On the Acoustics of Cocktail Parties
William R. MacLean · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1959
Parties are classified as loud or quiet, and the distinction is shown to depend often upon a critical acoustic relationship rather than upon the guests themselves. An explicit formula is found for the maximum number N of well-mannered guests compatible with the quiet party. When this number is exceeded, the party will become a loud one within a calculable time T.