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Acoustic
- sound of Architecture
design
2008 acoustic design sound of architecture
author: erik ipsen, Marie Leth rasmussen
editors: Peter Boe, Vesna hodzic-Mehic,
Marie Leth rasmussen
Page layout: envision
Printer: BB offset, Bjerringbro
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CHAP1
AHISTORYOFSOUND
5
CHAP2
WHATISSOUND?
11
CHAP3
ACOUSTICPHENOMENA
15
CHAP4
HOWDOESASTONE
SOUND?
25
CHAP5
SOUNDISSOMETHINGWE
CANBUILD
31
CHAP6
DIFFERENTROOMS,
DIFFERENTSOUNDS
35
CHAP7
THESOUNDOFASOFA
41
CHAP8
STRATEGICSOUNDDESIGN
43

CHAP9
DIFFERENTROOMS,
DIFFERENTACOUSTICS
53
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Soundisheretostay
We can perceive sound even before we are born. And when our time comes, hearing
is the last of our senses to leave us. To put it another way, our whole lives are framed
by sound. We use it to fnd our way around, to learn and to express ourselves. We
use it to live.
This is an extremely important fact for architects, engineers and anyone else whose
job it is to create the physical context of peoples everyday lives. For there will always
be sound you could say that it is here to stay. This means that the choice is not
between good acoustics and no acoustics the only alternative to good acoustics is
bad acoustics.
Bad acoustics are an obstacle to all the impressions and insights that sound can give
us. For example, bad acoustics make it more diffcult to enjoy music, acquire
knowledge and enter into dialogue with other people.
Fortunately, it is relatively easy to avoid bad acoustics. At least, it is if the acoustics
are taken into account in the planning phase.
And this is where Acoustic design The sound of architecture comes in. This book
is a basic introduction to sound and acoustics, intended to allow architects and
engineers to cooperate on acoustic issues as an integral part of their disciplines, and
to encourage them to take account of acoustics whenever they create the spaces in
which people work and live.
Acoustic design The sound of architecture came about thanks to the efforts of
Danoline employees and our external partners. We would particularly like to thank
the acousticians Christian Simmons (from Simmons akustik & utveckling), Bo
Grdhagen (from Grdhagen Akustik AB), Lennart Karln (from ACAD International)
and Niels Jordan (from Jordan Akustik), the architect and acoustician Jens Bak (from
AB Studiedesign) and the architect Karsten Bro (from Arkitema) for their contributions.
John Christensen
Director, Danoline
FOREWORD
CHAP1
AHISTORY
OFSOUND

Sound has played an important part throughout

human history. For early humans, the ability to listen
was a matter of life and
death. Using their sense of
hearing was the only way
they could perceive
potential prey or en-
emies nearby.
Sound was cru-
cial. For example,
sound could be
used to frighten
animals into
certain places
where it was
easier to
catch them.
Like an early
round-up, it is easy to imagine that the echoes from
rock faces were used to confuse the quarry and
move it in a certain direction.
Yet sound behaves differently depending on where
you are, because it is acted upon by many different
natural phenomena. You can clearly hear this if you
stand in front of a rock face, for example, and
shout. The rock refects the sound, which returns as
an echo. However, the echo will not be the same for
every rock face for example there might be over-
hangs and vegetation that flter out certain elements,
transforming the sound. If you stand on a hilltop
higher than the surrounding trees, you will hear
sounds coming from far away.
The surface of water is also good at transporting
sound over long distances. In principle, the sound
simply bounces along the water, which is why
sounds can be heard over very long distances out at
sea. The same happens on land when dew is falling
the sound experience becomes more intense. You
can hear this for yourself in a forest at night, for
example, where you would perceive many more
sounds after the dew has fallen. That is why soldiers
make sure they are particularly quiet at night. The
effect of the moisture simply speeds up the sounds
and refects them for longer.
Thefrsthumansounds
Humans have known about this relationship
between sound and natural phenomena for millen-
nia. Because the earth was sparsely populated,
people used their own calls and a range of instru-
ments capable of producing sound. For example,
drums and trees were used to send messages to
other humans far away. Australias indigenous peo-
ple used an instrument called a bullroarer to pro-
duce low frequency (deep) sounds capable of creat-
ing such high sound pressures that they could be
heard over very long distances.
The Australian aboriginals used the low frequencies
because they can be carried over longer distances
than high frequencies. You can hear this when a
Thesurfaceofwaterisgoodattransportingsoundoverlongdistances.
TheAustralianaboriginalsknewthatlowfrequencysoundcouldbeused
asawayofcommunicatingoverlongdistances.
CHAP1AHISTORYOFSOUND
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fghter fies past. You hear the high frequencies frst,

which gradually disappear until the only sound left is
the low rumble.
Acousticdesigninancienttimes
theGreekamphitheatre
To hear the high frequencies for longer, we need to
do something to keep hold of the sound. This was
already known to the architects building the amphi-
theatres in Ancient Greece, which allowed large num-
bers of people to see and also hear what was
happening on stage. On the stage, the actors voices
were amplifed by a rear wall, refecting the sound
and carrying it out to the audience. However, the
main acoustic achievement was to construct the
theatre with terracing. The terraced seating allowed
the audience to sit in rows and follow what was hap-
pening on stage without obstructing each other visu-
ally and also acoustically. What the terraced seating
did was to ensure that the sound was carried
upwards instead of being absorbed by the audience
in the bottom rows. There was another wall behind
the audience to contain the sound, allowing people
right at the back to hear what was happening down
on the stage.
