ACOUSTICS

Contents in this topic

• Reverberation time
• Absorption coefficient
• Sabine’s and Eyring’s formulae of
reverberation time (Qualitative idea)
• Methods to measure absorption coefficient
• Applications of acoustics- designing of hall for
speech, concert, and opera
 The word "acoustic" derives from the Greek word
akoustikos, which means "of or for hearing”.

Acoustics has increasing importance as often people

gather for various purposes in current times. We need to
achieve good sound intelligibility in communication. For
example, in places like theatre, restaurant or railway
station, concert halls, offices and homes. It is important to
enhance the quality of sound while suppressing the noise.
 Acoustics
Acoustics is a branch of physics which is concerned with
the properties of sound wave within the audible range.

Classification of sound:
• (i) Infrasonic 20 Hz (Inaudible)
• (ii) Audible 20 to 20,000Hz (Music and Noise)
• (iii) Ultrasonic 20,000Hz (Inaudible)
 Acoustic: sound wave properties
Sound is a mechanical wave which requires a medium to
travel. It is reflected, transmitted, or absorbed by the
materials that it encounters. These are in general properties
of any wave.

• Soft surfaces: Foam, polyster, cotton batt etc more

effective in absorbing sound waves.
• Dense, hard and polished surfaces: Ceramic tile, brick,
concrete, wood, more effective in reflecting sound
waves.
• A small part of sound wave can also be transmitted.
 Architectural Acoustics (Acoustics of Buildings)
.Deals with design and construction of a building or a
hall to control the properties or quality of sounds. In
other words, it deals with the planning of a building
or a hall so that there is uniform flow of properly
diffused sound to entire audience without affecting
the speech intelligibility and tonal qualities of music.

Hall or rooms may be acoustically poor due to;

• Non uniform distribution of intensity because of interference
of sound waves having (i) multiple reflections and (ii) different
frequencies or focusing.
The Sydney Opera House concert hall
 Acoustics of the buildings
Any type of hall having the good acoustics
should have following features:

❑ The quality of the speech/ music remains unchanged

in each and every portion of the Hall.
❑The sound produced should be without any echo or
no more echoes than necessary for maintaining continuity.
❑ Echelon effects (regular successive echoes) within
building should be avoided.
 Acoustics of the buildings
❑The walls should be sound proof to avoid the
external noise in the hall
❑Sound should be sufficiently loud and
intelligible at every point in room.
❑ Sound of each syllable should soon decay so that
the succeeding syllable is heard distinctly (no excessive
reverberations.) The reverberation should be proper.
❑No undesirable focusing or zones of silence or regions
of poor audibility due to walls, ceiling etc.
 Reverberation
Definition:
The persistence or prolongation of sound in a hall after the
sound source is stopped is called Reverberation.

Explanation: when a sound is produced inside a building, and gets reflected from
all the surfaces, viz; walls, ceiling and floor of the hall. Audience will receive a
direct sound from the source followed by series of sounds reflected and traveling
towards her/him. These successive sounds will be of diminishing intensity.
Therefore, audience will continue to receive the sound even after the source of
sound has stopped. This is called as reverberation.

Sound prolongation

audience
source
 Decibel levels (db)
Standard Intensity for different sounds

• 0: The softest sound a person can hear with normal hearing

• 10: normal breathing
• 20: whispering at 5 feet
• 30: soft whisper
• 50: rainfall
• 60: normal conversation
• 110: shouting in ear
• 120: thunder
 Reverberation Time
The time taken by the sound wave to fall below the minimum
audibility level after the source is stopped.
Or
i.e. to fall to one millionth of its initial intensity, after the source is
stopped.
Here,
I = (1/106)I0 I and I is the final & initial sound intensity
0

Growth and decay of

sound density in room
• If Reverberation Time is too low: Sound disappear quickly and become
inaudible.
• If Reverberation Time is too high: Sound exist for a long period of time -
an overlapping of successive sounds results in very poor sound quality.
Therefore, for the good audibility: Reverberation time should be optimum.
 Reverberation time
Dry speech sample, no reverberation
Speech in a room with a 0.6 second RT

Speech in a room with a 0.8 second RT

Speech in a room with a 1.3 second RT

Speech in a room with a 2.0 second RT

Speech in a room with a 5.0 second RT

Optimum reverberation time

Reverberation time of some famous

hall for concert
❖ Vienna, Musikvereinsaal: 2.05
seconds
❖ Boston, Symphony Hall: 1.8 seconds
❖ New York, Carnegie Hall: 1.7seconds

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 Absorption of sound
The property of a surface by which sound energy is converted into
other form of energy (heat) is known as absorption.

