Digital Simulation of Sound Transmission in Reverberant Spaces

Abstract

Digital computers, through their capability for accurate simulation of complex phenomena, have permitted new insights into a number of important problems arising in sound transmission in reverberant spaces. (1) Starting with reverberation-free speech or music signals as inputs, computers can add echoes and reverberation with specified delays, spectral content, and decay characteristics. The computer produces several output signals that—when radiated from loudspeakers in an anechoic chamber—produce, at a listener's ears, sound-pressure waves resembling those in real halls. To ensure “externalization” and proper directions of echo arrivals, the computer program is based on the measured sound diffraction around the listener's head. This digital simulation method is useful to “pre-audit” architectural designs before construction and to investigate subjective correlates of a wide variety of reverberation processes. (2) Digital computers have made possible the simulation of frequency and space response of stationary sound fields and the calculation of their statistical properties. These properties are important for the design of electroacoustic systems and the evaluation of measurements in reverberant enclosures. (3) Reverberation theories, based on the geometrical acoustics, are being refined by ray-tracing studies on digital computers. These studies have revealed significant discrepancies in existing reverberation-time formulas and unexpectedly large dependencies of the decay rate on the shape of the enclosure and the distribution of sound-absorbing materials.