ROOM ACOUSTICS

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 What is room acoustics?

 Subject concerned with the control of sound in

an enclosed space

 Aim to provide the best conditions for the

production and the reception of desirable
sounds.

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General Principles

 An adequate level of sound evenly distributed to all

listeners in the room

 A rate of decay (reverberation time) suitable for the type

of room; heard as an extension to the original sound.

 Background noise and external noise reduced to

acceptable levels not more than 60 db

 Absence of echoes (repeat) and similar acoustic

defects. 3
What are acoustics defects?

 Long delay echoes slow motion

 Flutter echoes
to move in quick, irregular motions

 Sound shadows:
– ABSORPTION or obstruction of a SOUND WAVE by an object in its path.

 Distortion
 Sound concentrations
– caused by focused reflections off concave surfaces
– intensity of the sound at the focus point is unnaturally high
and always occurs at the expense of other listening areas.
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 Geometric Acoustics

 Practical to handle room acoustics with geometrics

acoustics i.e the shape and the finishes of the room.

 Sound travel and hearing

 In an enclosed spaced, the listener will received
the sound from the source:
- directly (direct path)
- indirectly (indirect path)
 The main means of modification by architectural
design (room shape and finishes) will be mostly
an indirect path (esp. the reflected sound)
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Room Shape – a fundamental factor in room acoustics
 Hard walls or ceiling and floor
 Concave surface “Hot spot sound”
 Convex surface “Distributed evenly”

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Sound Path in a Room

 The effects of sound inside an enclosed spaced

 Reflect
 Absorb
 Transmit
 Diffract  broken wave

Reflection and absorption are important in room

acoustic
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 Behavior of Sound

 When sound reflects, the angle of incident being equal to

the angle of reflection.
 Reflectors must be at least the same wavelength of sound
concerned.
 To avoid long delayed reflections and focusing effects.
eg. of focusing effects in an concave shapes when it can
produce places with very loud sound or hot spots.
 Convex surfaces with diffusing surfaces reflects the sound
evenly.
 Reflectors used to distribute sound evenly in an enclosure
and to increase the overall sound level. 9
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 Long delayed reflections

 For large halls, average speech is about 15 to 20

syllables per sec.
 Walls and ceiling surfaces are important to prevent
delayed reflections.
 Strong reflections can be prevented by covering surfaces
with absorbent materials or making them into diffusing
surfaces by means of a convex shape.
 Reflections from corners can be overcome by using an
acoustic plaster or absorbent materials.
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 Flutter echoes

 Rapid succession of noticeable echoes

 Can be avoided by not having the sound source

between parallel reflecting surfaces.

 In small rooms, it can be avoided by avoiding

parallel walls and parallel ceilings and floors.
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Absorption

 Sound absorption is a reduction in the sound

energy reflected from the surface.

 Sound absorption means of controlling

reverberation.

 Absorption coefficient is a measure of the

amount of sound absorption provided by a
particular type of surface.
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Total Absorption

 The effective absorption of a surface depends on the

area and the absorption coefficient of the material.
absorption of a surface = area of surface (m2) x abs.
coeff. of the surface.
Unit: sabin obs by m2

 The total absorption of a room is the sum of the

absorptions provide by each surface in the room;
Total Absorption = Σ(area x absorption coeff.)

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 Reverberation

 A continuing presence of sound after the source of the

sound has been stopped.
 Caused by rapid multiple reflections between the surfaces
of a room.
 As the number of reflection increases the distance traveled
increases and the sound energy becomes weaker.
 The multiple reflections reach the listener too fast for them
to be heard as separate sound.
 Reverberations are heard as an extension to the original
sound.
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 Reverberation time

 If the sound source stops, the reverberant sound level

dies away with time.

 Reverberation time is the time taken for a sound to decay

by 60dB (decibel ) from its original level.
The time taken for decay (rate of decay) in an enclosed
space depends on the following factors:-

a) the distances between the surfaces of the room

b) the absorption of the surfaces
c) the frequency of the sound
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 Reverberation time

 Reverberation time is an important index for describing

the acoustical quality of an enclosure.

0.16V
Sabine Formula: RT =
A

where: RT = reverberation time

V = volume of the room
A = total absorption of room surfaces
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Reverberation time

Calculate the reverberation time of a lecture theatre with

dimension of 28m (L) × 12m (W) × 4.5m (H) which has
the following finishes and absorption coefficients.
Assume it is fully occupied with 70 people.

Surface / Finishes Absorption Coefficient (500Hz)

Plastered wall 0.02

Carpeted floor 0.50
Plasterboard ceiling 0.15
People 0.44 (per person)
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Thank You