It occurs mainly due to two reasons:

1. Porosity: In the process of absorption sound energy is converted
into heat after being trapped inside the pores of the material.
Trapping involves multiple reflection and therefore absorption.
The fibrous and porous materials absorb sound energy more, than
other solid materials.
2. Flexural vibration: When sound waves fall on flexible materials ,
the elements of the material are set into vibration. Thus sound energy
is transferred maximally to such materials (which will appear as
heat).
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 Absorption Coefficient of Sound
The coefficient of absorption `’ of a materials is defined as the ratio
of sound energy absorbed by its surface to that of the incident
Sound energyabsorbedby the surface
=
Total sound energyincidenton the surface
❑ If a material has the value of “” as 0.5, it means that
50% of the incident sound energy will be absorbed per
unit area.
❑ A unit area of open window (O.W.U) or “sabin” is the
unit of absorption.
❑ The value of `’ depends on the nature of the material as
well as the frequency of sound. It is a common practice
to use the value of `’ at 500 Hz in acoustic designs.
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 Absorption Coefficient of Sound
• If the material has a surface area of S sq.m., then the
absorption by that material is
A = . S

• All the sound incident on an open window is fully

transmitted and none is reflected. Therefore, it can be
taken as complete absorption of sound. 1m2 sabin is the
amount of sound absorbed by one square meter area of
fully open window.

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Q. One person is equal to 4.7 sq ft of open
window. (Actual surface area of a person is 20 sq
ft). Find the absorption coefficient.
 Average absorption coefficient
In case of n number of surfaces S1, S2, S3…………Sn
with absorption coefficient α1, α2, α3…….αn respectively,
average absorption coefficient (𝛼)ҧ is defined as

Total absorption

Average absorption
coefficient

If you could recall the formula for center of mass. We

can see that we have 𝛼ҧ in place of center of mass and
S1, S2, S3…………Sn in place of masses, α1, α2, α3…
….αn in place of positions.
 Sabine’s Formula for Reverberation Time
Prof. W. C. Sabine (1868-1919) determined the reverberation times of
empty halls and furnished halls of different sizes and arrived at the
following conclusions. (Wallace Clement Sabine designed the
Boston’s symphony hall).
Reverberation time depends on
• the volume of the hall.
• the absorbing power of the various surfaces
(carpets, cushions, curtains etc).
• the frequency of the sound.
Note: The reverberation time is independent of the positions of
the source and the listener and the shape of the room.
Prof. W. C. Sabine (1868-1919)
The variation of reverberation time
may also depend on frequency.
Sabine’s Formula for Reverberation Time
Prof. Sabine summarized his results that
Reverberation time (T) is

where K is a proportionality constant. K= 0.05 (if V

is in ft3 and Aeff in ft2) K = 0.161 (if V is in m3 and
Aeff in m2). This equation is known as Sabine’s
reverberation time.

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Where α is the absorption coefficient and S is
geometrical surface area.
If there are n number of surfaces then

where Sn are different surfaces of absorption

coefficients an
As V, S and  can be calculated from plans and
specifications, so it is possible for an architect to
design an auditorium with any desired time of
reverberation.
 Numerical
1. Find reverberation time for a hall of dimensions 40’ ×30’ × 20’ft3
having average absorption coefficient of 0.15.

Volume = 40’ × 30’ × 20’ = 24000 ft3

Surface area of hall = 2[(40 × 30) + (30 × 20) + (20 × 40)] =
5200 ft2
Total avg absorption = 0.15 × 5200 ft2 = 780 ft2 OWU or sabin
So, T = (0.05 × 24000 ft3) / 780 ft2
T = 1.54 s
 Numerical cont….
2. Find that how much area should be treated with an absorbing
material of absorption coefficient 0.20, to reduce its reverberation
time to 1.2 s?

