Objective assessment of acoustic conditions on concert hall stages - limitations and new strategies

At present the most common measures for assessing stage acoustic conditions on concert hall stages are the Support measures ‐ ST early and ST late . These measures are based on monophonic omnidirectional responses obtained at 1 m from the sound source, on a stage without a full sy mphony orchestra (or similar group of people) prese nt. Both objective and subjective studies have been conducted, th e latter using questionnaires with several orchestr as and dialogue with musicians. Objective studies involved measurements on real stages of the Support measures and oth er acoustic measures such as T, EDT , C80 , G7‐50 , Ge ( G0‐80 ) and Gl ( G80‐∞) as well as a set of proposed architectural measur es. These have been complemented with analytical as well as scale and computer model investigations into s ound behaviour on both empty and occupied concert stages. The major results from these studies are presented in this paper along with a discussion of alternative approaches f or assessing stage acoustic conditions. One importa nt result concerned the relevance of directions from which early reflections arrive regarding perceived ensemble co nditions, an objective factor not assessed by the Support measur es.