ACOUSTICS

What is acoustics?
A science which deals with the production, control, transmission, reception and effects of sound
in an enclosed space. Simply put, it is the science of sound.

What is sound?
Sound is an aural sensation caused by an oscillation or vibration in an elastic medium such as
air, water, building materials, such medium returns to its normal state after sound waves pass
through it. Sound energy progresses rapidly thereby producing small changes in atmospheric
pressure. Vibrating particles of sound move in an infinitesimal amount to either side causing
particles to impart its motion and energy to them. Sound travels in any medium except in
vacuum because there is no carrier of sound.

Terminology
airborne Sound transmitted through the air.
sound
ambient Background noise
noise
attenuation A reduction of sound level.

creep Sound travelling along a curved surface.

decibel (dB) Unit of measure for sound intensity level or sound pressure level.

diffraction a. The ability of sound to bend around an obstacle.

b. The bending of waves around small obstacles* and the spreading out of
waves beyond small* openings. (* small compared to the wavelength)

Low frequencies bend more than high frequencies.

echo a. Sound that has been reflected with sufficient time delay
b. Reflected sound of sufficient intensity that reaches the listener more than 50
milliseconds after the direct sound is heard. (Stein, et al. 1992, p. 1354)

flutter echo Repeated echoes reflecting back and forth from two non-absorbing and parallel
surfaces. Flutter echo is perceived as a buzzing or clicking sound.

frequency Since sound is produced as a wave, frequency is the number of sound ripples
produced per unit of time. (i.e., number of cycles per second)

hertz (Hz) Unit of measure of frequency; named after Austrian physicist Heinrich Hertz.

Inverse A law which states that the sound intensity in a free field varies inversely with
Square Law the square of the distance from the source.

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 Sound intensity is inversely proportional to the distance squared. Thus, if the
distance from the source, P, is doubled, the intensity of the new point, R, is ¼ x
its intensity at the previous point. On the other hand, if the distance from the
source is halved, its intensity at this new point, Q, is 4 x the intensity at the
previous point.
masking One sound rendering another sound inaudible.
(sound
masking)
noise Noise is any unwanted sound.

Noise A single number rating derived from measured values of sound absorption
reduction coefficients of a material at midband frequencies (250, 500, 1000 and 2000 Hz).
coefficient The NRC is useful as a single number criterion for the midband effectiveness of
(NRC) a porous absorber. For high and low end frequencies, NRC is useless.

pitch Is the frequency of a sound wave as perceived by the human ear. High pitch
equals high frequency; low pitch equals low frequency.

reflection The reflected sound expressed as a fraction of the total sound energy falling on
coefficient a boundary element.

resonance The relatively large amplitude of vibration produced when the frequency of the
sound source is equal to the natural frequency of a room.

reverberation a. The continuation of sound in an enclosed space after the initial source has
been terminated.
b. The persistence of sound after the sound source has ceased as a result of
repeated reflections. (Stein, et al. 1992, p. 1340)

sabin A unit of measure of sound absorption.

sound STC is an integer rating of how well a building partition reduces airborne sound.
transmission The STC rating figure very roughly reflects the decibel reduction in noise that a
class (STC) partition can provide.

structure- Sound transmitted through walls, floors or other solid parts of a building.
borne sound Example: sound form impact or vibration of machinery

wavelength The distance between two adjacent compressions in a sound wave.

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Branches and applications of acoustics
Architectural acoustics
Engineering acoustics
Environmental acoustics
Underwater acoustics
Bioacoustics and medical acoustics
Musical acoustics
Speech and communication acoustics

3 elements of an acoustic circuit:

1. Sound Source ( e.g. human speech, HVAC equipment)
2. Transmission Path (e.g. air, earth, building materials)
3. Receiver (e.g. humans, animals, sensitive medical equipment

Concerns in architectural acoustics:

1. Control of sound in a room - echo, absorbent material, reflective material, computation of
reverberation time
2. Control of noise - control of structure-borne and airborne sound

Principal acoustical defects in rooms:

1. prolonged reverberation
Reverberation is influenced by:
a. room volume
b. sound-absorbing qualities of surfaces in a room
c. number of people in a room
d. quantity and type of furniture in a room

