LITERATURE STUDY

Acoustics 101
(Practical Guidelines For Constructing Accurate Acoustical Spaces by Eric T. Smith)

ACOUSTICS
Introduction:
• When sound strikes a surface, some of it is absorbed, some of it is reflected
and some of it is transmitted through the surface. Dense surfaces, for the
most part, will isolate (separate) sound well, but reflect sound back into the
room. Porous surfaces, for the most part, will absorb sound well, but will not
isolate.
• The best way to stop sound transmission through a building structure is to
isolate the sound source from the structure before the structure has a chance
to vibrate.
• Walls need to be isolated from ceilings and floors, usually by means of
dense, pliable rubber.
• The main ways to minimize sound transmission from one space to another
are adding mass and decoupling.
• Limp mass is most often better than rigid mass (actually, a combination of
the two is really what you are after).
• Trapped air (air spaces and air gaps) is a very good decoupler.
• Airtight construction is a key concept. Sound, like air and water, will get
through any small gap. (Sound can leak through openings as small as 1/32” –
in some cases even smaller.)
• Sound bounces back and forth between hard, parallel surfaces.
Noise Reduction Coefficient (NRC):
NRC is a single-number rating representing and overview of how much sound
is absorbed by a material. Example: ½” gypsum board (“drywall”) on 2x4 studs
has an NRC of 0.05. Soft materials like acoustic foam, fiberglass, fabric,
carpeting, etc. will have high NRCs; harder materials like brick, tile and drywall
will have lower NRCs. A material’s NRC is an average of its absorption
coefficients at 250, 500, 1000 and 2000 Hz. In general, the higher the number,
the better the absorption.
Absorption Coefficient (α):
The actual absorption coefficients of a material are frequency dependent and
represent how well sound is absorbed in a particular octave or one-third
octave band. Example: ½” drywall on 2x4 studs has an absorption coefficient
at 125 Hz of 0.29.
Sound Transmission Class (STC):
STC is a single-number rating of how effective a material or partition is at
isolating sound. Example: ½” drywall has an STC of 28.
Sound Transmission Loss (STL or TL):
STL represents the amount of sound, in decibels (dB), that is isolated by a
material or partition in a particular octave or one-third octave frequency band.
Example: ½” drywall has an STL at 125 Hz of 15 dB.
Decoupling:
This is the concept of detaching partitions from each other, or physically
detaching layers in a partition in order to improve sound isolation. The most
common methods of decoupling are:
• Air gaps or air spaces between two partitions.
• Using resilient channels (RC8 from Auralex) between layers and structural
framing members for walls and ceilings.
• “Floating” a floor using springs, rubber isolators (such as U-Boats from
Auralex), or other decoupling layers.
 Control Room Conceptual Design: Optimizing Acoustics for Stereo
Reproduction (Prepared for: K. McNally)

Acoustic Isolation And Noise Reduction:

Acoustic isolation is an important concern in control room design, and will
have a huge impact on the constriction methods used. During critical listening,
disturbance from unwanted noise sources both outside and inside the control
room needs to be avoided.
Walls:
Attenuation caused by transmission loss through walls depends on a number
of factors: notably, thickness and density of the material used. Standard wall
construction permits excessive transmission, as sound has a resonant
pathway from one side of the wall to the other along the wall studs. Staggered
stud construction can reduce this problem by decoupling the inner and outer
wall surfaces from each other. For even better sound attenuation, a change of
medium such as an insulated air gap is helpful, followed by another dense
obstacle.
Floor and Ceiling:
A floating floor is helpful for acoustic isolation from low frequency sounds,from
nearby heavy vehicles or machines.The floor can be largely decoupled from
the foundation or existing floor beams by using narrow channel supports that
have difficulty transmitting low frequencies.A similar concept can be used to
decouple the ceiling from the supporting structure.
HVAC and Electrical Noise​:
There are many sources of noise that cause acoustic isolation concerns in
control rooms, including:
noise from HVAC units,noise from computers and hardware that are not in
soundproofed enclosures, other electrical noises.
 Master Handbook Of Acoustics By F.Alton Everest &
Ken C.Pohlmann
Acoustics of Control Rooms:
The acoustical design of control rooms is highly specialized and unique in the
field of architectural acoustics. Contemporary control-room designs can
provide outstanding acoustical performance. A control room has the very
specific purpose of providing high-quality loudspeaker playback to a single
listening (mixing) position. This is conceptually similar to a high-end home
listening room, but with one important difference. In a listening room, the goal
is primarily to provide a pleasurable listening experience; while accurate
playback is desired. A control room is a work environment where playback
accuracy is critical. The engineer bases all recording and mixing decisions on
the sound delivered by the monitor loudspeakers, via the room acoustics. If
that sound is not accurate, recording decisions will be flawed.
Initial Time-Delay Gap:
The initial time-delay gap (ITDG) is an acoustical metric used to examine early
reflections in a sound field. ITDG is defined as the time between the arrival of
the direct sound at a given seat, and the arrival of the first reflection. In
smaller, more intimate rooms, with reflective surfaces closer to the listener,
ITDG is small. In larger rooms, ITDG is greater.
Don Davis and Chips Davis (not related to Don Davis) analyzed the effects of
the initial time-delay gap of recording studios and control rooms with a
measuring technique known as time-delay spectrometry. Time-delay
spectrometry revealed the comb-filter effects associated with early reflections
from surfaces near the monitor loudspeakers (and from the console surface).
They observed that one way to minimize comb-filter effects was to eliminate or
reduce the early reflections in the control room. This clarification of the
problem led to the solution of placing absorbing material on the surfaces
surrounding the monitor loudspeakers in the front part of the control room
The initial time-delay gap describes the time between the arrival of direct
sound at the mixing position, and the arrival of early reflections.

(A) In an untreated control room, the early reflections from the monitor
loudspeakers in the front of the room can cause comb-filter effects at the
mixing position.

(B) In a treated room, with absorbent placed near the monitor loudspeakers,
these early reflections are attenuated.
The Reflection-Free-Zone Control Room:
A useful goal for any room where music plays through loudspeakers is to
create a Reflection Free Zone (RFZ) at the listening position. The concept is
very simple - to prevent "early reflections".

