See also:

• ACOUSTICS (from the Gr. &eobav to hear)

ACOUSTICS (from the Gr. &eobav to hear)  , a See also:

• TITLE (0. Fr. title, mod. titre, from Lat. titulus)

title frequently given to the See also:

• SCIENCE (Lat. scientia, from scire; to learn, know)

science of See also:

• SOUND
• SOUND, THE (Danish Oresund)

sound, that is, to the description and theory of the phenomena which give rise to the sensation of sound (q.v.) . The See also:

• TERM

term " See also:

• ACOUSTICS (from the Gr. &eobav to hear)

acoustics " might, however, with See also:

• ADVANTAGE

advantage be reserved for the aspect of the subject more immediately connected with See also:

• HEARING (formed from the verb " to hear," O. Eng. hyran, heron, &c., a common Teutonic verb; cf. Ger. Koren, Dutch hooren, &c.; the O. Tent. form is seen in Goth. hausjan; the initial h makes any connexion with " ear," Lat. audire, or Gr. &Kobew very doub

hearing . Thus we may speak appropriately of the acoustic quality of a See also:

• ROOM

room or See also:

• HALL
• HALL (generally known as SCHWABISCH-HALL, tc distinguish it from the small town of Hall in Tirol and Bad-Hall, a health resort in Upper Austria)
• HALL (O.E. heall, a common Teutonic word, cf. Ger. Halle)
• HALL, BASIL (1788-1844)
• HALL, CARL CHRISTIAN (1812–1888)
• HALL, CHARLES FRANCIS (1821-1871)
• HALL, CHRISTOPHER NEWMAN (1816—19oz)
• HALL, EDWARD (c. 1498-1547)
• HALL, FITZEDWARD (1825-1901)
• HALL, ISAAC HOLLISTER (1837-1896)
• HALL, JAMES (1793–1868)
• HALL, JAMES (1811–1898)
• HALL, JOSEPH (1574-1656)
• HALL, MARSHALL (1790-1857)
• HALL, ROBERT (1764-1831)
• HALL, SAMUEL CARTER (5800-5889)
• HALL, SIR JAMES (1761-1832)
• HALL, WILLIAM EDWARD (1835-1894)

hall, describing it as See also:

• GOOD, JOHN MASON (1764-1827)

good or See also:

• BAD, BCD

bad acoustically, according as speaking is heard in it easily or with difficulty . When a room has bad acoustic quality we can almost always assign the See also:

• FAULT (Mid. Eng. faute, through the French, from the popular Latin use of fallere, to fail; the originallof the Latin being replaced in English in the 15th century)

fault to large smooth surfaces on the walls, See also:

• FLOOR (from O. Eng. flor, a word common to many Teutonic languages, cf. Dutch vloer, and Ger. Flur, a field, in the feminine, and a floor, masculine)

floor or See also:

• CEILING (from a verb " to ceil," i.e. to line or cover; of disputed etymology, but apparently connected with Fr. ciel, Lat. caelum, sky)

ceiling, which reflect or See also:

• ECHO (Gr. I'Xw)

echo the See also:

• VOICE (Fr. voix, from Lat. vox)

voice of the See also:

• SPEAKER

speaker so that the See also:

• DIRECT

direct waves sent out by him at any instant are received by a hearer with the waves sent out previously and reflected at these smooth surfaces . The syllables overlap, and the hearing is confused . The acoustic quality of a room may be improved by breaking up the smooth surfaces by curtains or by arrangement of See also:

• FURNITURE (from " furnish," Fr. fournir)

furniture . The echo is then broken up into small waves, none of which may be sufficiently distinct to interfere with the direct voice . Sometimes a See also:

• SOUNDING (for derivation see SOUND above)

sounding-See also:

• BOARD (O. Eng. bord)

board over the See also:

• HEAD (in 0. Eng. heafad; the word is common to Teutonic languages; cf. Dutch hoofd, Ger. Haupt, generally taken to be in origin connected with Lat. caput, Gr. KerbOvi7)
• HEAD, SIR EDMUND WALKER, BART
• HEAD, SIR FRANCIS BOND, BART

head of a speaker improves the hearing probably by preventing echo from a smooth See also:

• WALL (O. Eng. weal, weall, Mid. Eng. wal, wane, adapted from Lat. vallum, rampart; the original O. Eng. word for a wall was wag or tenth)
• WALL, RICHARD (1694-1778)

wall behind him . A large See also:

• BARE

bare floor is undoubtedly bad for acoustics, for when a room is filled by an See also:

• AUDIENCE (from Lat. audire, to hear)

audience the hearing is much improved . Wires are frequently stretched across a room overhead, probably with the See also:

• IDEA (Gr. Ibia, connected with i&eiv, to see; cf. Lat. species from specere, to look at)

idea that they will prevent the voice from reaching the roof and being reflected there, but there is no See also:

• REASON (Lat. ratio, through French raison)

reason to suppose that they are efficient . The only cure appears to consist in breaking up the reflecting surfaces so that the reflexion shall be much less See also:

• REGULAR

regular and distinct . Probably drapery assists by absorbing the sound to some extent, and thus it lessens the echo besides breaking it up .

(J . H .