ROOM ACOUSTICS 1 ACOUSTIC FIELD IN A CLOSED ROOM In any type of enclosed space there ate certain losses which will influence the acoustic field in the room. These losses are due to the fluid in the room and to a certain absorption of energy of the enclosing structures. The losses in the fluid , for example ait, depend on oom temperature, ait humidity and frequency. Even. ina oom with acoustically hard walls, for example concrete with a very smooth nite surface, part of the acoustic energy in the room is absorbed due an in number of reflections. The total loss factor due to the losses in the fluid ox air and due to the absorption of the walls is denoted 6 In general the losses due to the sound absorption of the walls are much higher than the losses in the fluid. In a 100m with acoustically hard walls the particle velocity in the fluid perpendicular to the wall must be equal to zeto For a roorn with the geometiy shown in Fig. 1 the particle velocity vy in the x-direction must be on the form vq x sin(Inx/lx), Le. vy = 0 for x = 0 and x = ly for | being an integer A. corresponding argument holds for vy and v,. The particle velocity vector is defined as = gad where 6 is the velocity potential in the room, Consequently, to satisfy the boundary conditions, the velocity potential in the 1oom must be on the formBlxyset) = J Finalt)-cos(tra/ls) costar ly) cos(nzz/e) () The summation is made over all possible combinations of the integers 1, m and n. ing some initial conditions Fima(t) is some function of time sati ‘The eq, (1) can also be written as H(a,yzt) = YF roa(t) grant) @) where inn is the eigenfunction satistying the boundary conditions. ‘Thus for a rectangular room with the dimensions ly, ly and lz a8 shown in Fig. | and with acoustically hard walls the eigenfunctions are ¥inalX,y,2) = 008(17x/Lx) cos(may/ly) cos(nmz/lz) 3 ‘The eigen funtions satisfy the equation 7 Pion = Aon Plan where tin a eh « ‘The eigenfunctions are orthogonal satisfying = 4° én: & 5 A=1 for 1=0 and q=1/2 for 121 ete (5) ‘The velocity potential must also satisfy the wave equation. For the source fiee case the, reverberant field, the wave equation is vo 1, P99 i) ‘The losses are included by setting=co%( 1418) ) where 6 is the loss factor including the losses in the fluid and the losses due to the absorption of the walls In accordance with the discussion in Chapter 1 the function Fima(t) must satisfy Gat + (eion)*(1419) Pion = 0 taareortinno EP] ‘The solution to eq. (8) is 6<<1 Pran(t) = ex(-6: nan t/2) [Anna 005(atn t) Bian sin(Cron t) @® whete the amplitudes Ainn and Bina are determined by the initial conditions. The mode (m.n,l) is oscillating at the natural frequency finn with 1 E> Fa The time average over one oscillation of the pressure squared is decaying as fan = Gtan/ (27) [P[? « exp(—wina 6 t) (11) ‘The reverberation time TT, ie. the time for sound pressure level to dectease 60 dB, is, as discussed in Chapter 1, given by T=75 (12) For forced excitation, a source Q-exp(iwt) located at (xo.yo,ta), the resulting velocity potential is obtained as= XY 12) Pina(Xo.o.20) exp(iwt) o- Leet we) ‘The corresponding time and space average of p=-p9® = (0?) Safir bes ty (14) En At resonance when f=fipa the average of the pressure squared is inversely. proportional to &. For white noise excitation the frequency average of <|p|2> is B an? ag= (0) feag prota) (as) where Af ig the distance in the frequency domain between two resonances. The number of resonces in the frequency range below the frequency fs given by 2 n= dgey (16) where V is the volume of the room. From (16) Af is obtained as =_% At= ray (17) ‘The distance between two resonaces decreases rapidly as the frequency is increasing. In the high frequence range there are a large number of modes which results in a near diffuse acoustic field in the room. In the low frequency there are just a few modes and the field is far from the diffuse. ‘The so called Schtoeder frequency fs gives a measure of the diffusity of oom. The frequency is defined as f, =2000 BR where T is the reverberation time in seconds of the room and V the volume in m? of the room. For frequencies higher than {, the acoustic field in the roam can beconsidered as diffuse. In Table 1 the first few natural frequencies for a rectangular room ate listed as functions of the integers I, m and n. The dimensions of the room are given by 1,=5m, ly=2 5m and 1,=10/3m. In the table the angle of incidence ay at the