Down to the smallest detail, the Greek amphitheatres
were created in order to guarantee the optimum
sound experience for the audience. Some academics
even claim that the seats in some of the theatres
helped the acoustics. They think the seats were raised
to create an air space between the seat and the ter-
race the air space amplifed the sound.
TheChristianchurchastudyinsophisticated
sounddesign
Sound also has an important part to play in church.
You notice this the moment you walk in: the sound
inside a church gives you the feeling that you are
walking into a large and high space. Into something
thats bigger than you. This experience is no
accident it is the result of acoustic design. For
Theterracedseatingensuredthatthesoundwascarriedupwardsinsteadof
beingabsorbedbytheaudienceinthebottomrows.
Theloftyinteriorcreatesaveryspecialsoundenvironment.
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more than a thousand years, builders have deliber-

ately striven to create churches intended to demon-
strate the power and might of God. The church often
occupies the highest point in the town for the same
reason it is raised above all other buildings, tower-
ing above the towns more worldly institutions. In-
side, the spaces contained soaring arches, which
were designed to illustrate mans strive towards
heaven but which had another acoustic effect that
was just as important. Raising the ceiling and using
hard materials on the foors, walls and ceilings cre-
ated a building with a long reverberation time.
These acoustic signal gravity and solemnity it is an
acoustic environment in which you automatically
lower your voice.
This means that acoustics also had a disciplinary
element, focusing attention on the minister, who was
able to play on the sound response of the building
and the rhetorical effects of voice production by
talking slowly, the minister can leave his voice hang-
ing in the space, without doubt increasing
thereby the impact of his message. Hymn singing is
another important part of the church-going experi-
ence. The arches and the shape of the space are
designed so that the various choirs complement each
other. And the precise location of the choir is no
accident. In churches, the choir is carefully placed so
that the singing can make the whole space vibrate.
You can hear this in Catholic churches masses are
sung in long monotones, making full use of the acous-
tics. Put simply, the church interior becomes one big
musical instrument. In some churches, pots with small
openings were even set into the vaulted roof, and ash
was added in order to correct problems with the
sound.
Newacousticchallengeforarchitects:thecinema
Up to the First World War, acoustic strategies were
generally reserved for buildings like churches and
theatres. Things changed between the wars, when
architects started to apply the principle of acoustics
to other types of building like the frst cinemas. In
cinemas unlike churches the space itself should
not be a factor, and should have the smallest pos-
sible infuence on the sound experience. Basically,
the sound from the space and from the audience
has to be muffed, leaving a clear sound from the
flm. At the time, no sound absorbing materials had
yet been invented, so architects had to fnd other
ways of muffing the sound. What they came up with
was angled or jagged walls to scatter the sound,
and wooden panels with gaps to absorb the sound.
Incinemas,thesoundfromthespaceandfromtheaudience
hastobemuffed,leavingaclearsoundfromtheflm.
CHAP1AHISTORYOFSOUND
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Upholstered chairs and thick carpets also helped to

dampen the sound from the room.
Although upholstered chairs and thick carpets are
still essential features of cinema interiors, there have
been many other changes. In early cinemas, the
sound travelled through the screen. These days, the
sound is split up, with the high frequencies coming
from the side walls and the low frequency speakers
behind the screen. It is now possible to muffe the
sound from the room entirely using diffusing panels
to break up the sound.
Aperiodofexperimentation
In many ways, the interwar period was a time of
great change people were experimenting in lots of
different areas. The feld of acoustics was no excep-
tion. Experts started to develop measuring instruments
that were able to measure the sound in a room, and
there were early experiments to fnd out how to de-
sign materials capable of absorbing sound. At the
same time, an increasingly rational approach was
being used in construction. Savings needed to be
made in the cost of materials, and an easy way to
reduce cost was to reduce the ceiling height, which
by now rarely exceeded fve metres.
LecturehallintheViipuriLibraryinFinland,designedbyAlvarAalto.
Notetheundulationsintheceiling.
TheoldairportterminalinKastrup,designedbyWilhelmLauritzen.
Anotherundulatingceiling.
The ceiling became the focus of attention in attempts
to regulate the acoustic environment. The functional-
ists, in particular, did a lot of work with the structure
of the surfaces, especially in lecture halls, where it
was important for the sound to reach the whole audi-
ence. The Viipuri Library in Finland, designed by Al-
var Aalto, is an example of a lecture hall in which the
acoustics are an integral part of the design. The ceil-
ing has undulations, with sound refectors on some of
the curved surfaces and slits to absorb the sound in
others. Using these methods, Aalto managed to en-
sure that the sound reached every part of the room.
There is another example of good acoustic design in
the old airport terminal in Kastrup, designed by
Wilhelm Lauritzen. Taking his inspiration from Alvar
Aalto, he decided to install an undulating ceiling in
the arrivals hall. But the intention here was to scatter
the sound and reduce the echo. He also arranged
the shop fronts so they were angled in relation to
each other, preventing the sound bouncing off the
frontage opposite and resounding within the space
for long periods of time.
However, despite these advances, in the interwar
period and the years following the Second World
War there was no coherent strategy on how to
design spaces with good acoustics.
