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Topic 2: . Behavior of sound in enclosed spaces reflection of sound, nature of reflection from plane, convex and
concave surfaces, sound diffraction, Absorption of sound, sound absorption coefficient.

2.1 Behavior of sound in enclosure:

q Reflection
q Diffraction
q Refraction
q Diffusion
q Absorption
q Transmission
q Reverberation and Echo
The distribution of acoustic energy, whether originating from a single or multiple sound sources in an enclosure,
depends on the room size and geometry and on the combined effects of reflection, diffraction, and absorption.
With the appreciable diffusion of sound waves due to all of these effects it is no longer germane to consider
individual wave fronts, but to refer to a sound field, which is simply the region surrounding the source.
A free field is a region surrounding the source, where the sound pattern emulates that of an open space.
From a point source the sound waves will be spherical, and the intensity will approximate the inverse square law.
Indoors sound energy drops off under free- field conditions only near the source (usually 5ft for small rooms).
Since room surfaces reflect sound there will be little further noise reduction with distance away from source (called
reverberant field). The more absorption in a room, the less the buildup of sound energy in the reverberant field.

2.1.1 Reflection:

Reflection is the change in direction of a wave front at an interface between two different media so that the wave
front returns into the medium from which it originated. Common examples include the reflection of light, sound and
waves. In acoustics, reflection causes echoes and is used in sonar. This occurs when the wavelength of a sound
wave is smaller than the surface of an obstacle. In the case of an enclosed space, the sound waves hit every side of
the enclosure continuously until the sound energy reduces to zero. The amount of waves reflected depends on the
smoothness, size, and softness of the materials of enclosure. The angle of incidence of sound rays is equal to that of
the reflected rays only if the surface of the reflector is flat. But when it is curved, the angles are different.

This occurs when the wavelength of a sound wave is smaller than the surface of an obstacle. In the case of an
enclosed space, the sound waves hit every side of the enclosure continuously until the sound energy reduces to zero.
The amount of waves reflected depends on the smoothness, size, and softness of the materials of enclosure.
The angle of incidence of sound rays is equal to that of the reflected rays only if the surface of the reflector is flat. But
when it is curved, the angles are different.

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The reflection of sound follows the law "angle of incidence equals angle of reflection", sometimes called the law of
reflection. The same behavior is observed with light and other waves, and by the bounce of a billiard ball off the
bank of a table. The reflected waves can interfere with incident waves, producing patterns of constructive and
destructive interference. This can lead to resonances called standing waves in rooms. It also means that the sound
intensity near a hard surface is enhanced because the reflected wave adds to the incident wave, giving pressure
amplitude that is twice as great in a thin "pressure zone" near the surface. This is used in pressure zone microphones to
increase sensitivity. The doubling of pressure gives a 6 decibel increase in the signal picked up by the microphone.
Reflection of waves in strings and air columns are essential to the production of resonant standing waves in those
systems.

2.1.1. A Nature of Reflection:

Nature of Reflection
n Sound is reflected in different ways depending on the shape of t he reflecting surface:
Flat Surface
n A flat surface is effective in distributing sound. If the surface is large
enough and positioned correctly, a flat surface can project sound toward
the listeners. Flat surfaces can also cause problems if placed i ncorrectly.
For example, a flat, reflective rear wall in an auditorium will reflect sound
back toward the speaker, this is called "slap-back". Parallel reflective
walls can create a reflection between the two surfaces, this is referred to
as "flutter echo" or "standing wave". Two flat surfaces coming together to
form a peak can act as a megaphone and amplify the reflected sound.

n Concave surfaces
Concave surfaces cause reflections to be
concentrated rather than dispersed. This
causes an abundance of reflection to be
heard by the listeners in the focal point, or
the point at which all of the reflections are
focused. Reflections can also travel along a
concave surface bringing delayed reflections
around the room.

n Convex surfaces
Convex surfaces are the best surfaces for distributing sound. Th ey
provide a wide spread of reflected sound. Reflections can be controlled
through room shaping as described above, irregularities within the room
such as columns, trusses, surface undulations, etc., or through the use of
absorptive materials (those with a high NRC.)

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Plane Wave Reflection

n "The angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection" is one way of stating the law of
reflection for light in a plane mirror.
n Sound obeys the same law of reflection.

Point source of sound reflecting from a plane surface

When sound waves from a point source strike a plane wall, they produce reflected spherical wave fronts as if there
were an "image" of the sound source at the same distance on the other side of the wall.
If something obstructs the direct sound from the source from reaching your ear, then it may sound as if the entire
sound is coming from the position of the "image" behind the wall. This kind of sound imaging follows the same law of
reflection as your image in a plane mirror.