wall x=0 is given The angle is obtained as cos7~=ky/k ‘The centre frequency fo for each 1/3 octave band is also listed in the table‘Table 1 Modes in a room, Ix=5m, ly=5/2m and 1=10/3m. 1 mon 4% fim — fo 1 0 56 6263 0 90 68 2 0 0 68 1 1 1 68 «92100 2 1 0 4 9 3 0 0 06 102 0 6 2 90 102 Lo 0 2 72 107 2 1 1 51109 3 0 1 2% 113125 2 0 2 56 122 3 1 0 a4 122 0 1 2 90 122 1 1 2 T4128 0 2 0 9 136 4 0 0 0 136 ‘The sound pressure p in the 100m is given as p=—p 05/dt. The relative sound pressure in the room for the first few modes are thus=0;n=0 — pxcos(2mx/Ix) ;n=0 pacos(7x/lx) cos( ry/ly) =1;n=0 — pxcoa(2rx/lx)-cos{ zy/ly) Sound pressure contour plots in the 100m are shown in Fig. 2. The absolute values of the sound pressures are shown in the plots. Note that the absolute value of the sound pressure in the corners always has a maximum. Within a frequency band the resulting sound pressure is the sun of the pressure for all the modes within | the band. In the low frequency region the sound pressure can vary considerably between various positions in the room. In particular this is true when the losses in the room are small. 2 GEOMETRICAL ACOUSTICS ‘The acoustic field in a large room fitted with diffusors can in the high frequency region be assumed diffuse In a diffuse acoustic field the sound intensity in any direction is the same This is the basis for geometrical acoustics A flat surface with the atea S is located on a wall defined by by the coordinate y=0) as shown in Fig. 3. An acoustic wave propagating in the x-y-plane is defined by the velocity potential as © = A-expfi(ut—k-x-sinz-k-y-cos7)} (is) where k is the wavenumber and 7 the angle of incidence The amplitude A is for a diffuse field independent of the angle of incidence. ‘The time average of the acoustic power II incident on the surlace $ is T= TyS=hRe f pvyS2m-siny-d7 (19) ‘The integration is made for all angles of incidence, i¢. for 7=0 to y=2/2. The pressure p is defined as p=—p 6/04 and the particle velocity vy as vy= 0% /3y ‘The total incident, intensity on the wall is thus T= 5 Re f [A 2upk-2x-sin7-cosy dy = a] A|2upk/2 (20)‘The time average of the pressure squared is 7 wl =f 02 E228 sing dry = 2a(owye| Al? 3 (21) ‘The time averages of the total energy, kinetic and potential, is per unit volume 7 sf [Bal GeleG area [2] 20 siny-d-y = 2x] A[2a2p/e2 3 (22) The equations (12-20) through (12-22) give Ty = eBy/4 = [p/(4pe) (23) ‘Thus the time average of the intensity incedent on a wall is equal to the time and space average of the pressure squared in the room diveded by four times the wave impedance pc of the fluid Now assume that a sound soutce with the acoustic power I(t) is located in the room. Further let the room be large enough for the sound field to be considered as diffuse The power dissipated in room is the sum of the lost power Ir in fluid and the power IT, absorbed by the walls The power lost in the fluid is Ty = w8EV (24) where é is the loss factor in the fluid, £y the acoustic energy per volume and V the volume of the 100m The power absorbed by the walls is M=tA (28) where A is the equivalent absorption atea of the walls which also can be written as A= fas-o(t) (26)‘The energy balance in room requites that vaee 4 18 + ube =I Considering that €, Hc it follows that (27) (28) If the field is stationary dl/dt is zeto giving from (27) the intensity and pressure as r=ny[a+ Yes) IE the losses in the fluid axe neglected the intensity is just I= T/A. Aceording to (23) the average pressure in the room is ip? = 42g (29) to and turned of at t=0 the intensity in If the acoustic power is tumed on at t the 1oom will for t20 decay as 1=Iyert where Ip is the intensity in the 100m at '=0 The reverberation time T is the time after the sound source is turned off for the sound pressure level to dectease by 60dB. The time T is consequently also equal to the time for the intensity, or for that matter the acoustic energy, to decay by a factor 10-6, Thus10 (30) In the last expression the losses in the fluid have been neglected. This is a valid approximation in most practical cases Some sound pressure decay curves are shown in Fig 4. The reverberation time should be determined by the average slope of the upper patt of the decay curve ‘The sound pressure in a room depends on the sound absorption ot equivalent absorption area A in the room as shown in eq.