Fortunately the architects of the period usually
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TheNovocanteeninBagsvrd,designedbyArneJacobsen,
withangledwalls,ceilingsandsoundbaffes.
designed spaces in a way that minimised the worst
problems associated with poor acoustics. One exam-
ple of this is the Novo Nordisk building designed by
Arne Jacobsen and built in the mid-50s. The canteen,
where large numbers of people gather for lunch eve-
ry day, was ftted with angled wall surfaces to rem-
edy unwanted echo, and there are slits in the ceiling
and absorbers on the walls.
Acousticdesignsavesonthe
materialsneededtomodifytheacoustics
These days we have measuring instruments to ana-
lyse how much noise there is in a room. We also
understand much more about how noise can affect
peoples well-being and working conditions which
means that the acoustics of a building have to meet
higher and higher standards. Yet in spite of the
growing demands placed on acoustics, less impor-
tance is placed on the planning of the acoustic
environment today than in the past.
Instead of integrating the acoustics into the design
like Arne Jacobsen or Alvar Aalto, many architects
choose to create their buildings without giving
acoustics a second thought. All too often architects
build box shapes without knowing how the acous-
tics behave in quadrilateral rooms. So the acoustics
are not even considered until the fnal phases of
construction, when materials have to be added to
the ceiling and/or walls in order to modify the
acoustics. This solution is often unsatisfactory, espe-
cially when the materials are positioned in places
that do not suit the architects original plans. If, on
the other hand, the room is planned so that form,
function and sound are all integrated from the start,
there is a lot of money to be saved on sound-regulat-
ing products, while still achieving optimum sound
comfort. And, just as important, the original
architectural vision can be realised without being
disrupted by these added elements.
To help them achieve this goal, architects can use a
range of acoustic interventions when they design a
room. The rest of this book explains how to use
these interventions to create rooms in which good
sound is one of the factors contributing to the overall
aesthetic experience.
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CHAP1AHISTORYOFSOUND
CHAP2
WHATIS
SOUND?
12
CHAP2WHATISSOUND?
To understand acoustics, we need to understand
what sound is. Sound is both highly tangible and
highly abstract. Take a perfectly normal conversion
between a mother and child in the supermarket for
example. The little girl asks for something, the moth-
er says no, and the conversation ends something
that happens every day. But if we go into detail and
examine what is needed to allow this conversation
to take place, things start getting more complicated.
The moment the child asks for something, she forms
a sound by blowing air over her vocal chords. This
causes the air molecules to start vibrating and bang-
ing against each other, forming waves that leave the
childs mouth. The waves then move from the childs
mouth to the mothers ear drums and are converted
inside the brain so that she can understand what
her little girl is saying. A simple conversation is a
complex event.
Describing the event from the point of view of phys-
ics, the child is using energy when she speaks, and
the mother is also using energy when she converts
the waves inside her head. So in effect, sound con-
sists of the transport of heat although we are talk-
ing about very small amounts. If a symphony orches-
tra plays for a couple of hours, it only generates
enough heat to warm up half a cup of coffee by
one degree.
Lets go back to the conversation between the
mother and child. As mentioned above, a wave is
formed from the molecules in the air, which start
vibrating when the child speaks. The wave creates a
pressure of just a few thousandths of the normal
atmospheric pressure of 101 millibar. That is why
we use a special scale to measure sound pressure
decibels (dB). dB is the unit that is used to calculate
whether there is too much noise in a room.
As we explained above, sound consists of waves
also known as vibrations. This is why we use the
unit hertz (Hz) when describing sound, which repre-
sents the number of vibrations per second. The
length of a sound wave varies according to the
nature of the sound. The wavelength for low pitch
sounds is long, and shorter for higher pitches.
Alittlegirlspeaks.Triggeringacomplexphysicalprocess.
Welearntorecogniseourmothersvoiceevenbeforeweareborn.
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Accordingly, low pitches have a low frequency and
high pitches have a high frequency. The length of
an oscillation is the frequency in Hz divided by the
speed of the sound wave. General acoustical litera-
ture covers the range from 125 Hz or 125
vibrations per second, to 4000 Hz or 4000 vibra-
tions per second.
In speech, the most important information is con-
tained in the frequencies between 250 and 3150
Hz this is also known as the consonant frequency
range, and is where the ear is at its most sensitive.
People with normal hearing can perceive sounds
between 20 Hz and 20,000 Hz. A sound with a
frequency of 20 Hz will be experienced more as a
pulsating effect throughout the body, rather than as
a sound registered by the ear. Sounds below 20 Hz
are called infrasound, and sounds above 20,000
Hz are called ultrasound. People cannot hear ultra-
sound, but dogs and certain other animals can. In
fact, there are special dog whistles that create
sounds higher than 30,000 Hz.
Soundisthefrstthingweperceiveandthe
last
Sound is also capable of travelling through materi-
als. That is how babies can experience sound while
still in the womb. We learn to recognise our moth-
ers voice before we are born, helping to prepare us
for the world of speech waiting for us after our birth.
We perceive sound even while sleeping. And hear-
ing is usually the last sense to leave us before we
die.
A great deal of information is carried by sound.
Voice communication is essential for humans, and
understanding what is being said involves much
more than the meaning of the words. The tone of
voice and rhetoric used are also important elements
in understanding. Rooms with poor acoustics muffe
important information, making it diffcult to decode
what is being said. If a room is used for teaching or
group work, it is important for it to have a good re-
sponse or sound refection so what is being said is
actually what is being heard. At the same time, the
sound must not be drowned by an echo or a long
reverberation time. To stop this happening, sound-
absorbing objects can be placed in the room, or
absorbers can be installed. If there are not enough
absorbers in the room, the sound may become both-
ersome and be perceived as noise. In other words,
if speech, with a normal sound pressure of 0 dB, is
combined with background noise exceeding 40 dB,
the sound of the voice is masked to such an extent
that it becomes diffcult to understand.

