1

Basic Theory
 2
Sound Intensity Levels
and Intensities
 3
Longitudinal and
Transverse Wave
 Longitudinal Wave - One in which the vibration
of the medium is (forward and backward) parallel
to the direction of propagation of the wave.
 Transverse Wave – One in which the vibration of
particles of the medium are perpendicular to the
direction of motion of the wave energy.
 4
Speed of a Longitudinal
Wave
 5
Example Problem (Velocity
of Sound in Solid)
 Estimate the speed of a sound in a solid such as
steel (p = 8000 kg^3) which has an elastic
modulus of 207 x 10^9 pa.
 6
Modulus of Elasticity
 7
Example Problem (Velocity
of Sound in Liquid)

 Estimate the speed of a sound in a liquid such

as water (p = 1000 kg^3) which has an bulk
modulus of 2.18 x 10^9 pa.
 8
Example Problem (Velocity
of Sound in Gas)
 Calculate the speed of sound in air at 20C. The
ratio of heat capacities is 1.4. Air consist of
78% N2 (28.02 g/mol), 21% O2 (32.02 g/mol), and
1% Ar (40 g/mol). What is the speed of sound at
25C?
 9

Architectural Acoustics
Chapter 2: Sound Absorption
AR 363: Building Utilities 3
Second Semester, A.Y 2021-2021
 10
Introduction
 When sound impinges on the boundary surfaces of
a room, part of its energy is absorbed and
transmitted, and part is reflected back into the
room.
 Sound levels in a room can be reduced by
effective use of sound-absorbing treatment, such
as fibrous ceiling boards, curtains, and
carpets.
 11
Introduction
 12
Introduction
 13
Noise Reduction Outdoors
and Within Enclosures
 Free Field - Free-field conditions occur when
sound waves are free from the influence of
reflective surfaces (e.g., open areas outdoors,
anechoic rooms*).
 Under free-field conditions, sound energy from
point sources (e.g., warning siren, truck
exhaust) spreads spherically and drops off 6 dB
for each doubling of distance from the source.
 14
Free Field
Free Field 15

 Line sources of vehicular traffic consist of

successive point sources which reinforce each
other. Sound energy from line sources spreads
cylindrically, not spherically, and drops off
only 3 dB for each doubling of distance.
Reverberant Field 16

 Indoors, sound energy drops off under free-field

conditions only near the source (usually <5 ft
for small rooms).
 Because room surfaces reflect sound, there will
be little further noise reduction with distance
away from the source (called reverberant field).
 The more absorption in a room, the less the
buildup of sound energy in the reverberant
field.
Reverberant Field 17

 As shown on the
graph, the
reverberant
buildup of sound
is lower for
situation 2 than
for situation 1
due to a greater
amount of
absorption. Note: Beyond distance d ≈ √a/6𝝅 from the source,
the sound level is relatively constant and depends
primarily on the total room absorption a, where a
is measured in sabins.
Effect of Adding Sound- 18

Absorbing Treatment to
Rooms
 The addition of sound absorption to the ceiling
of a small room (< 500 ft^2) can reduce the
reverberant sound levels by 10 dB as shown on
the next slide for an example noise source.
 19

 However, close
to the source,
the reduction
will be only
about 3 dB.
Effect of Adding Sound- 20

