Cebu Institute of Technology – University

Architecture Department

N. Bacalso Avenue, Cebu City, Philippines

AR357 – Building Utilities 3

Submitted by: Eldon Kent Sato, BS-Arch 3

Submitted to: Ar. Richelle Gonzales

 ARCHITECTURAL ACOUSTICS

DEFINITION

SOUND ABSORBERS - Acoustic absorption refers to the process by which a material, structure, or object takes in sound
energy when sound waves are encountered, as opposed to reflecting the energy. Part of the absorbed energy is transformed
into heat and part is transmitted through the absorbing body. The energy transformed into heat is said to have been 'lost'.
FUNCTION
When sound from a loudspeaker collides with the walls of a room part of the sound's energy is reflected, part is transmitted,
and part is absorbed into the walls. Just as the acoustic energy was transmitted through the air as pressure differentials (or
deformations), the acoustic energy travels through the material which makes up the wall in the same manner. Deformation
causes mechanical losses via conversion of part of the sound energy into heat, resulting in acoustic attenuation, mostly due to
the wall's viscosity. Similar attenuation mechanisms apply for the air and any other medium through which sound travels.
The fraction of sound absorbed is governed by the acoustic impedances of both media and is a function of frequency and the
incident angle.[1] Size and shape can influence the sound wave's behaviour if they interact with its wavelength, giving rise
to wave phenomena such as standing waves and diffraction.
BEST APPLICATION
Acoustic absorption is of particular interest in soundproofing. Soundproofing aims to absorb as much sound energy (often in
particular frequencies) as possible converting it into heat or transmitting it away from a certain location.
EXAMPLE MATERIALS
In general, soft, pliable, or porous materials (like cloths) serve as good acoustic insulators - absorbing most sound, whereas
dense, hard, impenetrable materials (such as metals) reflect most. Foam is a sound absorption technology so not a sound
diffuser and you would never make a diffuser out of foam.

 Porous absorbers
Porous absorbers, as the name suggests, consist of porous materials. Their sound-absorbing effect comes from the fact that the
sound waves can penetrate the surface of the material and flow into the cellular or fibrous structure, where they are dampened
and converted into heat (the amount of heat is minimal – less than one millionth of a watt). In other words, porous sound
absorbing materials convert the energy of sound into heat energy, which means that only a small part of sound energy is
reflected back into the room. Porous absorbers are most effective when dealing with mid-range frequencies. Typical examples are
different textiles, carpets, curtains, open-cell foams, mineral wool insulation, glass fibre, etc. As you’ll see, most of our examples
of sound absorbing materials also belong to this type.

 Membrane (panel) absorbers

Membrane absorbers are non-porous and non-rigid materials that are most effective in the bass frequency range but not with
higher frequencies. Because of their solid appearance – they don’t look and feel like as though they could absorb sound – they
are often overlooked. Regardless, they are a standard feature in our day-to-day life. For example, common building elements like
windows, doors, floors all function as panel absorbers, as well as tables, chairs, closets and other furniture.

 Resonance absorbers
Resonance absorbers consist of an acoustical oscillation system, where there is a solid plate on the front end with tight air space
behind it. These plates include perforated materials (for example perforated plasterboard or metal) and materials that have holes
or other openings. These holes act as the bottleneck that traps the sound and locks it into the space located in-behind the
material.

Source : https://soundproofliving.com/list-of-sound-absorbing-materials/
SOUND DIFFUSERS - Sound diffusers are designed to scatter or disperse sound waves, thereby reducing standing waves and
echoes to improve sound clarity.
Unlike sound absorbers that trap or eliminate the sound, sound diffusers maintain the “live” ambience, while at the same time
reducing standing waves and slap echo. Diffusers may be manufactured from moulded plastic or E-Glass and may be wrapped
or covered in various fabrics.
FUNCTION
Diffusers (or Diffusors) are typically used in critical listening environments like recording studios, control rooms, music
production and live music rooms.
Acoustic Diffusion Products are an excellent solution for treating distortion such as comb filtering and flutter echo in musical detail,
vocal clarity and response cancellations.
BEST APPLICATION
Sound diffusers are often used in combination with other materials such as sound absorbers, bass traps, ceiling clouds or other
provisions to achieve the desired results for the application.
EXAMPLE MATERIALS
Soft woods are the best sound diffuser material option. Fabric Wrapped Sound Diffusers, Alpha Sound Diffusers, Alphasorb
sound diffusers are products also available for sound diffusion in the market.
Source : https://www.acousticfields.com/sound-diffuser-material-options-recommend/

SOUND REFLECTION - Sound is bounced off a surface. This usually occurs on flat, rigid surfaces with a lot of mass like concrete
or brick walls. Because the sound wave can't penetrate very far into the surface, the wave is turned back on itself like a
ricochet. The sound bouncing back off the surface creates an echo.
FUNCTION
When a sound wave strikes a surface such as a floor, wall, or ceiling, the direction of travel is changed by reflection. Reflection
of sound waves follow the same physical law as light reflection. The angle of the incidence equals the angle or reflection.
Reflected waves will continue ricocheting between room surfaces losing only a fraction of power by absorption at each
reflection. The prolongation of sound is called reverberation. The sound will gradually diminish.
BEST APPLICATION
Sound Reflecting materials are normally used in churches, studios, large halls and arenas and places that needs to control the
sound quality of noise to be clear and understandable.

EXAMPLE MATERIALS

Drywall, Brick and Foam are examples of materials that reflects sound. All materials will reflect sound to a certain extent and
the proportion of the incident sound wave being reflected will generally obey snell’s law as is the case for optical reflection.
The ratio between the speed of sound in air (or whatever other initial medium of propagation) and the material under
consideration, as well as the angle at which the sound wave hits the material, will determine the proportion of sound that is
reflected.

In general, To engineer desired sound propagation properties from a material, the best method is to structure the interface in
a certain manner in such a way that sound properties are created from wave interference. This is the reason why foam sound
blockers such as the ones shown below are not straight slabs, but have instead a sawtooth pattern.

Lastly, it is important when you talk about sound propagation properties, to talk about what frequencies to consider. All
materials are frequency dependent to a certain extent. This means that while a certain material may reflect one frequency very
well, it’s behavior at another frequency may be very different. It’s important to understand whether or not the material you
are considering has good properties for the frequency range you are considering.

Source : https://www.quora.com/What-are-3-different-materials-which-reflect-sound