Why might concert halls have carpeted floors and drapes hanging on the walls?

Question

Why might concert halls have carpeted floors and drapes hanging on the walls?

Answer 1

acoustics

Answer 2

Carpets and drapes help absorb sound.  The last thing you want in a concert has is a big booming echo.  These concert halls are designed by people who understand how sound works and how it reacts to different shapes, materials, and spaces.  One of the things they do to maximize the quality of the sound is to place padded material on many surfaces to absorb sound.  They want the sound you hear to come directly from the source; not by bounding off a wall, then a ceiling, then the floor first.

Look at the walls in the theater next time you see a movie.  They usually have rippled material from floor to ceiling.  Same reason.

Answer 3

Concert halls have finely tuned acoustics.  The more absorptive the walls and ceilings are, the less reverb (echoes) there will be.  A certain amount of reverb is a good thing, especially for certain types of classical music.  Reverb is generally undesirable for speech and theater.

Architects and acoustical consultants will systematically put acoustical treatments in key areas of a hall to tune the reverb time to the primary use of the space.  They can also be used to eliminate flutter echoes which result from parallel surfaces.

Answer 4

Because. Your cheating on your science test. And its becuase the drapes look pretty

Answer 5

Because you're not cool.

Answer 6

That's really interesting..what Shane said. It sure makes sense..I just never thought about it before. Maybe we should all get heavy drapes in our homes.

Edit..I remember something about Elvis even having his ceiling padded in his music room.

Answer 7

echo reduction