Goodsoundagoodquestion
What is a good sound? Ask ten different people
and youll get ten different answers. For some
people, classical music is a calming and positive ex-
perience, others prefer a heavy metal concert and
EQUIVALENTS DB
Canon fre, burst ear drum 10
Powerful freworks 10
Rock concert 1
Pain threshold of ear 120
Noise limit in places of work 5
Normal conversation 0
Quiet room 5
Soft rustling of leaves on a tree 10
Allperceptionofsoundissubjective.
Somepeoplelikeclassicalmusic;otherslikeheavymetal.
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others still would rather not listen to music at all.
The perception of what makes a good sound
depends very much on the environment we grow up
in. Take peoples perception of road noise, for
example. For people living in London, road noise
gives a sense of security. It is what they are used to
hearing. They fnd silence unnerving. For people
brought up in a remote farm in Sweden, the percep-
tion is usually the other way around: silence brings
a feeling of well-being. The perception of sound
depends on a large number of other factors: phy-
siological factors, subjective taste and acquired/
cultural perceptions of sound.
Different professional groups have different ideas of
what constitutes positive and negative sound. A per-
son working in marketing will often be happy in a
sound-intensive environment, whereas kindergarten
staff prefer to muffe sounds as much as possible. But
the sound should always match the environment. It
strikes us as fake if there is a mismatch between sound
and function.
Designers are well aware of this in the car industry for
example, where they deliberately try to create sounds
that people associate with a good and solid product.
The door has to sound right when it closes. The same
is true in construction if the sound is wrong in an
environment, the effect can be jarring, for example if
a large open room sounds the same as a sitting room.
That is why it is important to know the function of the
room when planning the acoustics. Only then is it
possible to create a harmonious room, which supports
the activities taking place.
Differentpeopleperceiveroadnoisedifferently. Thesameistrueofsilence.
Arekindergartensnoisy?Theanswerdependsonwhetheryouaskthechildrenorthegrown-ups.
CHAP2WHATISSOUND?
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CHAP3
ACOUSTIC
PHENOMENA
ANDHOWTOEXPLOITTHEM
1
Once you become familiar with the basic acoustic
phenomena, it is relatively straightforward to create
acoustics that matches the function of a particular
room. You will also be able to avoid structures that
will inevitably create poor acoustics. This chapter is
intended as a basic introduction to what determines
the character and strength of a sound.
If you want to modify the sound in a room, there are
basically six different things you can do with it. You
can:
Direct the sound in a particular direction
Limit the sound
Emphasise the sound
Spread the sound
Dampen the sound
Colour the sound
In the open air, sound moves around unhindered at
a rate of around 0 m/sec. But as soon as the
sound encounters a barrier, it changes. If you go
from open land to the middle of a quadrangle for
example, you will notice the sound changing
CHAP3ACOUSTICPHENOMENA
character. The reason is that the buildings act as a
barrier to the sound waves, sending them back
where they came from.
The type of barrier encountered by the sound is also
important, because the material composition and
surface structure of the barrier affect the sound. Also
important is the distance to the barrier and the
angle at which the sound hits it. If you are standing
in a farmyard surrounded by buildings with uneven
facades, the character of the sound is different from
a location where the surrounding buildings have
large areas of glass in their facades. The type of
surface therefore infuences which sounds are re-
fected and which sounds disappear or are damp-
ened/absorbed.
Soundmoveslikeabilliardball
In rooms like lecture halls and conference rooms, it
is important to be able to direct the sound in cer-
tain directions. To direct sound, we need to know
how sound behaves in a room. Sound moves in a
spherical way when you speak, sound waves are
emitted in all directions, forming a ball shape mov-
ing away from the sound source. A good way to
Soundwavesalongabreakwater.
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visualise sound movement is to imagine a stone
being thrown in the water: the point where the
stone touches the water is the sound source, and
the ripples in the water are the sound waves. Now
picture the ripples moving not just in two dimen-
sions but in all three dimensions. If the ripples hit
an obstacle as they move away from the sound
source, the backwash will refect the contours of
the obstacle. Another way to picture the pattern of
sound movements is to think of waves hitting a
breakwater. If the long axis of the breakwater is at
an oblique angle, the waves run alongside the
breakwater, and they are refected back if the
breakwater is at right angles to the waves. But if
there is an embankment of large stones in front of
the breakwater, the waves are absorbed. The rea-
son is that some of the water fows between the
stones, which interrupt the water on its way back,
dissipating the energy of the waves.
One last illustration of the movement of waves is to
think of a billiard ball. If you send a billiard ball
straight into the cushion, it will come straight back
again. But if the ball hits the edge of a pocket or
strikes the cushion at an oblique angle, the direc-
tion of the ball changes and ball has a longer
distance to travel after it is defected this causes
the ball to slow down. The same happens with
sound waves.
If you keep in mind these three easy ways of
picturing the sound movement patterns, it is
relatively easy to control the sound in a room.
Soundandairimpedance
orhowtosoundlikeaSmurf
As we mentioned above, sound is infuenced by
Outintheopenair,soundcanmoveunhindered.
