Saint Louis College

City of San Fernando La Union

College of Engineering and Architecture
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE
2nd Semester School Year 2020-2021

AR A328
BUILDING
UTILITIES O3
SCHEDULE: 1:30 – 4:00 TTH G-SUITE /322

RESEARCH TOPIC:
 Diffraction of Sound
 Ray Diagram and Sound Path
 Echoes
 Flutter
 Focusing
 Diffusion
 Creep
 Standing Wave

STUDENT:
COLLADO, SOPHIA THERESA C.
BS ARCHITECTURE 3A

PROFESSOR
ARCH. VIC A. QUIJANO
Architect, UAP
DIFFRACTION OF SOUND
 Diffraction is the bending of waves around small obstacles and the
spreading out of waves beyond small openings. It is the bending or flowing of a
sound wave around an object or through an opening. Diffraction in such cases
helps the sound to "bend around" the obstacles. Diffraction is more
pronounced with longer wavelengths which means one can hear low
frequencies around obstacles better than high frequencies.

A common example of diffraction is the contrast in sound from a close

lightning strike and a distant one. The thunder from a close bolt of lightning
will be experienced as a sharp crack, indicating the presence of a lot of high
frequency sound. The thunder from a distant strike will be experienced as a
low rumble since it is the long wavelengths which can bend around obstacles
to get to you. There are other factors such as the higher air absorption of high
frequencies involved, but diffraction plays a part in the experience.

RAY DIAGRAM
 Ray diagram is analogous to specular reflection of light. This is a method
for analyzing whether or not reflected sounds would cause annoying echoes. If
the sound path of the reflected sound is more than 34’ longer than the direct
sound path, the listener will perceive a noticeable, and annoying, echo.
Reflected sound can come from either the ceiling or the walls, and both will be
analyzed. Analysis of ray diagrams can be used to study the effect of room
shape on the distribution of sound and to identify surfaces that may produce
echoes.

A ray diagram shows both reflected and direct sound paths. The difference
between these two paths is called path difference (Path Difference = Reflected
Path - Direct Path). A path difference in excess of the distance that can be
traveled by a sound wave in 0.05 seconds indicates that the reflected sound
can be perceived as discrete echo. In order to reflect sound effectively to the
audience, sound reflecting panels suspended from the ceiling in this space. The
first analysis will check whether or not these sound reflecting panels are
effective.

 Areas with color blue = “live” areas

 Seats with color red = “dead” areas
This shows that the sound reflector panels are inefficiently designed to spread
sound to all areas of the theater.

This image shows the panels in new locations reflect the sound to all areas of
the audience and eliminate dead areas. There are no “dead” zones in the crowd
where sound will not be reflected. In addition to zone checks, the reflective
path distance was compared to the direct path distance for each sound path.
The results found that there were no differences between the two paths greater
than 34’, which is acceptable for this space.
This image shows the original positions of the panels in grey, and the new
position in blue.

ECHO

It is defined as the repetition of a received radio signal due especially to

reflection of part of the wave from an ionized layer of the atmosphere. It is the
reflection of transmitted radar signals by an object and/or the visual indication
of this reflection on a radarscope. It is a sound that is repeated because the
sound waves are reflected back. Sound waves can bounce off smooth, hard
objects in the same way as a rubber ball bounces off the ground.
Although the direction of the sound changes, the echo sounds the same
as the original sound. Echoes can be heard in small spaces with hard walls,
like wells, or where there are lots of hard surfaces all around. That is why
echoes can be heard in a canyon, cave or mountain range. But sounds are not
always reflected. If they meet a dost surface, such as cushion, they will be
absorbed and will not bounce back.

FLUTTER ECHO
It is an energy that’s trapped between two surfaces and the angle that
the sound enters between the two surfaces. In our rooms this occurs between
an energy-producing device (speaker) and a wall. The sound energy depending
on its wavelength is trapped between two parallel surfaces. There will be series
of reflections in short time signatures and then that translates into energy
moving across the area between those surfaces. This energy movement excites
the air between those two surfaces and with that air excitation you get audible
distortion. This distortion can occur between walls, cabinets and bookshelves.
Small space, parallel surfaces, will produce flutter echo that has the response
curve that shows and corresponds to the dimensions of the space where it is
occurring.

Flutter echo is usually a middle and high-frequency issue. Low-frequency

energy is long waves of pressure. Waves of pressure do not get trapped in small
dimensions. They go right through it. Middle and high-frequency energy is
shorter in length and get trapped in 3, 4, 5′ areas. It is noticeable in middle
and higher frequencies since the middle ranges are where we hear the voice
and most of our music content.

SOUND FOCUSING

The conversion of plane or of diverging spherical or cylindrical sound

waves into converging waves. Sound waves are focused by reflection and
refraction methods. The natural focusing of sound is observed, for example, in
caverns with arched roofs. Partial focusing of sound occurs in an underwater
sound channel in seas and oceans. When sound is focused, the energy of the
sound waves is concentrated, achieving a maximum value at a focus that
coincides ordinarily with the center of curvature of the converging wave front.

Systems Used to Focus Sound:

1. Active – acoustic intensifiers
2. Passive – acoustic lenses

The principal characteristics for the quality of sound focusing are

1. shape of the focal region
2. size of the focal region
3. amplification factor for the sound pressure

Sound focusing is used to obtain an acoustic image in ultrasonic viewers, in

the ultrasonic microscope, and in systems for acoustic holography. It is used to
form a specified directional pattern for acoustic radiators and receivers. It is
also used in scanning systems with an ultrasonic beam for medical diagnostic
instruments. In addition, it is used to concentrate ultrasonic energy to be
utilized in various technological processes and in ultrasonic surgery.

SOUND DIFFUSION

Diffusion is the scattering of sound energy. It is the method of spreading out

sound energy with a diffusor (diffuser) for better sound in a space. When sound
bounces off hard flat surfaces, the energy remains very much intact yielding
discrete echoes. These echoes will produce destructive effects like comb
filtering, standing waves and flutter echoes which degrade speech intelligibility
and music clarity. Diffusers interrupt discrete echoes by scattering or diffusing
sound energy over a wide area without removing it from the room. This
maintains sound clarity and improves speech intelligibility.

In large acoustically-designed spaces, like concert halls, diffusion is most often

built into the room’s physical geometry – the shapes of walls and ceilings (floors
are nearly always flat and act as large flat-surface reflectors, even if sloped).
CREEPING WAVE

A creeping wave in electromagnetism or acoustics is the wave that is

diffracted around the shadowed surface of a smooth body such as a sphere.
Creeping waves greatly extend the ground wave propagation of long wavelength
(low frequency) radio. They also cause both of a person's ears to hear a sound,
rather than only the ear on the side of the head facing the origin of the sound.
In radar ranging, the creeping wave return appears to come from behind the
target. Vladimir Fock made important contributions to the understanding and
calculation of creeping waves. They are described by Airy functions.

THE STANDING WAVE

Standing wave is a low frequency resonance that takes place between

two opposite walls as the reflected wave interferes constructively with the
incident wave. The resonant frequency depends on the distance between the
two walls.
It’s called a standing wave because it’s really not standing but it’s in a position
in your room, it’s a pressure area and is the result of low frequency energy not
fitting in your room.

 Blue: A sine-wave is created at the left end of the string, and it travels
towards the right.
 Green: The sine-wave is reflected and travels back in the other direction.
 Black: The total vibration is a sum of the right and left moving waves
(blue+green)
The incident and reflected waves interfere with each other by superposition

A standing wave is an area of

pressure, often found in the room
center, it has a width, height and a
depth to it and it also has a
frequency of resonance.
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