Acoustics in ancient Greek theaters

This information is by now more than ten years old (see: Phys.org April 4, 2007) but the subject of acoustics remains one of the main elements contributing to the success of any antique theater.

I always find ancient theaters very exciting whenever I walk through their remains or sit on one of their tiers – they have so much to tell!

According to the abovementioned study, the first “perfect” acoustics were reached most probably by accident in Epidaurus in the 4^th century BC. Over the following centuries, the architects tried to reproduce this unique effect but never managed to do so. As it turns out, it is not so much the result of the slope of the theater or its orientation but the seats themselves that determine the right acoustics.

The theater of Epidaurus has an absolutely unprecedented and never equalled effect of blocking the low-frequency background noise of the public but does instead comfortably reflect the high-frequency voices of the performers against the seats back to the audience. In this way, the actor’s voices are clearly registered all the way to the last tiers of seats in the theater.

Acoustic experts experimented with ultrasonic waves and numerical simulations leading them to conclude that the great acoustics of Epidaurus are due to the limestone used for its seats. Since other theaters used other stones and even wood, this effect was never reproduced.

As all great discoveries happen by accident, this was certainly the case for the acoustical effects in the theater of Epidaurus. Isn’t it amazing that in times when amplifiers and loudspeakers did not exist, people were able to obtain the same result simply by using the right stone for the seats in their theater?

P.S. According to more "technical" studies, it seems that the above conclusions are not as black and white as they appear at first sight. Here are the conclusions drawn by researchers from the Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands):