ACOUSTICS

Proper acoustical planning

eliminates many acoustical problems before they are built
Lee Irvine

BASICS
ACOUSTICS : Science of sound. Acoustical situation can be described in
three parts Source ------ Medium/Path----------Receiver
SOUND : Sound in air is fluctuation of pressure above and below
atmospheric pressure. This pressure fluctuation travels through air as
waves.
Sound travels faster in solids and liquids then gas (air).
Most sounds in everyday world are complex as they consists of variety of
pressure which vary with time.
Sound waves in air are analogues to ripples (or waves) caused by a stone
dropped in water.
Hearing range 20Hz to 20,000Hz
NOISE: Unpleasant sounds are known as noise.

TYPES OF NOISE
The difference between two major sources of noise in architecture structureborne and airborne noise lies in the transmission medium.
Airborne noise - Sound waves transmitted from a source to a receiver through the
air.
Structure borne - Noise is caused by vibration from within the building caused by
footsteps or machines. The vibration is directly transferred through the buildings
structures and materials.

A. The sound of a planes engine is a kind of exterior airborne noise that may affect communities near
airports.
B. The MTRs operating systems are quiet, but the vibration of the train rail generates exterior structureborne noise.
C. In a gymnasium, cheering spectators may cause interior airborne noise to the surrounding rooms,
while the athletes activities generate interior structure-borne noise.

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF SOUND

CYCLE: The movement of a particle in
completing one complete circle after
getting disturbed by energy released
from source is known as one cycle.
WAVELENGTH: The distance travelled by
a particle while completing one cycle is
known as wavelength.
= speed / frequency
TIME PERIOD: the amount of time taken
by a particle to complete one cycle is
known as period .
Tp = 1 / f
AMPLITUDE: The maximum disturbance
takes place during one cycle is known as
amplitude.
FREQUENCY/PITCH: The number of
cycles completed by a particle in unit
time is known as frequency . It is

VELOCITY OF SOUND : This is the

rate at which sound travels from
source via medium to the receiver.
Unit m/s
It is affected by amount of
moisture , temperature and
intensity of wind.
It is independent of frequency or
pitch of sound.
Travels faster in solids and liquid

LOUDNESS :-Degree of sensation not wholly a physical quantity but partly

subject to and depends on ears of listener .

INTENSITY/ PRESSURE:- Flow of sound energy per unit time through per unit
area is known as intensity. Unit W/m2.
Thus ,
It is purely a physical quantity which can be accurately measured and
independent of ear of listener.
Intensity of sound is measured on a logarithmic scale due to wide range of
variations of intensity of sound.
Decibels Earnst Weber and Gustav Fetchner discovered that all human
sensations are proportional to logarithm of intensity of stimulus. Thus bell is
used to relate intensity of sound to intensity level corresponding to human
hearing sensation.
INTENSITY LEVEL :- Difference in intensity of two sounds (I1 & I2) by n
decibels is known intensity level.
n = log10
Unit of bell is very large to be used for practical purpose thus reduced to

Common recognized sounds

INVERSE SQUARE LAW

This law states that a specified physical quantity or intensity is inversely proportional to the
square of the distance from the source of that physical quantity.

d = distance from sound

source
(ft or m)

BEHAVIOUR OF SOUND IN AN ENCLOSURE

ENCLOSURE:- Area bounded
on every of its sides . The
materials used for enclose
can be classified as :a) One that allows sound
waves to pass through
them
b) Second that does not
allow.

Reflection

Absorption

Refraction

On encounter of barriers
posed
by
enclosures
following phenomenon will
takes place :Diffusion

Diffraction

Transmission

REFLECTION OF SOUND :-When a free sound wave travelling through

air
strikes a uniform , solid , plane surface , it is reflected in the same
manner as that of light ray .
o Analysis of reflection from curved surfaces can be derived by applying
laws of reflection of light.
o A concave surface leads to concentration of reflected sound waves at
certain points. They are more condensed and hence amplified in
nature. Thus concave surfaces are used to work as reflectors.
o A convex surface tends to spread the reflected sound waves which are
magnified and are considerably bigger in magnitude . Hence convex
surfaces are used to spread the sound waves throughout the room.
o Law of reflection of sound helps in deciding the proper shape of room
with regards to distribution of sound in that room.