(29). ‘Thus if the acoustic power of a source is known the equivalent absorption in the room can be calculated by measuring the resulting average sound pressure level Thus, let an acoustic source have the acoustic power II (W). The resulting sound pressure in the reverberant field in the 100m is ftom (29) given by Ip]? = 4pcll/A ‘The sound pressure level Lp is defined as Lp=10-10g(|D|?/Pre®) 5 Pret=2-10™ Pa The sound powet level Ly is detined as Ly=10-log(iI/Tes) ; Hher=107!? w If the sound power level of the source is Lw dB re 10-2? W and the average sound pressure level in the room is Lp dB re 2-10 Pa the equivalent absorption ara A in m? is obtained a3 10-1ogA = Ly —Lp + 6 ‘The expression (30) can be used for determining the sound absorption coefficient, of a material. A so called reverberation room is used for the measurementsu According to the ISO norms there are certain requirements to the minimum, volume of the 100m as well as to the reverberation time of the room. The volume of the reverberation room should be at least 200 m. The atea of the test sample should exceed 10 m?. ‘The test sample should be rectangular and should not be closet to any wall than 1 m. ‘The reverberation time Ty with an empty 100m is measured first. ‘The test sample is thereafter mounted in the 100m and the new reverberation time T» is measured. The average absorption coefficient a of the sound absorbing material is obtained as AA; _ 0.16 VI _ 1 (31) : [rr ‘Theoretically the absorption coefficient could vary between zero and unity However due to certain boundary conditions for finite samples and an approximate theory the measurement technique outlined above and following the existing ISO requirements can result in a measured sound absorption coetficient which exceeds unity 3 NEAR AND REVERBERANT ACOUSTIC FIELDS IN A CLOSED ROOM In Section 2 it was assumed that the acoustic field in the room was reverberant ‘This condition can not be satisfied if there is an acoustic source in the room. Close to the source there is an acoustic near field dominating over the reverberant field. The resulting field in the room can be described by means of a simple model. Thus, assume that an omni-directional source with the acoustic power IT is located in the 190m. In the direct acoustic field of the source the intensity I; in the direction away from the source is given by ga (32) where r is the radial distance fiom the source. The resulting pressure py from the omni-directional source is (33)2 ‘The walls enclosing the room reflect part of the incident sound. The power absorbed by the enclosing structures is all where is the average sound absorption coefficient of the structures. The acoustic power radiated by the enclosures is the incident power minus the absorbed power ot (1a)II. The intensity Iy in the oom resulting in the room due to this secondary source is according to eq. (25) given by ta= BG=@) oH for acct (34) where as before A=a8 is equal to the equivalent absorption area of the room. If the sound absorption coefficients differ between various areas of the enclosure the the equivalent. absorption area is A= Sars ‘The pressure pq due to the diffuse and reverberant field is according to eq. (29) given by par = 427 (35) ‘The sources, the real and the imaginary, the reflecting walls, are assumed to be uncorrelated, the total pressure prot is thus |Beoe!®= |Bel? + [Bal ? = potty + 4] (36) For 1 < [FR the fist term inside the bracket of the expression (36) dominates, in this region the near field dominates whereas further away from the source the reverberant field determines the sound pressure. The sound pressure level Lp in the room is from (36) obtained as Lp=C +10 tog sizz + 4] (37) where C is some constant, The result is illustrated in Fig. 5.13. ‘The acoustic character of a room depends on its reverberation time which in turn depends on the equivalent absorption area A in the room as shown in Fig. 6.. The so called room constant R is defined as R = 58 (38) La whee the average absorption coellicient in the oom is @ 4 MEASUREMENT OF SOUND TRANSMISSION LOSS OF A WALL. A wall is mounted between two rooms as indicated in Fig 7 ‘The area of the wall is S A sound source with the power II is located in room 1. The equivalent sound absorption area in room 1 is equal to A, The resulting average sound pressure in 100m 1 is consequently tpl? = 4250 (39) ‘The intensity I; in Room 1 incident on the wall is from eqs.(25) and (29) given by Ty = |pi|?