Soundmoveslikeabilliardball.
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many different factors. One of these factors is the
impedance of the air itself. It is the air impedance
that causes the sound to diminish as the distance to
the sound source increases if you stand right next to
the sound source, the sound seems more intense than
when you move away. Over longer distances, the air
impedance even causes the sound to be noticeably
delayed. For example if you see a man in the dis-
tance hammering a post into the ground, you can
sometimes see the hammer hit the post before hear-
ing the sound. The reason is that the sound takes
longer to arrive than it takes to strike the post. Some-
times, the sound never arrives. In large sports halls it
can be diffcult for a team member to attract the
attention of one of his team mates if they are at differ-
ent ends of the hall, because the sound can easily die
away before it gets there.
Air impedance occurs because the air molecules push
against each other. It is not a fxed quantity for
example a light gas like helium has lower air
impedance than the air around us. This means that
the sound moves over a longer distance and at higher
speed. You can hear this for yourself if you breathe in
the helium from a balloon. The light air from the
balloon makes the sound travel faster, so you sound
like Donald Duck. Heavy gases have the opposite ef-
fect. Their increased air impedance causes the sound
to lose its energy quickly.
Airhumidityasanamplifer
As we mentioned above, sound is also affected by
air humidity. The reason for this is that the humidity
reduces the air impedance, making it easier for the
sound waves to travel through the air. For example,
we would perceive noise levels to be higher in an
abattoir, with high air humidity, than in a joinery,
where the air is dry.
The temperature of the air does not itself infuence
the sound, but a high temperature is sometimes
associated with high humidity.
Winds and ventilation, on the other hand, are
important to the sound level, since sound is trans-
ported by air molecules. The molecules are slowed
down by a strong headwind, so it can be diffcult to
attract the attention of people with the wind in their
back, but relatively easy if the wind is blowing the
sound towards them.
Inlargesportshalls,itissometimesdiffculttoattracttheattentionofteammates.
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CHAP3ACOUSTICPHENOMENA
1
Thewindisimportanttothesoundlevel.
Thereisnoechohere.Butthesamefootstep10m
fromawidewallinanemptycarparkwouldcreateanecho.
Gymnasiumsandsportshallsusuallyhavealotofecho.
It may at frst sight seem illogical to consider the re-
lationship between sound and wind when designing
rooms inside buildings, but mechanical ventilation
means it is a good idea to take this factor into
account. In mechanical ventilation, the intake side is
the noisier, so it should be placed a long distance
from where people will be talking to each other.
Whatisanecho?
To recap, the distance from a sound source to a
specifc barrier has an effect on the character of the
sound. For example, the distance determines
whether the sound is refected to create an echo.
The echo will be most pronounced if the barrier
consists of a hard vertical wall and the sound covers
a total distance of 1 m or more.
Say you are on a walk one quiet Sunday afternoon
and you approach the wall of a large windowless
building, for example a shopping centre. Try scrap-
ing the soles of your shoes over the road surface
you will be able to hear the echo. If you now experi-
ment with shorter or longer distances you will fnd
that the echo is weak from 0 to 8 m, strong from 8
to 20 m, and you need to scrape more vigorously to
create an echo at distances over 20 m.
The echo is caused by the sound taking time to
reach the wall and travel back again. In technical
terms, if the sound takes 50 milliseconds or longer
to return at a speed of 00 m/sec., the brain
will perceive the refected sound as an entirely new
sound the sound we call the echo. That is why the
echo is weak from 0 to 8 m, when the brain is
barely able to distinguish one sound impulse from
the other, and strong from to 20 m, when the
brain can easily tell the two impulses apart. When
the distance exceeds 20 m, the sound needs to be
louder in order to reach the wall and be refected
back.
The intention of this explanation is to show how im-
portant distances are in determining how much
echo there is in a room. Gymnasiums and sports
halls usually have a lot of echo. The reason is that
reducing the echoes is rarely a priority, even though
it is possible to do so. In cinemas, on the other
hand, we are very careful to remove echoes either
by slanting the walls, a technique frequently seen in
older cinemas, or by covering the walls with sound
absorbing and diffusing surfaces. This is the stand-
ard method of creating good sound in a cinema
today.
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Like ripples in the water, sound waves surround
and refect the contours of an object.
If the barrier is shaped like a ball, the sound is
diffused.
In spaces with two parallel walls or similar surfaces,
the sound bounces back and forth between the two
surfaces. If the surfaces are placed at an angle in-
stead, the sound pressure can be diffused, prevent-
ing the sound from hanging in the room.
Differentmaterialsaffectthesounddifferently
The character of the sound is also affected by the
materials from which a barrier is made. Different
materials respond to different sound frequencies: for
example, if a lorry or bus drives past a house with
large windows, the panes of glass start rattling. The
technical explanation for this is that the panes of
glass are in resonance in other words the sound
waves are transformed into kinetic energy in the
glass, which absorbs some of the incoming sound.
As we have discovered, the effect on the materials
depends on the frequencies of the sound. When
your neighbour plays loud music, it is usually only
the bass sounds that penetrate the walls. This is
because the high frequencies are not strong enough
to pass through heavy materials and start the wall
vibrating.

Theshapeofthebarrieralsoaffectsthesound
As we explained above, the shape of a barrier
infuences the way the sound behaves. When it
encounters the barrier, the sound can be trans-
formed, refected or diffused. This depends on the
shape.
