LOUDNESS LEVEL SURVEY OF THE NEWBERRY MEMORIAL ORGAN, YALE-UNIVERSITY

The Newberry Memorial organ, Yale University, is an example of a large Skinner organ built in the late 1920s. The diapason choruses and reed s of this organ were designed by G. D. Harrison in 1928, and represent an early example of his work. The purpose of the present work was to provide objective measurements of loudness levels across the compass o f the major divisions of the organ at a prime listening location. The C-weighted sound-pressure level of all the C's of each stop was measur ed. The SPL readings were transformed, with corrections, to loudness l evels using the Robinson and Dadson [Br. J. Appl. Phys. 7, 166-181 (19 56)] contours. The pattern of loudness levels across the compass of th e organ was the same for all unison stops. The levels peaked in the mi ddle octave and fell steadily either side 10 to 40 phons. Sixteen- and 32-ft stops followed the pattern of decline in loudness levels set by the unison stops. Higher frequency stops (4 ft, 2 ft, and mutations) also continued the downward trend of levels set by the upper end of th e unison stops. The data of the present survey agreed with an extensiv e qualitative description of the dynamic level of the organ at its com pletion in 1929. (C) 1996 Acoustical Society of America.