/(4pe) =H/Ar (40) ‘The sound transmission coefficient for the wall is given by r. The acoustic power Th, transmitted through the wall is th=7Tes (4) Assuming that the resulting field in Room 2 is diffuse and that the equivalent absorption area in the room is Ag the sound pressure in the 100m is obtained as [pol = Meg = dog ets _ Aner — |p, l2r8/Ay (#2) ‘The sound transmission loss or sound reduction index R (dB) is defined as R = 10-log(1/r)4 ‘This definition in combination with eq. (42) give Lpt “Lpo = R + 10 log (A/S) (43) where Lp and Lye are sound pressure levels in Room 1 and Room 2 respectively ‘The sound pressure level Lex in Room 2 (4B re 2-10" Pa) can also be expressed as function of the acoustic power level Ly (4B re 10*!? W) of the source in Room 1 From oq (42) the result is obtained as Lp2 = Ly —R — 10-log (ArAo/S) + 6 (dB re 2 10° Pa) (44) In order to reduce the noise level in a room adjoining a space with a certain source the tesult (44) suggests the following possibilities: 1 Reduction of the source strength Ly 2 An increase of the sound absorption, and Ay, in the source room 3. An increase of the sound absorption, and Ag, in the receiving room 4. Am inctease of the sound reduction index of the wall separating the rooms The sound reduction index of a structure is determined by means of the following measurements: 1. A sound source is located in the receiving room. The equivalent sound absorption area A2 of the room is determined by the measurement, of the reverberation time T, where Ay=0.16V/T 2. ‘The sound source is thereafter raoved to 100m 1 and the sound pressure lovels Lp: and Lp ate measured in the two rooms while acoustic power of : the source is kept constant 3. The sound reduction index is calculated from (43) In general the sound reduction index is determined in 1/3 octave bands starting, with the 100Hz band and ending with the 3150 Hz band The measurement is based on the assumption that the acoustic fields in the rooms are diffuse. In particular in the frequency region this assumption is not readily satisfied as previously discussed. The measurement procedure should at least satisfy the existing ISO requirements5 SOUND TRANSMISSION LOSS OF A MULTI ELEMENT WALL A structure separating two rooms could consist of many different elements For example the separating structure could be a wall with a doot or a wall with a window. If the sound reuction index Rj and area $j of each element are known the wind reduction index Ro of the entire structure can be estimated. The sound transmission coetfient 7; for the structure i is defined as 7 = 10-Ri/l0 ‘The total transmission through the structure is 1g Ba/10 _ sa Soto Ro/ 10 inToSo = ‘The parameter Sp is the total area of the structure or Sp=ES; Thus Ro =10- log [esyesno-) (45) Any type of opening or leakage in a wall can drasically reduce the sound transmission loss of a wall. Consider for example 10 m? wall with a sound transmission loss of 40 dB in a certain frequency band. In the wall there is an opening of 0.01 m? for which R=0 dB. The total sound transmission loss for the entire construction is according to eq. (45) obtained as 30 dB! 6 FLANKING TRANSMISSION ‘The acoustic energy can be transmitted between two adjoining rooms along many different paths. A fow are indicated in Fig. 8. The dinect. path, number 1, is through the wall separating the two rooms. In addition the acoustic source in Room 1 creates a sound pressure in the room. This pressure excites the walls and structure-borne sound or vibrations are transmitted to walls enclosing Room 2, for example along the paths 2,3 and 4 ‘The vibrating walls radiate acoustic power into Room 2. The acoustic power transmitted to Room 2 is not only due to transmission through the ditect path. The apparent transmission loss for the wall separating the rooms will therefore be reduced16 In typical ISO sound transmission laboratories the flanking walls are constructed 50 as to reduce this type of flanking transmission. Consequently field measurements of the sound transmission loss ate likely to give a lower result than laboratory measurements. 