Chapter 2

PART 1
Chapter 2: Part 1
Reverberation Time
Room Modes
REVERBERATION
TIME
 DEAD ROOM Vs. LIVE ROOM
A “live” room is a room
with a preponderance of
Live hard, reflective surfaces.
RT too long
Room

Dead
An overly damped, “dead” space: thick-
pile carpeting, heavy floor-to-ceiling
Room
draperies, and dense, over-stuffed
furniture.
RT too short
 REVERBERATION TIME
W.C. Sabine carried out an extensive research through series of measurements (1868-1919).
His findings have founded that the reverberation time (RT) has a proportional relationship with the room’s
geometric volume, (V) but inverse to the boundary surfaces absorption area (A).

Reverberation time is a sound decay in a room. It represents the period of time it takes for a sound to become
inaudible.
Technically, RT was defined as the time required for the sound pressure level in a space to decay by 60 dB once
it abruptly stopped.
The 60 dB is chosen as the reference value to represent the drop to one-millionth the sound energy.
REVERBERATION TIME
REVERBERATION TIME
REVERBERATION TIME
ROOM REVERBERANT
 REVERBERATION TIME
FACTORS INFLUENCING RT

Room
Height/RT

Absorbing
Surface/RT
REVERBERATION TIME
𝑉 𝑉
𝑅𝑇 @𝑇= =
𝐴 𝑆𝛼

MEASUREMENT IN CUBIC FEET ; MEASUREMENT IN CUBIC METERS;

Where,
V = volume (in ft3 or m3)
S = surface area (in ft2 or m2)
𝛼 = average absorption coefficients
 REVERBERATION TIME
TUTORIAL
1) A lecture hall with dimension (12m x 9m x 6m) contained below materials;
Material Surface area (m2) Sound Absorption
Coefficients Value
Concrete Floor 108 0.02
Plasterboard Ceiling 108 0.09
Acoustics Absorber (4m x 4m) 32 0.78

a) Determine the reverberation time for this hall.

 REVERBERATION TIME
RT REFERENCE CHART FOR SPACE DESIGN
REVERBERATION TIME
TYPICAL RT ACCORDING TO
ROOM/SPACE FUNCTION
 REVERBERATION TIME
EFFECTS ON SPEECH INTELLIGIBILITY

• Reverberation time at different frequencies sector provides clear impression on the acoustical quality in a
room.
• Acoustically “dry” means that the sound is absorbed unnaturally fast.
• If this happens only at high frequencies, the room sounds “hollow” or “booming”, whereas at low frequencies,
it sounds “piercing” and “sharp”
 REVERBERATION TIME
TUTORIAL
1) A lecture hall with dimension (12m x 9m x 6m) contained below materials;
Material Surface area (m2) Sound Absorption
Coefficients Value
Concrete Floor 108 0.02
Plasterboard Ceiling 108 0.09
Acoustics Absorber (4m x 4m) 32 0.78

b) Refer to your answer in previous slide (RT of the hall), how many acoustics boards should be added
into this hall to ensure that the speech intelligibility is up to the standard recommendation?
 REVERBERATION TIME
RT Demonstration
http://www.mcsquared.com/reverb.htm Absorptive Smaller Good
surfaces

Speech in dried room

Speech Intelligibility
Reflective surface

Room Volume
Absorptive vs.
◦ RT=0.60 sec

◦ RT= 1.3 sec

Reflective
◦ RT=5.0 sec surfaces Larger Poor
SPEECH WHEN BEEN MASKED BY
THE REVERBERANT SOUND FIELD

RT 0.8

ORIGINAL SPEECH RT 1.3

RT 2.0
DIFFERENT REVERBERATION
EFFECTS IN A MUSIC HALL

Short RT

Moderate Rt

Long RT

Royal Albert Hall, London

REVERBERATION TIME
REVERBERATION TIME
REVERBERATION TIME
2.0

Classroom A

Classroom B
CLASS ACTIVITY

Reverberation time, sec

1.5

Referring to the graph,

1.0
describe the function of
each classroom and justify
your answer.
0.5

0.0
100 1000 10000
Frequency, Hz
 REVERBERATION TIME
TUTORIAL
2) A factory is 30m x 10m x 5m (height) having RT=2s. Calculate the average absorption
coefficient inside the factory?
3) Estimate the reverberation time for a hall (sized 40 ft x 30 ft x 20 ft) with an average
absorption coefficient of 1.5.
4) Reverberation time is an important parameter that used to evaluate the acoustical
performance of an indoor environment. Predict the reverberation time of a classroom with
dimension of 5.0m x 4.5m x 4.2m. Assume that the average absorption coefficient of the
room is 0.08.
5) Analyze the reverberation time for a hall (sized: 40’ x 30’ x 20’) with an average absorption
coefficient of 1.5. How much area should be covered by an absorbing material having
absorption coefficient of 0.20 to reduce the room reverberation time to 1.2 seconds.
ROOM MODES
ROOM MODES
The ratio between energy absorbed and energy
reflected by a surface will significantly affect
what will be heard within a space.
When sound reflected back into the room, two
or more effects will be noticeable; which called
“intermittent sounds (reflections).
Sound reflections create standing waves that
produces natural resonances that can be heard
as a pleasant sensation or an annoying one.
Intermittent sounds generally make speech less
intelligible but music more pleasant.
Room modes
• Room modes is created when a sound wave travels between two opposite boundaries, for
example left and right side walls; or the floor and ceiling.

