Acoustic parameters affecting the perceived balance between sound sources located on the stage and in the orchestra pit in opera theatres

Acoustic experience by a listener in an opera theatre is characterized by the term balance, referring to the acoustic competition between the singer on the stage and the orchestra in the pit. This presentation summarizes the authors' previous investigations regarding the subjective evaluations of balance. Since each investigation used different acoustic parameters and those frequency ranges, further analyses are conducted so that all the investigations use the same acoustic parameters and frequency range. The scale values obtained in the auditory tests are correlated with the acoustic parameters for the stage and the pit sources as well as the stage to pit ratio. The following parameters are discussed in terms of the preferred conditions and those interactions: sound level, sound level difference (Balance B) between the stage and the pit sources, reverberation time, early-to-late energy ratio, and interaural crosscorrelation IACC.