BUILDING SERVICES – IV (ACOUSTICS)

School of Architecture
Ar. Radha Krishan

SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
 WHAT ?

Acoustic is the science of sound which deals with the properties of sound waves.

1. SOUND 2. SCIENCE 3. WAVES

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 WHAT ?

Acoustic is the science of sound which deals with the properties of sound waves.

1. SOUND

Vibrations that travel through the air or another medium and can be heard when
they reach a person's or animal's ear.
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 WHAT ?

Acoustic is the science of sound which deals with the properties of sound waves.

2. SCIENCE

A systematically organized body of knowledge on a particular subject.

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 WHAT ?

Acoustic is the science of sound which deals with the properties of sound waves.

3. WAVES

A wave is a disturbance in a medium that carries energy without a net movement

of particles.
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WHY ?
IMPORTANCE OF ACOUSTICS
Acoustics are fundamentally important to learning environments.

Learning is intrinsically linked with communication, and aural (sound) communication is acoustics.

Learning is about concentration, and external noise is a major distracting factor in education.

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EVOLUTION
HISTORICAL REFERENCE
Open-Air Theatre

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 EVOLUTION
Amphitheatre: Evolution

Italian
Greek Greek Greek-Roman Renaissance
Enclosed- Classic- Semi- Enclosed Semi-
amphitheater Amphitheatric Amphitheatric amphitheatric
Circa 600 BC Circa 450 BC Circa 100 BC Circa 1500 AD

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 HISTORICAL STUDY
Amphitheatre: Epidaurus (Greece)

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 HISTORICAL STUDY
Amphitheatre: Epidaurus (Greece)
• According to Pausanias, the ancient
theatre was constructed at the end
of the 4th century BC.
• Pausanias praises the theatre for its SKENE
symmetry and beauty.
• maximum capacity of 13,000 to
14,000 spectators.
• The Theatre used to host music,
singing and dramatic games. ORCHESTRA

AUDIENCE

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HISTORICAL STUDY
Amphitheatre: Epidaurus (Greece)
To minimize the reduction of Sound Level
• Audience seated as close to
performance as possible
• Audience arranged in steep sloped
area

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HISTORICAL STUDY
Amphitheatre: Epidaurus (Greece)
To minimize the reflection of Sound Level
• The Amphitheatre was made of Lime
stone and Porous stones.
• This material has a property of
absorbing the sound waves.

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HISTORICAL STUDY
Amphitheatre: Epidaurus (Greece)
To Decrease the intensity of Sound at lower level
• Carved Seating were used as diffuser.
• These curves used to spread the sound at large
area below the steps and used to absorb by the
porous stones

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HISTORICAL STUDY
Amphitheatre: Epidaurus (Greece)
To enhance the Sound Level

 Resonator embedded in the wall to the frequency need to be enhance

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HISTORICAL STUDY
Amphitheatre: Epidaurus (Greece)
To enhance the Sound Level
As per Greek mask-maker, Thanos Vovolis,
The mask serves as a resonator for the head, thus
enhancing vocal acoustics and altering its quality. This
leads to increased energy and presence, allowing for
the more complete metamorphosis of the actor into his
character.

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 TERMINOLOGIES USED

Airborne sound — Sound or noise radiated directly from a source, such as a

loudspeaker or machine, into the surrounding air.
Ambient noise — Total noise level in a specified environment
Audible frequency range — The range of the sound frequencies normally heard
by the human ear.
Decibel (dB) — Degree of loudness.
Diffraction — The process whereby an acoustic wave is disturbed and its energy
redistributed in space as a result of an obstacle in its path.
Direct sound — Sound that reaches a given location by direct, straight-line
propagation from the sound source

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 TERMINOLOGIES USED

Frequency — Repetition rate of a cycle, the number of cycles per second.

Noise — Unwanted sound.
Reflection — Redirection of sound waves
Refraction — Change in direction of sound waves caused by changes in the
sound wave velocity
Reverberant sound/reverberation — The sound in an enclosed space, which
results from, repeated reflections at the boundaries.
Sabine — Unit of acoustic sound absorption, equivalent to the absorption by one
square meter of perfect absorber.
Sound absorption — The process by which sound energy is converted into heat,
leading to the reduction in sound pressure level.

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 TERMINOLOGIES USED

Sound insulating material — Material designed and used as partitions in order to

minimize the transmission of sound.
Sound insulation — The reduction or attenuation of sound by a solid partition
between source and receiver.
Sound intensity — The sound flowing per unit area, in a given direction,
measured over an area perpendicular to the direction of flow

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SOUND PROPERTIES

1. Sound travels in wave forms.

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SOUND PROPERTIES

2. Frequency is numbers of vibrations of sound in 1 Second.

Unit of Frequency is Hertz (Hz)

Speed = frequency x wavelength

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SOUND PROPERTIES
3. Sound waves are classified into three categories

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 SOUND PROPERTIES
Classification of Audible Sound

1. MUSICAL SOUND 2. NOISE

• The sound which produces pleasing effect on the • The sound that produces a jarring effect on
ear is called musical sound. the ear is called noise.
• Example : Sitar, violin, flute, piano, etc. • Example:-Sound of airplane ,road traffic
,crackers ,etc.

• The musical sound waveforms • The noise waveforms are

are regular in shape. irregular in shape.
• they do not undergo a sudden • They undergo a sudden
change in amplitude. change in amplitudes.

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 SOUND PROPERTIES
Characteristics of Musical Sound
1. PITCH (frequency) 2. LOUDNESS (intensity) 3. TIMBRE (quality)

• The measure of how high • It measures the amplitude • The quality given to a
or low a sound is and of the sound related to its sound by its tone by
depends on the frequency intensity. which the ear recognizes
of the sound. and identifies a voice
speech

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 FACTORS AFFECTING SOUND

REVEBRATION: Time it takes to reflected sound to die down at certain level.

LOUDNESS: Perception of sound pressure on human ear.

FOCUSSING: Conversion of sound at one point and creating sound focii.

ECHO: The repetition of a sound caused by reflection of sound waves.

RESONANCE: Certain tones of the original music may get reinforced that may result in
distortion of the original sound.

NOISE: Noise is unwanted sound considered unpleasant, loud or disruptive to hearing.

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 JUSTIFICATION
Acoustics is required to treat all the defects of sound so that we can get a undisturbed
Sound.

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 HOW ?

Next class

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