• Signal-to-noise ratio is a measure used in science

and engineering that compares the level of a

desired signal to the level of background noise.
SNR is defined as the ratio of signal power to the
noise power, often expressed in decibels. A ratio
higher than 1:1 indicates more signal than noise.
• Signal-to-noise ratio is defined as the ratio of
the power of a signal (meaningful input) to the
power of background noise (meaningless or
unwanted input):
“critical distance”, mentioned over here, which is a function of many things which I am coming to in the next
slide. This distance represents the location where the source sound level and the reflected sound level are
matching (equal). So, they are equal at this location, and beyond this critical distance, it is only the reflected
sound dominating, while the source sound pressure gradually decays.

So, the reflected sounds’ support from the walls or the ceilings should be sufficiently loud, so that the last
person here can get the sound. So, if you install absorbers at multiple places, most of the sound will get
absorbed, then the sound cannot reach this last bench student.
• Speech Intelligibility is defined as the percentage of speech heard
correctly by the listener. The emphasis is on “correctly” rather than simply
“heard.” Speech intelligibility is influenced by reverberation time,
the distance of the listener from the speaker, and background noise level.
• With the Speech Transmission Index (STI) method, using a special
apparatus it is possible to measure how good the speech intelligibility is in
a room. The result will lie between 0 (0 per cent) and 1 (100 per cent). A
typical requirement for a room is an STI value above 0.6.
• If the listeners, for example, hear 60 per cent of the words correctly, the
speech intelligibility is 60 per cent or 0.6.

• Of these elements, reverberation time, and background noise are

influenced by the architecture of the space which, suggests that the
acoustical environment should be the focus of greater design attention.
Articulation is also known as intelligibility
Articulation Index (AI) a measure of speech intelligibility influenced by acoustical
environment rated from 0 to 1. The higher the number the higher the intelligibility of
words and sentences understood from 0-100%. An articulation index of less than 0.3,
generally suggests unintelligible speech and one over 0.7 indicates excellent intelligibility.

Articulation Class (AC), indicates the speech privacy performance of a ceiling in an

open plan environment, such as a space divided by half height walls. A rating below 150
indicates poor speech privacy performance; a rating above 180 indicates good
performance.

Privacy Index: First of all, the Privacy Index doesn’t add any new information. It’s
calculated as 1-AI X 100 = PI (%), which is simply the opposite of the Articulation Index.
So, if you have an AI of 0.30, then your Privacy Index is 70%. There isn’t any benefit to
this re-representation of the Articulation Index.
The Inverse Square Law teaches us that
for every doubling of the distance from
the sound source in a free field situation,
the sound intensity will diminish by 6
decibels. ... The intensity of the sound is
inversely proportional to the square of the
distance of the wavefront from the signal
source.
So, for small conference rooms, we target a reverberation time around 0.7 to 0.8 sec,
whereas, for board rooms, we can go up to RT=0.9 seconds.
So, we have to keep in mind that multiple reflections from walls may create a
problem by increasing the reverberation time and then we have to check RT by installing
absorbers. So, our objective is to send the sound amongst these people to as much clearly
as possible.
So, if the room has an entire
structural ceiling left bare, then flutter echo might happen
So, we have to think of
utilizing reflections for enabling better hearing
at this end.
 So, not just
merely
satisfying
the
reverberatio
n time, but
it is also
crucial as
how you are
arranging
the
absorber,
and that is
what is
demonstrat
ed here.

So, the principle is: we are trying to take care of the unwanted reflections. In case the structural ceiling is high, we need
to bring down the ceiling level, it is preferred to be 3 meters height or less, such that we can keep our sound within 25
milliseconds between the source and the farthest receiver. We can add a layer of carpet to eliminate the sound of the
footfalls; however, since carpet is associated with the floor, together and, there is no air gap; hence it may not act as a
very good absorber.
That will help in trapping in unwanted reflected sound, or
long-delayed reflections

because porous absorbers are the best for absorbing at 500 Hz frequency, which is usually
the frequency for a major part of the speech