# Absorption of HT seats question



## Akustar (Nov 22, 2008)

In a theater, the sound decay characteristics should remain stable, whether one or all the seats are occupied.

Although it is less important in a small room with a limited number of seats, we must take into account the sound absorption of the chairs.
Reflective surfaces such as leather, or more absorbent surfaces such as fabric on foam does not have the same behavior in response to sound waves.
When the seat is made of foam covered with a transparent cloth, it doesn't make much difference whether the seat is occupied or not. But the overall absorption will change dramatically when a room with 10 leather seats is occupied by 1 or 10 people.

The rule is the acoustic behaviour of a theater seat must be identical whether the seat is empty or occupied.
If you care about the decay time in your room, you should avoid using leather or reflective seats.

Am I wrong ?


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

I moved your post to the Acoustics forum - hopefully someone will chime in soon to answer your query.


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