Plan view of a control room

Elevation view of the reflection-free zone of the control room

Outer Shell and Inner Shell of the Control Room:
The size, shape, and proportions of the massive outer shell of the control
room determine the number of modal frequencies and their specific
distribution. There are two schools of thought: one prefers splaying of walls of
the outer shell to break up modal patterns, while the other prefers the
rectangular shape. Only a modest deviation from a rectangular shape toward
a trapezoidal shape is feasible. Such a shape does not eliminate modal
patterns, it just distorts them into an unpredictable form. Others feel that
symmetry for both low-frequency and high-frequency sound better fits the
demands of stereo and multichannel playback. To contain the low-frequency
sound energy associated with control-room activities, thick walls, possibly
12-in-thick concrete, are required. The purpose of the control-room inner shell
is, among other things, to provide the proper reflection pattern at the mixing
position. For example, in a reflection-free zone configuration, construction of
the inner shell can be relatively light. For the inner shell, shape is more
important than mass. However, care must be taken to avoid any buzzing or
rattling from lightweight partitions.
Acoustics of Audio/Video Rooms:
In a room dedicated to one or a few related functions, the acoustical treatment
can be tailored to a few applications, achieving excellent results. However, in
many cases, rooms must be used for a diversity of functions. It is not practical
to design separate rooms for each function; instead, one room must be
designed to work acoustically well, with some compromises, for many
functions. This is often the case for rooms used for audio/video post
production. For example, in these rooms, these activities may be considered:
Post recording, digital sampling, MIDI, editing, sound effects (Foley), dialog
replacement, voice over, signal processing, composing, video production, and
equipment evaluation.
Design Factors:
Because audio/video rooms must support such widely varying functions, it is
expedient to consider three essential factors in audio/video room design:
• Any function requiring an open microphone demands good general acoustics
in terms of room frequency response, reverberation, diffusion, and so on.
Room treatment must be designed to provide this.
• Most audio work will be performed by recording engineers, preferably
monitoring their work with high-quality loudspeakers. Thus, the room must
allow good audio playback in stereo or multichannel.
• In most applications, quiet conditions are required. Noise from outside the
room must be considered; acoustical isolation suitable for the work is required.
In addition, noise from inside the room must be considered; noise from
production equipment (such as cooling fans and hard-disk drives) must be
minimized.
Acoustics of Large Halls:
In many ways, large performance halls represent the pinnacle of acoustical
design. The sheer size of large halls gives them great civic importance, and in
most cases, their construction costs dwarf that of any other acoustical space.
Auditoriums, places of worship, drama theaters, and other halls designed for
speech can range from intimate spaces to grand edifices. The seating
capacity may be less than a hundred, or several thousand.
Essential Design Criteria
In some ways, even the largest hall is no different from the smaller rooms we
have considered. In other words, the basic acoustic criteria are the same. A
large hall must have a low ambient noise level from internal and external
sources; it must provide a reasonable level of acoustic gain; it must provide
appropriate reverberation time; it must avoid artifacts such as echoes.
Hall Design for Speech & Music:
In halls designed for speech applications, many of the same acoustical criteria
that are important for any room design will still apply. However, in halls used
primarily for speech, some criteria must be modified, and additional important
requirements arise. In particular, it is essential that the hall acoustics provide
good speech intelligibility in every seat in the hall.
Hall Geometry​:
The talker-to-audience distance can be minimized by carefully considering the
room geometry. In particular, as seating capacity increases, the lateral
dimensions of the room must increase, and the side walls should be splayed.
A rectangular shoebox-type hall, Acoustics of Large Halls with the stage
across one narrow end, may be excellent for music where an audience can be
seated farther away and a greater ratio of reverberant sound is desirable.
However, a rectangular geometry is only suitable for a relatively small speech
hall. Otherwise, with larger seating capacities, much of the audience is placed
far away from the stage, at the far end of the hall. This limitation can be
overcome to some extent by widening the hall. However, for greater seating
capacity, the side walls should be splayed from the stage.Splayed side walls
allow greater seating area that is relatively close to the stage. Care must be
taken with wall angles to avoid any flutter echoes.The splayed walls can
usefully reflect sound energy to the rear of the hall.A side-wall splay may
occupy the entire length of the sidewalls,or be limited to the rear portions of
the side walls. A side-wall splay may range from 30° to 60°; the latter is
considered a maximum angle, given the directionality of speech. Very
generally, fan-shaped halls are not used for music performance. In addition,
the rear walls may be extended outward in the center of the hall or the rear
wall may be concave with equal radius from the stage, to create a fan-shaped
room. Any concave room geometries require careful design to avoid sound
focusing.
For greater seating capacity, the side walls can be splayed from the stage. (A)
Rectangular floor plan. (B) Splayed side walls with flat rear wall. Note the
potential flutter echo. (C) Splayed side walls with extended rear walls.
Concert Hall Architectural Design:
The architectural design of a concert hall requires close collaboration between
the architect and the acoustician. This is particularly true in the sound
chamber itself; the stage and seating area of this inner shell must meet very
specific acoustical requirements for both performing musicians and the
audience while providing amenities and safety for all the occupants. A large
concert hall must present a space where the pleasure of hearing music is
never Compromised.
Ideally, balcony depth should not be more than the height to avoid acoustic
shadowing underneath the balcony. The underside of the balcony should be
reflective to supplement the direct sound. The front of a balcony parapet
should avoid undesirable reflections.
Ceiling:

The ceiling geometry should direct reflected sound throughout the hall.
Several ceiling segments may be sized and angled to reflect sound to
particular seating areas in the hall.
References:
● Acoustics 101 (Practical Guidelines For Constructing Accurate Acoustical Spaces by Eric T.
Smith)
● Control Room Conceptual Design: Optimizing Acoustics for Stereo Reproduction (Prepared
by K.McNally)
● Master Handbook Of Acoustics By F.Alton Everest & Ken C.Pohlmann