Answer to Question #298896 in Optics for Chemistry

Question

Some loudspeaker horns for outdoor concerts (at which the entire audience is seated on

the ground) are wider vertically than horizontally. Use diffraction ideas to explain why this is more efficient at spreading the sound uniformly over the audience than either a square speaker horn or a horn that is wider horizontally than vertically. Would this still be the case if the audience were seated at different elevations, as in an amphitheater? Why or why not?

Answer 1

Making them wide vertically means the sound is concentrated in the vertical direction. Making them narrow horizontally distributes the sound in a wide horizontal maximum. For an amphitheater, a wider vertical distribution would be desired.