觀眾不能理解發言人的意思。
He designed a series of studies on reverberation to figure it out.
他針對回聲現象設計了一系列研究，來尋找真相。
So, what is reverberation? It's the persistence of sound in a room after the source has stopped making sound.
什么是回聲現象？就是在房間中，聲源停止發聲后，聲音仍然持續的現象。
You see, sound made in a room reflects off the walls, floors and ceiling.
在房間里發出的聲音，會在墻壁、地板和天花板反射回來。
That's the reverberant sound.
那就是回聲。
The time it takes for the reverberant sound to die down is important for the acoustic quality of a room.
回聲徹底消失所用的時間長短，對一個房間的音響效果至關重要。
Sabine recognized this and he came up with an equation to measure a room's reverberation time.
賽賓發現了這一點，他提出一個等式，能測出房間的回聲時間。
So, what happens if the reverberation time is very long?
那么，如果回聲時間很長，會發生什么呢？
Wouldn't it be difficult to hear new sounds if you can still hear the old sounds?
如果你還能聽見之前的聲音，要聽新的聲音不就很困難了嗎？
Exactly. A long reverberation time may cause musical notes to drown one another out.
對。長時間回聲可能會導致音符一個壓過一個。
On the other hand, if the reverberation time is very short... meaning, the reverberations are absorbed very quickly, the room is called dead.
另一方面，假如回聲時間很短……意味著，回聲吸收得很快，房間就被成為“死房間”。
Performers would feel they have to struggle to fill the room with sound.
表演者會覺得他們要努力制造聲音，填滿房間。
We don't want that.
我們可不想這樣。
