Building Utilities 3: Room Acoustics

BUILDING ROOM ACOUSTICS
UTILITIES 3
ROOM ACOUSTICS
A field of acoustics that describes how Each space has its own sound ‘fingerprint’ Key elements are:
sound propagates in a closed or semi- which affects the quality of a sound,
closed space. whether this is speech, music or any kind the sources and receivers of sound,
of noise. § the geometry of the closed space (room) and
the materials (acoustic properties) of the walls.
A musician, an acoustician and an architect have
separate vocabularies to describe acoustic criteria.
All surfaces contribute with reflections to the overall sound
from the source to the receiver creating a compound effect,
which differs significantly from room to room. §
A small part of the sound radiated from any source arrives at

the receiver directly. §
There is only one line connecting the source with the receiver
directly, therefore there is only one direct sound. §
If it is an omnidirectional source, sound is radiated equally to

all other directions which eventually hit the walls of the room
and get reflected. Many of the reflections will eventually arrive
at the receiver at various times after the direct sound.
GEOMETRY
Acoustical spaces such as Industrial Environments -
concert halls, classrooms, occupied spaces, or enclosures
churches, offices, etc. around noise sources
TYPICAL APPLICATIONS
MATERIALS
• If the surface of the wall was ideally smooth, the angle of reflection would
be exactly the same as the angle of incidence. If the surface was ideally
rough, the reflected sound energy would be scattered to random directions.
Again, in reality, no wall is ideally smooth or ideally rough.
• Therefore, an extra coefficient called scattering coefficient is
needed to describe the behavior of the reflections from real-life
walls.
• The scattering coefficient is a number from 0 to 1, and defined as
the fraction of the reflected sound energy that is scattered to
random directions (different from the angle of specular reflection)
• Walls can absorb part of the sound energy that hits them. – Quantified by
the absorption coefficient, a real number from 0 to 1. – The absorption
coefficient is simply the non-reflected sound energy (absorbed or
transmitted) divided by the sound energy that hits the wall.
• An ideally hard wall absorbs no energy, thus absorption coefficient would be
0, while an ideally soft wall absorbs all energy, so the absorption coefficient
would be 1.
• Each material in room acoustics is associated with an absorption coefficient
that varies throughout the frequency range.
• Room Acoustics is mainly interested in frequencies from 125 Hz to 4000 Hz, divided
in 6 full octave bands, centered at 125, 250, 500, 1000, 2000 and 4000 Hz.
Therefore, a material is described by a series of 6 absorption coefficients.
• To describe the absorption characteristics of a material, a value has been
defined using a single number and incorporating multiplefrequency
components. This value is called Noise Reduction Coefficient (NRC).
Wall insulation functions in many ways like the
wall absorption
• The principal descriptor for sound insulation is a decibel based on the
transmission coefficient, known as transmission loss (TL).
• TL can be loosely defined as the amount of sound reduced by a partition between
a sound source and a listener. TL is the quantity that is reported in a
manufacturer’s literature since it is measured in a laboratory.
• TL is frequency dependent; TL values increase with increasing frequency.
• The single-number rating for TL that considers the entire frequency spectrum is
known as the Sound Transmission Class (STC). STC values are based on decibels.
• Like NRC, STC is useful to describe the sound insulation efficiency of a partition
over the human speech frequency range of 500 to 2kHz.
ROOM ACOUSTIC PARAMETERS
Reverberation Time
• Most frequently used parameter in room acoustics. It is approximately the time it takes for a sound to decay and cease to an
inaudible level after a loud sound source has been switched off. §
• Can reveal information about the size and absorption of a room. Large rooms with sound reflective surfaces have longer
reverberation times, while small rooms with sound absorptive surfaces have short reverberation times. The reverberation time
of a room is defined as the time it takes for the sound to be attenuated by 60 dB after the source has been switched off. This is
noted as RT60
Clarity
• Describes how clearly speech or music can be heard by the listener. §
• Late reflections tend to deteriorate clarity. Therefore, the longer the reverberation time, the lower the clarity.
Speech Transmission Index
• Used to describe how clear speech is transmitted in the room and perceived by the listener. §
• The calculation of the Speech Transmission Index is more complicated than Clarity, taking into account the amplitude
modulation of speech, and the background noise. §
• The parameter ranges from 0 (bad) to 1 (Excellent) and it is unitless.
COMMON ROOM
ACOUSTIC Standing Waves
These are two identical waves that move in opposite directions along a line and oscillate at the
PHENOMENA same frequency. They form a wave that does not travel through space or along a string even
though it is made up of two oppositely traveling waves. The resulting standing wave is
sinusoidal, like its two component waves.
Echoes
• Typically, early reflections arrive within 50ms relative
to the direct sound and they enhance the signal
heard by the receiver. So, they have a positive effect.
• However, any early reflection (up to 2nd or 3rd

orders of reflection) that arrives later than 50ms can
be perceived as a separate sound with a disturbing
effect. This is called an echo and gives the impression
that sound repeats itself.
• To perceive such an echo, the total distance travelled
by the reflected sound will be at least 17m, which is
derived if we multiply the speed of sound by the
50ms delay
Flutter echoes
• Not to be confused with simple echoes, they are repetitive reflections between parallel walls, usually with
a high frequency. § Flutter echoes can easily occur between parallel walls 5m apart, and the time passed
between the repetitive reflections is equal to the distance divided by the speed of sound.
Focusing
• A common effect caused by curved surfaces. Sound reflections can be concentrated in certain areas of the
space, leaving others with too little sound. Focusing is not a problem if the radius of curvature is less than
half the height of the room.
Whisper Gallery Effect

• The effect occurs in cylindrical rooms, where early reflections from sources close to the walls focus on
receivers close to the walls at any angle. The result is that even a low-level sound can be heard at a large
distance, with surprising clarity and level.

Building Utilities 3: Room Acoustics

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BUILDING ROOM ACOUSTICS

A small part of the sound radiated from any source arrives at

If it is an omnidirectional source, sound is radiated equally to

• However, any early reflection (up to 2nd or 3rd

Whisper Gallery Effect

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