Absorbing Treatment to
Rooms
 If the ceiling and all four walls are treated
with sound-absorbing material, the sound level
in the reverberant field drops an additional 6
dB, but the sound levels near the source (in the
free field) are not affected.
 Note that NO REDUCTION is achieved from further
sound-absorbing treatment.
 21
Sound Absorption
Coefficient
 The effectiveness of a sound-absorbing material
can be expressed by its absorption coefficient .
 This coefficient describes the fraction of the
incident sound energy that a material absorbs.
 Theoretically, it can vary from 0 (no sound energy
absorbed) to 1.0 (perfect absorption with all
incident sound energy absorbed).
 22
Sound Absorption
Coefficient
 Coefficients are derived from laboratory tests or
estimated from measurements in finished rooms.
 In the laboratory test, sound energy from all
directions is incident on the sample being tested
(called random incidence).
 23
Sound Absorption
Coefficient
 The total room absorption
(i.e., the sum of all room
surface areas times their
respective sound absorption
coefficients) for a space can
be found by:
 24
Sound Absorption
Coefficient
 Note: To find metric sabins, divide a by 10.76.
 Absorption coefficients for building materials
normally vary from about 0.01 to 0.99.
 Materials with medium to high sound absorption
coefficients (usually > 0.50) are referred to as
sound-absorbing; those with low coefficients
(usually < 0.20) are sound-reflecting.
 25
Sound Absorption
Coefficient
 The effect of a difference in coefficients between
two materials at a given frequency is shown by the
following table.
 26
Reverberation Rooms
 Reverberation rooms are fairly large (usually >
10,000 ft^), and all interior boundary surfaces
are highly sound reflecting (a < 0.05 at 125 to
4000 Hz).
 To measure sound absorption, a large sample of
the material (72 ft^2) is placed in the
reverberation room.
 The time it takes a test sound signal to decay by
60 dB (roughly to inaudibility) after the source
of sound is stopped is measured first with the
sample in the room and again with the room empty.
 27
Reverberation Rooms
 28
Effect of Thickness on
Absorption Efficiency
 The amount of absorption that can be achieved is
determined by the physical properties of
thickness, density, and porosity for most porous
materials, and fiber diameter and orientation for
fibrous materials.
 Fibrous sound absorbers (such as glass fiber or
mineral fiber) are sometimes referred to as fuzz.
 29
Porous Sound Absorbers
 30
Relative Efficiency of
Sound Absorbers
 The basic types of sound absorbers are porous
materials, vibrating (or resonant) panels, and
volume resonators (called Helmholtz resonators).
 Combinations of porous materials and vibrating
panels or volume resonators can provide the
uniform, or "flat," sound absorption with
frequency required in recording or Radio/TV
Studios.
 31
Thin Porous Materials
 32
Vibrating Panels
 33
Volume Resonators
 34
Room Noise Reduction
 The buildup of sound levels in a room is due to
the repeated reflections of sound from its
surfaces. This buildup is affected by the size of
the room and the amount of absorption within the
room. Noise reduction can be found using the
following formula.
 35
Example Problem (Room
Noise Reduction)
 A small room 10 ft x 10 ft x 10 ft has all walls
and floor finished in exposed concrete. The
ceiling is completely covered with sound
absorbing spray-on material. Sound absorption
coefficient are 0.02 for concrete and 0.70 for
spray-on material.
 36
Example Problem (Room
Noise Reduction)
 Find the Noise Reduction (NR) in this room if
sound-absorbing panels is added to two adjacent
walls. The sound absorption coefficient is 0.85
for panels at 500 hz.
 Find the Noise Reduction (NR) if all four wall
surfaces are treated with sound-absorbing panels
and the floor is carpeted. The sound absorption
of the carpet is 0.50 at 500 hz.
 37
Example Problem (Room
Noise Reduction)
 For Noise Reduction. Compute the surface area.

 Compute the total room absorption with spray-on

material on the ceiling.
 38
Example Problem (Room
Noise Reduction)
 Compute the total room absorption with sound-
absorbing panels covering two walls and spray-on
materials on ceiling.

 Compute the Noise Reduction (NR)

 39
Example Problem (Room
Noise Reduction)
 Compute the total room absorption with sound-
absorbing panels on all walls, spray-on materials
on ceiling , and carpet on floors.
 40
Example Problem (Room
Noise Reduction)
 Compute the Noise Reduction (NR) for these
improvements compared to room conditions on spray
–on ceiling treatment alone.
 41
Noise Reduction
Coefficient
 The noise reduction coefficient (NRC) is the
arithmetic average, rounded off to the nearest
multiple of 0.05, of the sound absorption
coefficients a's at 250, 500, 1000, and 2000 Hz
for a specific material and mounting condition.
The NRC can be found by:
 42
Noise Reduction
Coefficient
 The NRC can be found by:
 43
Noise Reduction
Coefficient
 44
Example Problem (NRC
Computation)
 Find the NRC for a carpet with the following
sound absorption coefficients: 0.20 at 250 Hz,
0.35 at 500 Hz, 0.45 at 1000 Hz, and 0.55 at 2000
Hz.