Only the low notes can do this. As the low notes
pass through the wall, causing the wall to vibrate,
they lose the energy generated in the room where
the music is playing. But when the high notes hit the
wall, they are refected back into the room.
This knowledge of the way materials vibrate is used
in acoustics to design sound absorbing panels,
which can reduce the reverberation time and im-
prove the acoustics in a room. The sound absorbing
panels are fxed to walls and/or the ceiling, and
when a sound wave hits a panel, it starts vibrating.
When the frequency of the sound wave is the same
as the resonance frequency of the panel (its ability
to oscillate with the sound), a large proportion of
the arriving sound waves start the panel vibrating,
causing the sound to be absorbed.
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CHAP3ACOUSTICPHENOMENA
21
Soundisagoodthing.Butyoucanhavetoomuchofagoodthing.
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If the barrier is fat and at right angles to the sound
source, some of the sound returns as an echo.
If the barrier is bowl shaped, the sound is re-
fected to a central point.
When waves meet even surfaces at an oblique
angle, the waves are refected and mirrored.
Ear trumpets were often made of a cows horn, and
shaped to produce greater sound pressure at one
end, making it easier to hear what was being said.
The same thing happens when you cup you hands
When waves meet uneven surfaces at an ob-
lique angle, the waves are diffused and spread
in many directions.
But as the stiffness or mass of the structure increases,
the material acts like a trampoline, bouncing the
sound back into the room. In other words, the
absorption is reduced and the reverberation time is
increased. These factors can be used in the design
of concert halls, for example, where the music must
be clearly audible even at the very back. That is why
sound propagation is taken so seriously sound
waves must not cause the panels to start vibrating
they must not be absorbed.
Concentratingandspreadingsoundorlouder
andquietersound
Sound makes a greater impression if the sound pres-
sure is increased by concentrating the sound using
a funnel shaped structure. The principle is familiar
from old fashioned ear trumpets.
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Ifyouopenthewindowonabusyroad,youwillhearthehighfrequencies.
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CHAP3ACOUSTICPHENOMENA
2
cies to pass from one room to another. Whereas high
frequencies affect our ear the most, low frequencies
affect our environment the most. Low frequency
sounds can pass through virtually anything and
cause problems for example heavy road traffc
causing windows to rattle, or footsteps in the corridor
outside a classroom, disturbing the lesson. This is the
kind of background noise we all have to live with
one way or another. We are also familiar with low
frequency sound from rock concerts, where the pow-
erful bass can create pressure on the chest and make
breathing diffcult. High frequencies are muffed us-
ing porous and structured surfaces, but the way to
reduce low frequency sound is to use heavy struc-
tures, or structures consisting of several layers of
varying thickness. To limit low frequencies within a
room, you can use panel materials with a carefully
specifed weight, rigidity and thickness. A low fre-
quency absorber can also incorporate air gaps with
a length greater than the sound waves to be ab-
sorbed. The depth and width of the cavity must be
calculated carefully for optimum effect.
Afngernailissilent.Unlessitisscraping
downablackboard.
Itisquietatthebottomofthewall.Asyoumovehigher,
thesoundfromtheothersideofthewallbecomeslouder.
behind your ears you are not only concentrating
the sound to hear more clearly, but you are also
excluding other bothersome sounds.
The phenomenon is noticeable when two rooms are
connected by a narrow corridor. This arrangement
can create acoustical problems, because the corri-
dor concentrates the sound, propagating it from one
room to the other.
Sound can also be diffused. If you sit behind a wall
and slowly stand up, the sound from the other side
of the walls gets louder the closer you come to the
top. This shows that some of the sound is defected,
and this should be taken into account when screens
are used between desks in offce landscapes. The
screen acts as an absorber, or rather as a flter re-
moving the background sound in the room. Howev-
er, the screen also has the effect of concentrating
the sound and making the sound source clearer. If
there is a space between two screens, the sound will
behave in the same way as waves passing through
a harbour entrance and fanning out on the other
side.
Fingernailsonablackboardandanelectricbass
atfullvolumeabouthighandlowfrequency
noise
High frequencies are the frst to die away as a result
of resistance from the air, whereas low frequencies
are carried over long distances. Noise in the high
frequency range affects our ears the most. High,
squealing sounds are very annoying just think of
the sound of fngernails scraping down a black-
board. To reduce or eliminate high frequency noise,
the room design must include structured surfaces and
porous materials. The porous materials absorb the
high frequencies as a result of friction within the ma-
terial, while the structured surfaces send the sound
waves on a longer journey, where the air impedance
fnally wears out the sound waves. High frequencies
are usually created in the same room as the listener,
because they can only penetrate structures with great
diffculty. For example, if you open a window onto a
busy road, you will be able to hear the high frequen-
cies that are blocked with the window closed. That is
why gaps in structures or openings between two
rooms should be avoided they allow high frequen- P
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Soundversussoundaboutanti-noiseand
masking
Anti-noise is another relatively advanced way of
suppressing sound. With anti-noise, sound is
emitted at the same frequency and strength as the
original sound. The new sound forms anti-waves,
which cancel out part of the original sound. This
reduces the general sound pressure. HiFi systems
used to describe the speakers as being in anti-
phase: this means that a mask was superimposed
onto the music, and if the speaker leads were
switched, the speakers came into phase, making
the music signal clearer. There are some types of
absorber that use the principle of anti-vibrations to
eliminate the sound pressure. They are called
resonator absorbers. Resonator absorbers are pan-
els with perforations, designed to work with a par-
ticular frequency range according to the location
and the size and density of the perforations.
