Sounding Board

Sounding boards were used to concentrate and amplify the ministers voice in Anglican chapels of early America. Rath contrasts the architectural acoustics of the then new meeting houses with the medieval church, in which sound was characterized by reverberation and deconcentrated authority. The sounding board directed and amplified sound, but those of higher rank in the front had best access to the minister's voice. Those in the back, the poor, and slaves, had less access, proving their spiritual needs to be of less importance.