ARCHITECTURAL ACOUSTICS

School of Architecture
Ar. Radha Krishan

SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
ACOUSTICAL MATERIALS

An Acoustical material is designed to control, direct and manipulate

sound waves.

Some examples of these type of materials are :-

• Fiberglass
• Wood
• Plastic
• Synthetic tiles
• Carpet
• Melamine foam
• Etc.

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 TYPES OF ACOUSTICAL MATERIALS
BASED ON SOUND REFLECTION WITH THE SURFACE
Sound waves striking an arbitrary surface are either reflected, absorbed, diffused or
transmitted; the amount of energy going into reflection, absorption, diffusion or transmission
depends on acoustic properties of the surface.

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 TYPES OF ACOUSTICAL MATERIALS
SOUND ABSORBERS

These sound absorbing materials are used to eliminate sound reflections to improve speech
intelligibility, reduce standing waves.

A wide variety of materials can be applied to walls and ceilings depending on your
application and environment. These materials vary in thickness and in shape to achieve
different absorption ratings depending on the specific sound requirements

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 TYPES OF ACOUSTICAL MATERIALS
SOUND DIFFUSERS

These devices reduce the intensity of sound by scattering it over an expanded area, rather
than eliminating the sound reflections as an absorber would.

This phenomenon is something related to “scattering of light”. Here sound is distributed

uniformly over an expanded area.

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SOUND ABSORPTION COEFFICIENT
Absorption coefficients are measured in specialized laboratories, and represent the fraction of
sound energy (not sound level-dB) the material will absorb as a decimal from 0 to 1
Sound absorption Coefficient (α)
Building Materials 125Hz 250Hz 500Hz 1kHz 2kHz 4kHz Properties
carpet 0.01 0.02 0.06 0.15 0.25 0.45 Absorptive
Concrete (unpainted, rough finish) 0.01 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 Masonry: Good sound
Concrete (sealed or painted) 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 insulation, stop critical low
Brick (natural) 0.03 0.03 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.07 frequencies
Brick (painted) 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.03
Marble or glazed tile 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.02 Reflective
Lesser sound insulation,
Wood: Doors (solid wood panels) 0.1 0.07 0.05 0.04 0.04 0.04 resonate easily, good for
sound treatment
Glass (1/4" plate, large pane) 0.18 0.06 0.04 0.03 0.02 0.02 Transparent, high sound
insulation, harsh reflective
Glass (small pane) 0.04 0.04 0.03 0.03 0.02 0.02
Fiberglass board (50mm(2") thick) 0.18 0.76 0.99 0.99 0.99 0.99 Limited use of sound
insulation, good sound
Sprayed cellulose fiber (16mm(5/8") on solid absorption
0.05 0.16 0.44 0.79 0.9 0.91
backing)
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 TYPES OF ACOUSTICAL MATERIALS
SOUND TRANSMISSION

These devices partially allows the sound waves to enter in an enclosure. They help in reducing
the sound intensity of external noise to hearable range.
SOUND TRANSMISSION CLASS
Sound Transmission Class (or STC) is an integer rating of how well a building partition attenuates
airborne sound.

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 TYPES OF ACOUSTICAL MATERIALS
SOUND TRANSMISSION CLASS

Sound Transmission Class (or STC)

depends on assembly of different
materials

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 TYPES OF ACOUSTICAL MATERIALS
SOUND TRANSMISSION CLASS

Sound Transmission Class (or STC)

can be calculated in Laboratories
or through specialized software. Eg.
INSUL

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 TYPES OF ACOUSTICAL MATERIALS
SOUND TRANSMISSION CLASS
Sound Transmission Class (or STC) for assembly of different materials

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 TYPES OF ACOUSTICAL MATERIALS
SOUND REFLECTION
Sometimes, we want to introduce echo in the closed environment and in order to hear a loud
and clear echo the hearer must listen to the reflected sound waves too. In these conditions,
we requires sound to be reflected back from the surface.

HARD MATERIALS: Any hard material such as concrete, glass or tile is used as sound reflectors.
SMOOTH MATERIALS : Such as Glass and Metals are also used.

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 TYPES OF ACOUSTICAL MATERIALS
BASED ON SOUND ABSORPTION WITH THE SURFACE

Sound absorbing acoustical materials are use to eliminate sound reflection or to Reduce RT
value, to improve speech intelligibility.

Varieties of Sound absorbers (acoustical materials) could be used based on sound of different
frequency range need to be addressed

Types of Sound absorber

1. Porous absorber
2. Membrane absorber
3. Resonance absorber

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 TYPES OF ACOUSTICAL MATERIALS
BASED ON SOUND ABSORPTION WITH THE SURFACE
Porous absorber
These materials consist, as the name suggests, of porous material. Mineral wool, textiles,
clothing, curtains, carpets and certain types of foam plastic all fall into this category.

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 TYPES OF ACOUSTICAL MATERIALS
BASED ON SOUND ABSORPTION WITH THE SURFACE
Membrane absorber
Membrane absorbers are proper bass absorbers.
The membrane absorber is a flat box, 100-200 millimetres deep, mounted on the wall with a
thin sheet of plywood or similar on the front and with a light mineral wool filling the box
cavity.

Here, sound energy get transformed into mechanical oscillatory energy.

The significant characteristic of the membrane absorber is that it

absorbs sound energy at low frequencies

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 TYPES OF ACOUSTICAL MATERIALS
BASED ON SOUND ABSORPTION WITH THE SURFACE
Resonance absorber
The mechanism is called a Helmholtz resonator, and it’s used in many systems, among other
things clarinets, hydraulic silencers and ventilation ducts.
As membrane absorber, sound energy get
transformed into mechanical oscillatory energy.

50 mm mineral wool
70 mm mineral wool
25 mm mineral wool
Perforated steel
corrugated sheet

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