7 SOUND ABSORPTION The sound pressure level in a 100m can as previously be reduced by the addition of some sound absorbing material. The acoustic characteristics of a room can also be influenced by changing the reverberation o1 in fact the sound absorption of the room. ‘Typical sound absorbing materials often include mineral or glass wool. For protection the wool is often covered by a thin plastic sheet and/or a thin perforated plate. ‘The sound absorption coetticient of mineral wool slab depends on the density of the wool, frequency and the thickness of the slab ‘The sound absorption coelficient as function of frequency is shown in Fig 9 for different thicknesses of the wool The quality of the wool is otherwise the same In the low frequency range the sound absorption is almost proportional to the thickness of the slab. In the high frequency region the absorption coefficient is almost independent of the thickness. The graph illlustrates also the typical performance of a sound absorbing material the absorption coefficient is low in the low frequency region and increases for increasing frequencies ‘The sound absorption in the material depends on the particle velocity in the fluid. The higher the velocity the more sound absorption. Close to a wall the particle is low as previously discussed. The sound absorption of a layer of mineral wool can therefore be increased by mounting the mineral wool slab a certain distance from the wall This is shown in Fig. 10. In particular the effect of increasing the distance is the low frequency tegion considerable If the wool is covered by a perforated plate the high frequency absorption is decreased. If the radius of the circular holes is a (mm) and the distance between two holes b (cm) of the perforated plate and if the quantity b?/a < 1/4 then the high frequeney absorption can be maintained at a high level A perforated plate mounted in front of a wall can be tuned to give a rather high sound sound absorption in a natrow frequency band. The configuration is shown in Fig. 11 The aitvolume in the opening is moving back and forth due to the incident acoustic wave. This air volume has a certain mass. The entrapped airWw volume between the perforated plate and the wall is acting like a spring. The entire is performing like a simple mass~spring system. ‘The maximum absorption is obtained at resonance fp which approximately is given by = 55 fo i = S1/So (46) ‘The parameter ¢ is equal to the degtee of perferation of the plate ‘The speed of sound is ¢ A 60 called Helmholtz resonator Fig. 12 is operating in a similar way as the perforated plate. A resonator of this type is shown in Fig. 18. The air volume inside the neck of the resonator constitutes the mass and the laiger volume the spring, The resonance frequency fy for the system is approximately given by fo = 55 [SIEV0) (47) A correction term is in general added to the length of the neck. 8 LINED DUCTS ‘The acoustic power generated by a ventilation fan is readily transmitted in ducts The sound attenuation in the duct can be increased by mounting a sound absorbing material inside the duct. Two configurations ate shown in Fig. 13. The resulting sound transmission loss AL in dB per meter length of the duet is approximately given by AL=a!4.pys (48) where P is the citcumference (m) of the sound absorbing material and § (m2) the 108s section area of the open duct.ACous7e FIELD KP 4 Zeon 2 N deasittes dep ayes ==> a: Pe aes eeeatiepere CLIK, yo Zee I> eae ZL AE) AG) OE 22 i (2 ee ee) aie * yy f 4 =o FER Ke OO KEG 2G LZtn» fool) 01 $9)» BI I | i I ! ire | I i 0 | I aititi|fae | esl flit lee oe | || Jae as| [| Jas es | fae ante eztoe ae] ° ; i ! woae (2 70 7 ob “e o& i “ aw 2 ek t iir Long | Fy SOMP WHE 1OCrPEST oes wnLE 4yo(4B) Time At 464 DEVERCEEAHOI Titer¢ Ag YS Deeer scoucp TEIRSINIHOA) THROUGH Leyte Ag DUET TEARS HISSION C1) ALD SOME FLANKING TRONSHISSION) PATHS (Ze)og Os 0.8 02 ° 100125350” Soo 1000” 200 009 Gobo Aepertiacy (He) ABBORFIDN COCPFIOLET = OF SIMI ELAL. WCC AS ZtnUCTRR) OF FICKLUERS Oe FER fg. Pd Faonece, CLONE LOBES 7 PATERNAL yepxos ca) rae Cézeni* Lia aeWBSCeZCD) OF Fee BxiEI> femme | —— I 7 i tl Palen) A J Lemanomeesi ZEesowpe resource: € A * of VBa f- A/F mipMELthoT2 § ZESoa arp t —t Diagram of a volume (Sde-braneh) Ternator SRS sone jonedo 2 da ef eroeesectional area 5, by tance lubes in parallel cach oP len (and anette enh Fe and tare a igpostnee ternining the properties Li TN] T 5 Wt B . = ‘g 34 2 1 e4 3 | | gs TATE ge t ; | Tee mss oF lu ae Fy 4 Fm My ‘Transmission loss of a volume cide-branch) resonau For this chart, the resistance parameter a is equal to the resctan parameter 8. (dfterIngord ?} fig teKER Weers , a a 2 | Li At 2-—. he rite FER PIETER OF L*WED DL 2 s Par ff Efau) 44 2 Of x Ss FREE ce£eSs sexcTOWee M2EG 0 22 REF a/fa-Zd) FEE ALL EPI CF ABS CLRET ea EBSCATIOS COEF FIC OF Fibre 79 8