Between two reflective walls

Between two reflective floor & ceiling
Room modes
Due to the material of the walls, ceiling,
flooring and size of a room, intermittent
sound may travel back and front in a
number of time before it fades; thus
making the space “noisy”.
 Room modes
• Room modes are the main cause of acoustics
distortion below the transition frequency, causing
peaks and dips in the frequency response of 20 dB or
more.
• There are various room modes order (figure shows
from 1st to 6th modes).
• This order is highly depending on the types of
reflective room surfaces.
 ROOM MODES
The first modal resonance or the natural frequency occurs at the frequency where the distance between the two boundaries is
equal to half a wavelength. (e.g: if a room is 18ft long, the the 1st modal resonance will be ±31 Hz.
wall
1st model resonance

Natural frequency = room length x 2

wall
room length (l)
Half wavelength

Full wavelength

λ = c/f,
where f= frequency (Hz)
and c = sound velocity (m/s
or ft/s).
36 ft

± 31 Hz
ROOM MODES-WAVELENGTH
Low frequency
Longer wavelength cause
uneven pressure distributions.
Pressure Difference of pressure will be
difference
obvious and clearly heard

Pressure
difference

Shorter wavelength provide

uniform pressure
distributions thus lowering
Pressure
difference the pressure differences
High frequency
PRESSURE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 1 ST
ORDER & 2ND ORDER RESONANCES
ROOM MODES TYPES

Axial modes Tangential modes Oblique modes

ROOM MODES TYPES
• Between any two parallel surfaces, there will exist a set of frequencies
whose corresponding wavelengths are exact divisions of the distance
between these surfaces. The resonate is more strongly.
• Reflection is between 2 parallel surfaces: Floor to Ceiling, Wall to wall,
side to side

• If the wave is reflected around the room in a single plane via four walls
(or two opposite walls, the ceiling, and the floor), this forms a tangential
room mode when the total distance of this trip is a multiple of the
wavelength of a tone. Tangential room modes also increase the relative
level of affected tones, but only about half as much as axial modes.
• Diagonal horizontal

• Waves can also reflect around the room via each surface in the room,
i.e. four walls, the ceiling and the floor. When the total distance of this
round trip is a multiple of the wavelength of a tone, it get an oblique room
mode. Oblique room modes reinforce affected waves only about a
quarter as much as axial modes.
• Diagonal Upper corner to lower corner
Room modes
Natural frequency of room modes can be
calculate by:

Where c0 is the speed of sound in the air at

respective frequency (normally is at 340m/s).
Room modes-Axial
Axial Room modes examples

Number (nx, ny, nz)

1 1,0,0
2 0,1,0
3 0,0,1
4 2,0,0
5 0,2,0
6 0,0,2
L1

L1
 L2
L2

L2 L2
 L3
L3

L3
L3
ROOM MODES-TANGENTIAL
Tangential Room modes examples

Number (nx, ny, nz)

1 1,1,0
2 1,0,1
3 0,1,1
4 2,1,0
5 2,0,1
6 0,2,2
ROOM MODES-OBLIQUE
Oblique Room modes examples up to 4th order

Number (nx, ny, nz)

1 1,1,1
2 2,1,1
3 2,2,1
CALCULATING THE ROOM MODES
RESONANCE
Room size= 5m (L) x 4m (W) x 3m (H)
Speed of sound in the air= 340 m/s. Calculate the axial room modes for
this room up to 70 Hz.

Remember! The first modal resonance occurs at the frequency

where the distance between the two boundaries is equal to half a
wavelength;
5 m x 2= 10 m, f=340m/s ÷10 = 34 Hz
(lower frequency limit)
Room Modes Natural Frequency
(Hz)
1 1,0,0 34
2 0,1,0 42.5
3 0,0,1 56.6
4 2,0,0 68.0
CALCULATING THE ROOM MODES
RESONANCE
Room size= 5m (L) x 4m (W) x 3m (H)
Speed of sound in the air= 340 m/s. Calculate the tangential room
modes for this room up to 100 Hz.

Remember! The first modal resonance occurs at the frequency

where the distance between the two boundaries is equal to half a
wavelength;
5 m x 2= 10 m, f=340m/s ÷10 = 34 Hz
(lower frequency limit)
Room Modes Natural Frequency
(Hz)
1 1, 1, 0 54.4
2 1, 0, 1 66.1
3 0, 1, 1 70.8
4 2, 1, 0 80.1
5 2, 0, 1 88.5
CALCULATING THE ROOM MODES
RESONANCE
Room size= 5m (L) x 4m (W) x 3m (H)
Speed of sound in the air= 340 m/s. Calculate the oblique room modes
for this room up to 190 Hz.

Remember! The first modal resonance occurs at the frequency

where the distance between the two boundaries is equal to half a
wavelength;
5 m x 2= 10 m, f=340m/s ÷10 = 34 Hz
(lower frequency limit)

Room Modes Natural Frequency

(Hz)
1 1, 1, 1
2 2, 1, 1
3 1, 2, 1
4 1, 1, 2
ROOM MODES
TUTORIAL

1. Calculate the axial room modes of (1,0,0) and tangential room modes of (1,1,0) of a rectangular
room sized 5 m (length) x 4 m (width) x 3 m (height). Assume the speed of sound in the air = 340
m/s.
2. A rectangular classroom with dimensions of 5.00 m x 4.50m x 4.00 m height was used for teaching
and learning space. Calculate the axial room modes up to 100 Hz when the speed of sound is 340
m/s.
3. If a room has 8 feet long, what is the first model resonance or natural frequency of the room?
4. What are the effects of increasing the modes order for a room?
5. Explain how the room modes can be increase in order to reduce the pressure difference in a room.
To be continued