Room acoustics

Sound source in a room

P
ƒ intensity increases quickly to equilibrium: Iequil = 4 where A = ∑(αsiSi )
A i

ƒ switched off then gradual decay

ƒ Reverberation time RT 1.5 0
Intensity
­ intensity ↓ by factor 106 1.0

Sound level [dB]

Sound level -20
­ sound level ↓ by 60 dB
Intensity
0.5 -40

0.0 -60

-0.5 -80

-1.0 -100
0 2 4 6 8 10
Sound on Time [s]
 Room acoustics
Sabine’s empirical equation for RT

RT = 0.163 V/A
with
A = Σ (αsi Si)

ƒ depends on frequency
 Room acoustics
Good acoustics
ƒ low background noise, loud wanted sound
ƒ well diffused sound field
ƒ no echoes or acoustic distorsions
ƒ appropriate RT
 Room acoustics
Good acoustics
Geometrical acoustics
ƒ avoid large planar surfaces facing each other (fluttering echo)
ƒ avoid concave surfaces (focusing)
Bad

Good

Focusing (bad) Distribution (good)

Image by MIT OCW.

Image by MIT OCW.
 Room acoustics
Intelligibility and sound level
high sound level → low A → high RT → lower intelligibility

Recommended RT
2.5

Optimal reverberation time [s]

Music
100%
Speech
2.0
90%

80%
1.5
Inteligibility

70%

60% 1.0
50%

40%
0.5
0 1 2 3 4 5

Reverberation Time [s] 0.0

Image by MIT OCW.
200 500 1000 2000 5000 10000 20000
Room volume [m³]
 Room acoustics
Intelligibility as a function of delay Image by MIT OCW.

ƒ direct sound → path l

ƒ reflected sound → path l’ l'

Delay l

ƒ ∆t =(l’ − l) / 340 [m/s]

ƒ Speech: ∆t ≤ 35 ms i.e. l’ − l ≤ 12 m (130 ms per syllable)
ƒ Music: ∆t ≤ 44 ms i.e. l’ − l ≤ 15 m

If critical
ƒ change room geometry
ƒ add absorbing panels
 Room acoustics
Wave nature of sound
ƒ standing wave if L = n ½ λ n=1

ƒ proper frequency fn = v/λn = n v/(2L)

→ no rational relationship between lengths
→ non-rectangular plan n=2

B S
n=3 l/2
W

L
Image by MIT OCW.
Image by MIT OCW. L = 1.2W
 Room Acoustics
Reading assignment from Textbook:
ƒ “Introduction to Architectural Science” by Szokolay: § 3.4

Additional readings relevant to lecture topics:

ƒ "How Buildings Work" by Allen: pp. 129-132 in Chap 14