James E. Bruce
Charles T. Moritz
Robert D. Bruce
Collaboration in Sci. and Technol., Inc., 15835 Park Ten Place, Ste. 105, Houston, TX 77084-5131
Many large houses (in excess of 5000 square feet) have recently been built in the Houston, TX area. Some of these houses are constructed on speculation by builders and some are designed and built for specific individuals. This paper summarizes the results of a survey of the builders of both types of homes. Since many individuals who build their own home design into their spaces features that reflect their personality and needs, it was thought that it would be interesting to investigate if ``good acoustics'' were one of these features. In addition, measurements of background noise, reverberation time, noise reduction between critical spaces, and the noise reduction from outside sources will be discussed. Finally, suggestions for improving the acoustics of large homes will be presented.