Reverberation formula:

0.16 V
RT= ΣA

Where:
RT = reverberation time
V = volume of room in cubic meters
Σ𝐴 = Total absorption of room, in sabin units
(individual absorption units of materials are readily available from acoustics
reference books)

2. resonance
3. flutter echo
4. echo
5. undue focusing of sound - caused by concave surfaces

Relationship between sound velocity, frequency and wavelength

𝑐 = 𝑓𝜆
Where:
c = speed of sound (Speed of sound is 344 meters per second at sea level)
f = frequency in Hertz (abbreviated Hz)
𝜆 = wavelength in meters

Example:
For a sound frequency of 30 Hz, what is the wavelength?
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 𝑚
344 𝑠𝑒𝑐 = 30𝐻𝑧 𝜆
344𝑚 /𝑠𝑒𝑐
𝜆 =
30( 𝐻𝑧) 𝑐𝑦𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠 /𝑠𝑒𝑐
𝜆 = 11.47 𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 (𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑦𝑐𝑙𝑒)
Answer: Wavelength is 11.47 meters.
Wavelength gets shorter as frequency gets higher.

FREQUENCY (Hz) WAVELENGTH

(meters)
125 2.75
250 1.38
500 0.69
1,000 (1 kHz) 0.34
2,000 (2 kHz) 0.17
4,000 (4kHz) 0.09
8,000 (8 kHz) 0.04

Noise source can be classified as:

1. point source - Noise that follows the Inverse Square Law.
2. line source - One dimensional sound sources such as roadways. It is also one which
contains a large number of point sources spread long a line.
While the sound spreads spherically around a point source, it spreads cylindrically around a line
source.
Sound Masking
1. A sound of a given frequency is more easily masked by a sound of the same frequency.
2. Low frequencies are generally better at masking sounds of higher frequencies than higher
frequencies are of low frequencies.

Diffraction
Diffraction is the ability of sound waves to bend around an obstacle. The degree of bending of
sound around an obstacle is a function of the sound’s wavelength or frequency. Long
wavelengths bend more than short wavelengths; therefore around obstacles, low frequencies
(long wavelength are easier heard than high frequencies (short wavelength). For a wall or
surface to prevent the diffraction of sound and reflect the majority of sound falling upon it, the
surface should measure at least 5 times the wavelength (5l).

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Reflection of sound
Sound reflects off hard, non-porous surfaces as long as the surface is relatively large in relation
to the wavelength of the incident sound. There are two types of sound reflection: specular and
diffuse reflection.

1. Specular reflection – angle of incidence equals angle of reflection. (called Law of Reflection
or Snell’s Law)
2. Diffuse reflection - reflected sound is scattered because the surface is “rough” compared to
the wavelength. Sound is reflected in all directions. A diffuse sound filed is one in which sound
arrives at the speaker from all directions at the same time. Convex surfaces diffuse sound.
Concave surfaces focus sound.

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Sound absorbing materials
Absorbers are used to reduce the noise level in rooms with noisy activities and to optimise the
reverberation time in rooms for speech and music. Absorbers are also used to attenuate sound
in ducts.

1. porous absorbers
Porous absorbers are materials that have porous surfaces. Examples are fibreglass rolls, rigid
fibreglass insulation and mineral fiber acoustic boards.

2. panel or membrane absorbers

An example is a plywood or gypsum stud wall. With panels of thin plywood or gypsum board
the absorber can be designed for absorption maximum in the frequency range 100–400Hz.

3. volume absorbers
A volume absorber, also called cavity resonator, cavity absorber, Helmholtz resonator or
Helmholtz oscillator, is a volume of gas (usually air) in a container with an open hole (or neck or
port). A volume of air in and near the open hole vibrates because of the 'springiness' of the air
inside. A common example is an empty bottle: the air inside vibrates when you blow across the
top. Specially-designed concrete masonry units area available as cavity resonators.

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References:

http://acoustics.org/
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu
Stein, B. and Reynolds, J. 1992. Mechanical and electrical equipment for buildings, 8th ed.
John Wiley and Sons.
www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/Helmholtz.htm

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