Question

The walls and ceiling of an auditorium are covered with a fibrous material to

• A. Make the auditorium fire proof
• B. Absorb sound and prevent echoes
• C. Give an ethnic look to the auditorium
• D. To prevent leakage of water from the roof

Answer 1

The correct option is B Absorb sound and prevent echoes

The sound created in a big hall will persist by repeated reflection from the walls until it is reduced to a value where it is no longer audible. The repeated reflection that results in this persistence of sound is called reverberation. In an auditorium or big hall excessive reverberation is highly undesirable. To reduce reverberation, the roof and walls of the auditorium are generally covered with sound-absorbent materials like compressed fibreboard, rough plaster or draperies. We know that such soft, porous and fibrous materials are good absorbers of sound. The seat materials are also selected on the basis of their sound absorbing properties.