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Reflection from Concave Surface

n Any concave surface will tend to focus the sound waves

which reflect from it.
n This is generally undesirable in auditorium acoustics
because it produces a "hot spot" and takes sound energy
away from surrounding areas.
n Even dispersion of sound is desirable in auditorium design,
and a surface which spreads sound is preferable to one
which focuses it.

2.1.2 Diffraction:

n Diffraction is the bending of waves as they pass

through a gap or past an edge
n When a wave (front) is Incident on an edge or an
obstacle/slit/gap Wave bends into the
geometrical shadow/changes direction/spreads
n When the wavelength of a sound wave is smaller
or equal to the size of the obstacle, the sound rays
tend to bend round the edge of the obstacle
thereby turning the edge to a sound source.
n Sound waves have wavelengths from about 15 m
down to 2 cm. Many everyday objects are the
same size as sound waves this causes a lot of
diffraction.
n This is why we can hear someone talking to us who
is not directly in our line of sight. Sound waves
diffract when they pass through doors or move
past the edges of walls.
n Diffraction of sound should not be confused with
reflection of sound (echoes).

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n Diffraction effects are most obvious when the object or aperture causing the diffraction is similar in size to the
wavelength of the waves.
n The nearer the slit size is to the wavelength, the more the wave will diffract.
n The smaller the gap the greater the diffraction.
n The longer the wavelength the greater the diffraction

2.1.3 Refraction: n This is the bending of sound when it travels from

one medium into another medium. The difference
in the composition of the two different media
bends the sound i.e. the angle of incidence
changes into an angle of refraction as it travels
into the new medium.

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2.1.4 Diffusion Effect:

n This is the scattering of waves from a surface. It occurs as a

result of the texture and hardness of the obstacle is
comparable to the wavelength of the sound.
n The direction of the incident ray changes when it strikes the
surface of the obstacle. Satisfaction is achieved when sound is
heard in all direction at equal level.

2.1.5 Transmission Effect:

n In this phenomenon, sound

wave is carried by molecules of
the obstacle through vibration
and re-emitted at the other side
irrespective of the medium. It
can be structure borne, air
borne or impact sound.

2.1.6 Absorption Effect

n When sound waves hit the surface of an obstacle, some

of its energy is reflected while some are lost through its
transfer to the molecules of the barrier.
n The lost sound energy is said to have been absorbed by
the barrier.
n The thickness and nature of the material as regards its
softness and hardness influences the amount of sound
energy absorbed.

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2.1.6. A Sound energy

The law of the conservation of energy states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, but it can be
changed from one form to another.
Sound is the vibratory energy of air particles and it can be dissipated in the form of heat.
It takes the sound energy of a million people talking to brew a cup of tea.
n S = sound wave
n A, B, & C = reflections from material boundaries
n E - K = absorption from heat loss
n D = paths of refraction
n Refraction changes the direction of travel of a
sound wave by differences in the velocity of
propagation.

Balance of sound energy impinging over a wall

The energy balance shows three main fluxes:
n Reflected
n Absorbed
n Transmitted
Hence three coefficients are defined, as the ratios with the impinging energy

2.1.6. B Absorption and Absorption Coefficients

Absorption: in acoustics, the conversion of sound energy to heat.

Absorption Coefficient: the fraction of sound energy that is absorbed at any surface. It has a value between 0 and 1
and varies with the frequency and angle of incidence of the sound.
Multiplying the surface area (in sq. ft.) by the absorption coefficient results in absorption units (sabins).
The absorption coefficient is a measure of the efficiency of a surface or material in absorbing sound.
If 55% of the incident sound energy is absorbed, the absorption coefficient is said to be 0.55.
One square foot of this material gives 0.55 absorption units (Sabine's).
An open window is considered a perfect absorber because sound passing through it never returns to the room. It
would have an absorption coefficient of 1.0.
Ten square feet of open window would give 10 Sabine's of absorbance.

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2.1.7 Reverberation and echo

Reverberation, in psychoacoustics and acoustics, is the persistence of sound after a sound is produced. A
reverberation, or reverb, is created when a sound or signal is reflected causing a large number of reflections to build
up and then decay as the sound is absorbed by the surfaces of objects in the space which could include furniture
and people, and air. This is most noticeable when the sound source stops but the reflections continue, decreasing
in amplitude, until they reach zero amplitude.