 Reflections are an important part of acoustical design for music performance venues.
For effective musical acoustics, the reflections have to arrive within the correct time
window, and from the correct direction.
The reflections help to boost the level of acoustic instruments and human voices in the
audience area.
They also influence timbre and help define the apparent size or perspective of the
instruments.

DEFECTS DUE TO REFLECTED SOUND :a) Echo Repetition of sound by reflection of sound waves from a surface.
) The sensation of sound persists for one tenth of second after source has
ceased.
Thus 0.10 x 343 = 34.3 m
) The minimum distance of the obstacle from the source of sound must be 17
m.
) If the distance of obstacle is between 8m to 17m then echoes are formed.
Eg. Heavy rolling sound of thunder.

DEFECTS DUE TO REFLECTED SOUND :-

B) Reverberation :- The process of transformation of sound energy to other

form of energy is known as reverberation.
Reverberation time

Reverberation time refers to the amount of time required for the sound
field in a space to decay 60dB, or to one millionth of the original power.
In simple terms this refers to the amount of time it takes for sound energy
to bounce around a room before being absorbed by the materials and air.
Reverberation time is important because it can affect how well you
understand speech, and it can change the way music sounds.
If the reverberation time :- too long - overlapping of speech
too short effect of deadness
Reverberation directly depends on loss of energy due to friction thus
absorption is very important.

REVERBERATION TIME CALCULATION

SABINS EQUATION :- The formula established by W.B Sabin of Harvard University :t = 0.16 V / A
T reverberation time in seconds
V volume of room in m3
A total absorbing power in m2 sabins
= a1s1+a2s2+a3s3
S1, S2 ,S3 etc being coefficients of absorption of respective surfaces a1, a2,a3 etc.

ABSORPTION OF SOUND :- The phenomenon in which the sound

energy in the form of sound waves get absorbed by the surface of
the enclosure and thus get converted to another form of energy is
known as absorption.
ABSORPTION COEFFICIENT :- The degree to which the surface
affects the absorption of sound is known as absorption coefficient .
o The ratio of energy absorbed by the energy striking the area.
o Value of coefficient of absorption will depend on frequency of
sound.
Absorption Unit
Sabins
Absorption of a Surface
Area of a Surface x Absorption Coefficient

ABSORBENT MATERIALS:- The special materials used along with general building
materials for better acoustical requirement are known as absorbent materials. Such
has
high absorption
materials
Absorbing
capacity
depends coefficient.
on thickness and density of material.
Acoustic properties of absorbent materials changes by their modes of fixing
No fix method to make a particular room acoustically good . It will purely depends
on designers capability to understand the requirement as well as the enclosure and
then make decisions for material selection.
Care should be taken while enhancing any acoustical material aesthetically by any
extra covering as it should not hamper its properties.
For any hall with audiences care should be taken to decide material to absorb low
frequency sounds to achieve optimum reverberation.
Requirements of absorbent materials :
Durable and free from insects or
termite attack.
Easily available & economical
Efficient over a wide range of
frequencies
Fire resistant

Non hygroscopic & heat insulating

Easily fixable & self supporting
Pleasing appearance
Higher coefficient of absorption
Sufficient structural strength

Types of absorbent materials :

Hairfelt: used by Prof. Sabin (CoA 0.60)
Acoustic plaster : granulated insulation
material mixed with cement . Boards are
also available. (CoA 0.15 to 0.30)
Acoustical tiles: factory made , uniform
thickness , easy installation & costly.
Preferable for rooms with small area for
acoustical treatment.
Strawboard : (CoA 0.30)
Pulp boards : soft boards prepared from
compressed pulp . Cheap and easy to fix .
(CoA 0.17)
Compressed fibre boards : Perforated (CoA
0.30 ) unperforated (CoA 0.52)
Compressed wood particle board : It is with
perforations and can be painted. (CoA
0.40)

