Reverberation Time and Absorption Coefficients Lab Report

Reverberation Time and Absorption Coefficients - Lab Report Example In any enclosed space the sound remains in air even after the source of sound is taken off. This 'hanging on' of the sound in a room is known as Reverberation and the time required for the sound to decay to one millionth of its initial value (or 60 dB) after the source has stopped, is termed as 'Reverberation Time'. The R/T of any room depends upon the shape and size of the room, sound frequency, and the amount of absorption offered by the boundary surfaces. This experiment aims to find out how the boundary wall formation and other parameters affect the R/T and absorption coefficients of a room and its significance in acoustic treatments. Step-4: Set the analyser to excite the room with a stationary broadband noise, which is suddenly stopped. This will provide relevant information to the analyser from which the reverberation time, in one-third octave bands can be calculated. The Octave bands could be centred at 125, 250, 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz. From the above mentioned experiment it is quite evident that reverberation and absorption are inextricably linked with each other. Reverberation figures in a room with bare walls are more than a room fitted with absorbent surfaces. During the experiment it was also observed that the volume of sound increases due to the reverberation, which at times complements the audibility of the sound, but at the same time it has been observed that quality of sound suffers adversely when there is too much of reverberation. Prolongation of sound was observed with the reverberation. In fact if we can make use of reverberation in the most efficient manner, particularly during musical or theatre performances, it results in a soothing blending of one sound with the next, thus producing a very pleasant continuity in the flow of music. It is worthwhile here to mention that if the extent of prolongation increases it results in quality deterioration. It is also worth mentioning here that during entire lab experiment all positions of the microphones, the equipment, furniture and other