ASA 130th Meeting - St. Louis, MO - 1995 Nov 27 .. Dec 01

2pAAb1. New results for the music critic listening experiment at Dallas' Meyerson Symphony Center.

David Lubman

David Lubman & Assoc., 14301 Middletown Lane, Westminster, CA 92683

Gary W. Siebein

Univ. of Florida, Gainsville, FL 32611

A pilot experiment was conducted to compare the assessments of the acoustics of a concert hall made by music critics, musicians, and ``others.'' The experiment, a cooperative effort between the ASA and the Music Critics Association of North America (MCANA), was performed in Dallas, TX at the McDermott concert hall of the Meyerson Symphony Center during MCANA's June 1994 Meeting. The critics' meeting provided a unique opportunity to obtain acoustical assessments from a statistically significant number of critics attending concerts in the same hall. Standard survey forms and instructions were placed in the registration packets of about 75 music critics at check-in, and about 1000 noncritic volunteers attending concerts on two consecutive nights. The initial, disappointingly small number of survey forms returned by the critics was augmented by the critics' responses to a supplemental mailed appeal. Ultimately, 18 critics, nine musicians, and 20 ``others'' submitted survey forms for the Dallas Symphony concert. 13 critics, 36 musicians, and 106 ``others'' submitted survey forms for the Houston Symphony concert held on the next night. With these new responses, statistically interesting, significant results can now be reported. [Work supported with private donor and TCAA Technical Initiative Funds.]