Absorbers of this type act as a panel membrane
(they absorb the low frequencies), a resonator
(they absorb sound in the mid range), and as a
diffuser (they absorb high frequencies). In terms of
sound absorption, perforated absorbers can there-
fore cover the entire frequency range.
Another way to dampen sound is to mask it. This
method involves playing a soft hiss in the room to
mask part of the sound. It is useful in open plan
offces, for example, where lots of telephone calls
are going on at the same time, or other distracting
activities are taking place. The same phenomenon
can be experienced in the car the wind noise
and engine noise mask the other sounds within the
car. If you switch off the engine but carry on
moving, you can hear the sounds you normally do
not hear, like the squeaking springs in the rear
suspension.
Summary
In this chapter we have shown how a knowledge of
the properties of sound waves can be used to con-
trol and design the sound in a room. Sound waves
can be gathered, diffused, angled and transformed
in any number of ways, and the materials used are
particularly important because their structure and
fundamental vibrations help to give sound its
character. In other words, sound is more than just
sound it is something that we create ourselves and
that we can shape as we want, as long as we know
how sound behaves.
Soundonthemove.
Ifyouslowdown,thecarsoundsdifferent.
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CHAP3ACOUSTICPHENOMENA
CHAP4
HOWDOES
ASTONE
ABOUTSOUNDANDMATERIALS
SOUND?
2
CHAP4HOWDOESASTONESOUND?
When architects select building materials, they are
generally conscious of the signals the materials are
conveying. Are they going for a futuristic look with
zinc panels on the facade, or a more traditional feel
with bricks?
The same process should be applied to sound. How
do the materials affect the acoustics in the room? Do
they create a frenetic mood or a more relaxed
atmosphere? Good acoustics are essential in
making a room pleasant to be in, whereas bad
acoustics can frankly make a room unusable. That is
why the choice of materials cannot be taken lightly.
Sound waves behave differently depending on the
materials they encounter, so the choice of materials
determines whether the room is perceived as hard
or soft, frenetic or calm.
Hardmaterialsrefectthesound
In a room with hard materials like concrete and
glass, the sound has nowhere to go. The result is
that the sound waves are refected and sent straight
back to the sound source. This is the characteristic
echoing sound you hear in the bathroom. The hard
surfaces on the walls, ceiling and foor return the
sound, which remains within the room for longer. Or
to put it another way: the sound has a long rever-
beration time. In rooms with a long reverberation
time, the sound is dampened only slightly as the dis-
tance to the sound source increases. This means that
a relatively large number of people can be dis-
turbed by just one or two voices, and it can be
diffcult to hold a conversation when the sound stays
hanging in the room.
Softmaterialsabsorbthesound
If you enter a room with soft or porous materials on
the ceiling, foor and walls, you will perceive the
sound as muffed and soft. This is because the air
molecules hit the material and encounter high resist-
ance, slowing down the molecules. The sound
waves are absorbed by the material, the sound is
dampened, and the reverberation time is shortened.
That is why there are soft chairs and carpets on the
foor in cinemas and concert halls, where the sound
from the audience needs to be mitigated. The car-
pets and chairs quite simply absorb a proportion of
the sound primarily the high frequencies.
Inaroomwithhardmaterialslikeconcreteandglass,
thesoundhasnowheretogo.Youcanhearit.
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When a new major concert hall is built, chair manu-
facturers may be asked to document precisely how
much sound the chairs absorb, allowing the acousti-
cian to design the right sound environment. During
the planning of Danish Radios new concert hall in
restad, for example, the designers wanted to
incorporate the elegant leather chairs from the old
concert hall, but were quickly informed by the
projects acoustician that they would not help to cre-
ate the right acoustic environment. The chairs had to
be abandoned. The reason is that chairs must
absorb the same sound as a person, so that the hall
has the same acoustic profle regardless of attend-
ance. Perfect acoustics requires attention to detail.
Unevensurfacesdiffusethesound
The character of the sound can also be modifed
by using materials that diffuse the sound waves.
You can hear the sound changing as it hits the
walls. If the surface is textured, the low frequencies
will not be affected because of their long wave-
length, but the high frequencies will be diffused
throughout the room. Depending on the depth of
the contouring, the sound absorption can be
enhanced: if the depth of the contours is correctly
specifed in relation to the length of the sound
waves, the refected waves can meet the waves
from the source, creating additional absorption. In
rooms with hard materials, the sound can be bro-
ken up by creating protrusions, edges, etc., mak-
ing the surface three-dimensional. This diffuses the
sound into the room and makes it less harsh, while
also making consonants easier to understand.
Soundiscreatedbythematerials
Materials create the underlying atmosphere in a
room. Some materials are good at absorbing low
frequencies like road noise or the bass from the
sound system downstairs. Others materials are bet-
ter at absorbing high frequencies like shrieking
from a kindergarten. So before selecting materi-
als, it is important to establish exactly what the
room will be used for. Function and acoustics must
be well matched.
Although the underlying atmosphere is established
by the materials, absorbers can be used to fne-
tune the room to give it the right character in
much the same way as a musician tunes an
instrument. Some absorbers create a hushed
atmosphere in a room, others create a brighter
sound. It is important to know these characteristics
when selecting the materials. It makes a big differ-
ence whether the room will be used for teaching,
play, meetings or lectures. Each room has its own
acoustics.
