INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE

BUILDING SCIENCE 142

ASCIE 1202

ROOM ACOUSTICS

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.

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
Background noise and external noise reduced
to acceptable levels
Absence of echoes and similar acoustic
defects.
3

What are acoustics defects?

Long delay echoes

Flutter echoes: irregular motions; vibrate to beat rapidly
Sound shadows: caused by the 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.
4

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)
5

Room Shape a fundamental factor in room

acoustics

Hard walls or ceiling and floor

Concave surface
Convex surface

Sound Path in a Room

The

effects of sound inside an enclosed spaced

Reflect
Absorb
Transmit
Diffract
Reflection and absorption are important in room
acoustic
7

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.
8

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.
10

11

12

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.

13

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.
14

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 (m 2) 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 = (area x absorption coeff.)

15

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.
16

Reverberation time

If the sound source stops the reverberant sound level dies away with
time. The rate at which the sound decays is a useful indication of the
reverberation quality and is measured by a reverberation 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
17

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

18