Room acoustics - Definition and Overview

Room acoustics describes how sound behaves in an enclosed space.

The way that sound behaves in a room can be broken up into roughly four different frequency zones:

• The first zone is below the frequency that has a wavelength of twice the longest length of the room. In this zone sound behaves very much like changes in static air pressure.
• Above that zone, until the frequency is approximately 11,250(RT60/V)^1/2, wavelengths are comparable to the dimensions of the room, and so room resonances dominate.
• The third region which extends approximately 2 octaves is a transition to the fourth zone.
• In the fourth zone, sounds behave like rays of light bouncing around the room.

See also

• anechoic room
• reverberation
• Acoustics

Compare

• noise control
• sound proofing