Perforated plywood: composite panel of

mineral wood and cement asbestos
(CoA 0.95 ) or mineral wool &
hardboard (CoA 0.20 )
Wood wool board: (CoA 0.20 )
Quilts and mats : Consists of mineral
wool or glass wool fixed in the form of
acoustical blankets. CoA will depend on
thickness, quality , perforations , fixing ,
density etc.

REFRACTION :- The bending of sound when

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

DIFFUSION :- It is the scattering or

random distribution of sound wave from
a surface . It occurs when the surface
depth of material and wavelength of
sound are comparable.
The direction of incident sound changes
as it strikes a sound diffusing material.
A very important characteristic of rooms
used for musical performances . When
satisfactory diffusion achieved listeners
will have a sensation of sound coming
from all directions at equal levels.

DIFFRACTION It is the bending or

flowing of a sound wave around an
object or through an opening.

TRANSMISSION :- 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.
The insulating property of material will
decide the amount of transmission to be
happened .

CTORS AFFECTING THE BEHAVIOUR OF SOUND IN AN ENCLOSED SPACE

1) Reduction in its intensity of sound this can happen due to distance between its
source and the receiver.
2) Absorption of direct sound by the audience the listeners of the sound absorb
some of the sound in the process of hearing.
3) Absorption of direct and reflected sound by surfaces- the walls , ceiling , floor of
the enclosure . These elements absorb the sound as well as reflect the sound back
thus controlling the way sound behaves.
4) Reflection of sound from right angled corners sound incident to a right angled
corner of room will be reflected towards source if surfaces are acoustically
reflective. This can produce echo specially happens in large spaces.
5) 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 obstacle to scatter the sound waves
making it behave like a
Source of sound.
6) Sound shadow any barrier interrupting a sound wave will create a shadow,
synonymous to light rays
High frequencies are less diffracted then low
frequencies .
7) Panel resonance sound waves can propagate through a solid material by panel
vibration. The sound

ACOUSTIC DESIGN OF AUDITORIUM

Volume : depending upon the purpose of auditorium and quality of sound desired the
volume to be decided.
Few recommendations for diff types are as follows:
1) Cinemas or theaters

- 4.0 to 5 m3 per person

2) Musical halls or concert halls - 4.0 to 5.5 m3 per person

3) Public lecture halls

- 3.5 to 4.5 m3 per person

Shape :- involves geometrical aspects of hall.

Path of reflected sound waves to be traced and concentration of sound waves to be
noted.
o Concave walls not good as they concentrate sound waves.
o Plain walls Good
o Convex walls Excellent as they reduce possibility of echoes to a great extent.
o Fan shaped plan gives better performance . The side walls should be so arranged to
have an angle of not more then 100 deg with curtain line.
Sound absorption :- Adequate absorbing surface to be provided in hall to control
reverberation .

Site selection :- Among various site selection criteria's the most important is
noise pollution.
o Orientation of hall should be designed such that minimum external noise will
be able to enter .
o Background noise level should not exceed 40 -45 db within hall.
Seats & seating arrangement:- Seats to be arranged in concentric arcs or
circles .
o Arrangement :- the seats should be staggered sideways in relation to seats in
front to avoid visual hindrance.
o Back to back distance :- back to back distance of chairs in successive rows 450mm to 1000mm
o Balcony :o Balcony seats :- elevation of balcony seats should be such that line of sight is
not inclined more then 30 deg to horizontal.
o Covering of seats :- Seats to be covered or upholstered to have unaltered
acoustic characteristics irrespective of the occupancy.

Defects in auditorium
Reverberation
Formation of echoes
Sound foci
Dead spots
Loudness
Exterior noise