Let area A is the area of the material

Total avg absorption = 0.15(5200-A) + 0.20A = 780 + 0.05A
T = (0.05 × 24000) / (780 + 0.05 A) = 1.2
A = 4400 ft2
 Limitation of Sabine’s Formula
❑ It is good for only small values of absorption coefficient ( < or
= 0.2)
❑ It is not valid for higher values of  This is because for  = 1, T
should be zero, whereas Sabine’s formula gives T = KV/A, a non
zero value.
❑ For higher values of absorption coefficient, the Sabine’s formula
gives higher value of reverberation time than its actual value.

Eyring’s formula removes the difficulty

of higher absorption coefficient
 Eyring’s Formula
Under the same assumptions, as has been considered for
Sabine’s case
Fraction of energy absorbed = average absorption coefficient = 𝛼ത
Fraction of energy reflected = average reflection coefficient =1-𝛼ത
0.05 V
T= (when velocity of sound is 1120 ft s-1)
-S ln(1-𝛼)
ത
0.161 V
T= (when velocity of sound is 340 m s-1)
1 ln(1-𝛼)
-S ത
Note: “S” is total area of the hall.

Note:
Both formulae give identical value when 𝛼ത is small
However, for large value of 𝛼ത , two give different values of T
 Sabine’s vs Eyring’s Formulae
1. Both formulae give identical value when 𝛼ത small

0.05V 0.05 V
T= T=
S𝛼ത -S ln(1-𝛼)
ത

2. However, for large value of 𝛼ത (= 1), two gave different values

0.05V T = 0
T=
S

Since in this case there is no reflection of sound energy, there is no

reverberation time, so Eyring’s formula gives correct results

Note: “S” is total area of the hall in each formula.

 Derivation of Reverberation time
Statistically, distance travelled by sound between two
successive reflections

If v is velocity of sound, then time

between two successive reflections
Average no. of reflections in time
If 𝛼ҧ is average absorption coefficient, then after first reflection (1- 𝛼)ҧ is
reflected.After 2 reflections (1- 𝛼)ҧ 2 is reflected and so on......
If I 0 is the initial intensity and It after time t, then

According to definition of reverberation time (T), when t=T

Methods to measure absorption coefficient
 Absorption coefficient :
Reverberation chamber method 1

Step 1: Reverberation time with cushions or other absorbent

materials is first measured.

Step 2: The cushions or other absorbent materials are then

removed and the extent of the open window is gradually adjusted
until the reverberation time is same as before.
Step 3: The ratio of the area of window opened to the total area of
cushions or other absorbent materials is then determined (which
is nothing but the absorption coefficient of the material)
 Absorption coefficient of a particular
material; Reverberation chamber method- 2

T1 is measured without the T = N 0.161V

1
object or absorbing material  n Sn
1

T2 is measured with the 0.161V

T2 = N
object or absorbing material   n S n + S
1
Note that the unit of length in the formula is meter

Now, absorption Coefficient  of the absorbing material is

0.161𝑉 𝑇1 −𝑇2
= 𝑆
.
𝑇1 𝑇2
where, V is volume of the hall, S is area of the absorbing material
(Hint: Calculate 1/T1 and 1/T2 and then subtract 1/T1 from 1/T2 to obtain )
 Reverberation chamber method- 3
Third method can be used for calculation of average
absorption coefficient ( 𝛼ത ) of a room.

Taking log on both side

Suppose there are 2 sources with power P0 and P1
giving maximum intensities I0 and I1 respectively. Let Im
be minimum audible intensity and T0 and T1 respective
times of decay to threshold of audibility
Taking log on
both sides
 Conditions for good acoustical design of rooms :
1. Control of reverberation :

a) Few open windows.

b) Walls covered with absorbent materials.
c) Upholstered seats.
d) Good audience.
Conditions for good acoustical design of rooms :

2. Avoid concave surfaces such as domes, curved arches etc. to

eliminate focusing effects, non uniform distribution of sound
and echoes.

3.Seats: Gradually elevated to promote free flow of direct

sound from source to listener.
Q: Comment on the reverberation time of the rooms shown below

An anechoic chamber is a space in which

there are no echoes or reverberations.
The surfaces absorb all sound, and reflect none.