Pre-computer acoustics could not test designs before construction.

Evidence

The original Philharmonic Hall at Lincoln Center in New York is commonly thought to be an acoustical failure. The science of architectural acoustics was well along in the late 1950s and early 1960s, but it did not have powerful computers and algorithms available to run tests of various designs before they were built. — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 2576

Categorization

• XREF: Relates to the modern ability to simulate acoustics before building, a theme in later acoustics. — connects to: Earlier eras cannot be judged as lacking technologies they did not know. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 1226