 This answer must be rounded off to the nearest

0.05 increment. Therefore, the NRC for this
carpet will be 0.40.
 45
Sound Absorption Data for
Common Building Materials
and Furnishings
 46
Sound Absorption Data for
Common Building Materials
and Furnishings
 47
Sound Absorption Data for
Common Building Materials
and Furnishings
 48
Sound Absorption Data for
Common Building Materials
and Furnishings
 49
Sound Absorption Data for
Common Building Materials
and Furnishings
 50
Sound Absorption Data for
Common Building Materials
and Furnishings
 51
Sound Absorption Data for
Common Building Materials
and Furnishings
 52
Sound Absorption Data for
Common Building Materials
and Furnishings
 53
Sound Absorption Data for
Common Building Materials
and Furnishings
 54
Sound Absorption Data for
Common Building Materials
and Furnishings
 55
Laboratory Test Mountings
 Laboratory tests to determine sound absorption
efficiency should be conducted according to the
current ASTM C423 procedures.
 The types of mounting shown on the next slides
are intended to represent typical installation
methods for sound-absorbing materials used in
buildings.
 56
Laboratory Test Mountings
 Mountings A, B, D, and E apply to most
prefabricated products
 57
Laboratory Test Mountings
 Mountings A, B, D, and E apply to most
prefabricated products
 58
Laboratory Test Mountings
 C is used for specialized applications, and F to
sound-absorbing mechanical air-duct linings
 59
Laboratory Test Mountings
 Numerical suffix indicates distance in
millimeters that the test specimen is from test
room surface (e.g., E-400 is mounting depth of
400 mm or 15 3 / 4 in).
 60
Laboratory Test Mountings
 61
Laboratory Test Mountings
 62
Prefabricated Sound-
Absorbing Materials
 Most sound-absorbing tiles and panels are NOT
sufficiently durable for wall application.
 For walls, use fibrous materials with protective
open facings (e.g., perforated or expanded metal,
perforated hardboard, metal slats), fabric-
covered panels, or shredded-wood formboard.
 63
Prefabricated Sound-
Absorbing Materials
 64
Prefabricated Sound-
Absorbing Materials
 Use membrane-faced or ceramic tile materials for
humid environments such as swimming pools, locker
rooms, and kitchens.
 65
Prefabricated Sound-
Absorbing Materials
 66
Area Effect for Spaced
Sound Absorbers
 The efficiency of a sound-absorbing material can
be affected by its distribution and location in a
room.
 For example, 25 panels of sound-absorbing
material, each 2 ft by 2 ft, will absorb more
sound energy per panel when spaced in a
"checkerboard" pattern on a 200-ft2 plaster
ceiling THAN a uniform coverage of the same
material.
 67
Area Effect for Spaced
Sound Absorbers
 This increase in efficiency (called the area
effect) is due to the diffraction of sound energy
around the perimeters of the spaced sound-
absorbing panels and to the additional absorption
provided by the exposed panel edges.
 The 25 spaced absorbers have a ratio of perimeter
to surface area 5 times the ratio for the 25
uniform-coverage absorbers.
 68
Area Effect for Spaced
Sound Absorbers
 69
Suspended Sound-absorbing
Panels and Units
 Sound-absorbing materials are commercially
available for installation in a spaced regular
pattern.
 When these units (or panels) are installed with
all edges and sides exposed, they can provide
extremely high absorption per square foot of
material because at least six surfaces will be
exposed to sound waves.
 70
Suspended Sound-absorbing
Panels and Units
 Absorption data for spaced units are normally
presented in terms of sabins per unit at the
recommended spacings.
 Suspended spaced absorbers can be used where a
uniform or continuous application of conventional
sound-absorbing materials is NOT feasible (e.g.,
industrial plants with extremely high ceilings)
 71
Examples of parallel, honeycomb, and egg-crate
layout patterns of suspended, sound-absorbing
panels.
 72
Applications For Sound-
Absorbing Materials
 Reverberation Control - Sound-absorbing materials
can be used to control reverberation so speech
will not be garbled.
 The larger the room volume, the longer the
reverberation time because sound waves will
encounter room surfaces less often than in small
rooms.
 73
Reverberation Control
 Each doubling of the total amount of absorption
in a room reduces the reverberation time by one-
half.
 For example, in recreational facilities, it is
important that instructions and warnings be
identified with the actual source location.