Reverberation is the collection of reflected sounds from the surfaces in an enclosure like an auditorium. It is a
desirable property of auditoriums to the extent that it helps to overcome the inverse drop-off of sound intensity in the
enclosure. However, if it is excessive, it makes the sounds run together with loss of articulation - the sound becomes
muddy, garbled. To quantitatively characterize the reverberation, the parameter called the reverberation time is
used.
Reverberation is frequency dependent. The length of the decay, or reverberation time, receives special
consideration in the architectural design of spaces which need to have specific reverberation times to achieve
optimum performance for their intended activity. In comparison to a distinct echo that is a minimum of 50 to
100 ms after the initial sound, reverberation is the occurrence of reflections that arrive in less than approximately
50ms. As time passes, the amplitude of the reflections is reduced until it is reduced to zero. Reverberation is not
limited to indoor spaces as it exists in forests and other outdoor environments where reflection exists.

Reverberant sound is the collection of all the

reflected sounds in an enclosure (direct sound, early reflection, late reflection).

Echo
In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo (plural echoes) is a reflection of sound, arriving at the listener
some time after the direct sound. Typical examples are the echo produced by the bottom of a well, by a building, or
by the walls of an enclosed room and an empty room. A true echo is a single reflection of the sound source. The time
delay is the extra distance divided by the speed of sound

Flutter echo
Flutter-echoes appears to be wave phenomena similar to standing waves, only with periods long enough (>50ms) to
be perceived as separate sound events. When occurring between parallel walls the axial modes normal to the
parallel walls will constitute the harmonics of a flutter-echo with period T and harmonic frequencies 1/T, 2/T. If the
walls are hard and smooth, the higher harmonics can be prominent so that discrete tones are being heard. Due to
little absorption at normal incidence and long free paths, decays are slow and reverberation time long, often leaving
a late double slope at mid-high frequencies.

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2.2 Factors that effect behavior of sound in enclosure

The way in which sound behaves in an enclosed space depends on many factors which include:
Reduction in its intensity of sound This can results due to the distance between its source and the receiver.
Absorption of direct sound by the audience The listeners of the sound absorb some of the sound in the
process of hearing.
Absorption of direct and reflected sound by surfaces The walls, ceiling and floor of the enclosure absorbs
and reflect sound waves thereby controlling the way the sounds behave.
Reflection of sounds from right-angled corners - Sound incident to a right-angled corner of room will be
reflected back towards source if surfaces are acoustically reflective. This can in turn produce echoes
especially in large spaces.
Dispersion of the sides of an enclosure - Reflections can be controlled by making one surface dispersive i.e.
not at right angle to each. This would have affected the reflection of the sound thereby affecting its
behavior.
Edge diffraction of sound - Edge diffraction results in the curvature of part of a sound wave around the edge
of a barrier. This causes the obstacles to scatter the sound waves making it behave like a source of sound.
Sound shadow - Any barrier interrupting a sound wave will create a shadow, synonymous to light rays.
However, because of edge diffraction some sound will creep into this but such penetration is frequency
dependent - high frequencies are less diffracted than low frequencies. Such problems can occur in
auditorium with balconies.
Primary reflection This depends on the angle of incidence which is equal to the angle of reflection. Also, the
nature of sound reflector is important.
Panel resonance - Sound waves can propagate "through" a solid material by panel vibration. The sound does
not actually penetrate the material but rather causes this to vibrate and act as a sound source itself. The
panel will be vibrated by both direct and reflected sound waves.

2.3 Sound behavior outside V/S sound behavior in enclosure

When a sound is encountered in the open air, in a horizontal plane, the sound that reaches a listener proceeds by a
direct path from the sound source. But for sounds in an enclosed space, the listener will receive not only the direct
sound but also the sound energy that is reflected from the surfaces of the enclosed space. The boundaries of the
space will have three principal effects on the experience of sound; sound intensity is likely to increase, sound
duration is likely to increase, and apparent sound direction may be altered.
It can be seen that there is only one direct sound wave experienced by the listener while indirect sound waves of
varying intensities are as a result of reflection by the boundary of the enclosure which are at different distances from
the source and the listener. The super-imposition of both the direct and indirect sounds creates an increase in sound
level which may result to a distortion the sound in turn affecting audibility.

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References:

http://sdngnet.com/Files/Lectures/FUTA-ARC-
507/Assignments/2007%20Assignments/Term%20Papers/Behaviour%20of%20Sound%20in%20an%20Enclosed%20Space
.pdf
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/sound/reflec2.html#c1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverberation
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/acoustic/reverb.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echo
http://www.akutek.info/research_files/echoes.htm
http://www.tonywoolf.co.uk/proj-guide-4.htm

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