Furnitureisnotjustvisual
italsohasanacousticeffect.
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Theacousticpropertiesareaffectedbythe
treatmentofthematerial
Materials can be smooth, rough or porous and so
you might expect the materials themselves to have
special acoustic properties. However, this is not
always the case. Take stone, for example a hard
material. In the bathroom, stone is used in the form
of tiles, because they are easy to clean and can
tolerate water. The tiles create a harsh sound
environment, but the harshness disappears when
the stone is turned into fbres to create stone wool
a porous material that can be used as an
absorber. This shows that the treatment of the
material infuences the acoustic properties.
Panelmaterialscanalsochangecharacter
Just as stone can be changed from a dense mate-
rial to a porous material, the characteristics of the
material can be further modifed by cutting it into
very thin slices to create a panel absorber. In prin-
ciple, the panel has a good response in the high
frequencies, while the low frequencies are capable
of causing the panel to start vibrating. If the panel
starts vibrating, it converts a proportion of the low
Whydowesinginthebathroom?
Becausetheacousticslendthemselvestoit.
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frequencies into energy, thereby acting as an
absorber. However, if the panel is embossed to
give it a rough surface, the effect is different the
sound waves are diffused and high frequency
absorption takes place. For extra diffusion, holes
can be made all the way through the panel.
Another way of altering the properties of the
panel is to position it in front of, but not touching,
a wall, with an air gap between the panel and the
wall. The gap between the wall and the panel
creates resonance, making the panel behave like
a high frequency absorber. So you can change
the panels effect on the sound according to the
way you treat and use it. You can even attach a
fabric or porous mat to the rear of the same panel
to cover the holes this enhances the absorbing
effect in the mid to high frequency range.
When you plan the acoustics of a room, you can
choose to use a single type of absorber on the
ceiling and walls. Alternatively, you can combine
different types, thereby creating acoustics perfectly
adapted to the function of the room. Here is an
overview showing how the various types of
absorber work:

CHAP4HOWDOESASTONESOUND?
2
Mineral wool without a painted surface acts as
a high frequency absorber.
Mineralwooldirectlyappliedtoabase.
Surfacetreatedmineralwooldirectlyappliedtoabase.
Thinpanelabsorbersonahollowbase.
Perforatedpanelabsorbersdirectlyappliedtotheunderlyingstructure.
Perforatedpanelabsorbersonmineralwool.
Mineral wool with a thin layer of paint acts as
a high and mid frequency absorber.
Mineral wool with a thick layer of paint acts as
a low frequency absorber.
Thin hard panels are usually suitable for use as
low frequency absorbers.
Structured (roughened) or perforated surfaces
fxed to a fat base can normally be used to
absorb high frequencies.
Perforated absorber panels on a hollow base
are capable of low frequency absorption or
mid frequency absorption, in addition to sound
diffusion.
Perforated panel absorbers with a felt or acous-
tic cloth backing, applied to a hollow base are
capable of low frequency absorption, mid fre-
quency absorption, high frequency absorption
and sound diffusion.
The properties of the absorbers can be adjusted and
fne-tuned in many other ways too, to give the space
the desired character and tone colour.
Perforatedpanelabsorbersonahollowbase.
CHAP4HOWDOESASTONESOUND?
0
Thepropertiesoftheabsorberscanbeadjustedandfne-tunedinmanyotherwaystoo,
togivethespacethedesiredcharacterandtonecolour.
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CHAP4
WHATDOES
ASTONE
ABOUTSOUNDANDMATERIALS
SOUNDLIKE?
CHAP5
SOUNDIS
SOMETHING
ABOUTSOUNDANDCONSTRUCTION
WECANBUILD
2
CHAP5SOUNDISSOMETHINGWECANBUILD
The sound environment is infuenced by more than
just the choice of materials. The arrangement of
structures is an important element in the acoustic
environment, and the smallest of changes can have
a dramatic effect on the acoustics.
Absorbers
The characteristics of sound absorbers are entirely
dependent on how they are installed. If the absorb-
ers are installed with a cavity behind them, the char-
acteristics will not be the same as if they are fxed
directly to a ceiling or wall. In other words, the cav-
ity is an acoustic factor by itself, and if the depth of
the cavity is changed, the absorbers characteristics
also change.
In the case of sound transparent elements like perfo-
rated panels or porous panels, a cavity of 50 mm
means that sound absorption will cover the high fre-
quencies. If the depth of the cavity is increased to,
say, 200 mm, the absorption of the same product
will cover a wider range, absorbing more of the low
frequencies and mid frequencies. Increasing the
depth of the cavity will further increase absorption
in the low frequencies. A change in the structure
therefore brings about a change in the character or
tone colour of an absorber.

Absorptioninthelowfrequencies
In acoustic design, it is often diffcult to achieve ad-
equate absorption in the low frequencies. The rea-
son is that unlike the high frequencies, the low fre-
quencies can only be absorbed to a very limited
extent by diffusion and absorption from furniture
and other fxtures. The ceiling structures often
occupy so little space that there is no room for a
cavity behind the ceiling absorbers precisely what
would be needed for low frequencies. Low frequen-
cies have such a long wavelength that there are not
many materials and structures capable of absorbing
them without a deep cavity.
However, there are special ways to construct sound
absorbers to give them the necessary absorption in
the low frequencies:
Perforated panels attached to a narrow
cavity can be ftted with a porous backing.
This increases the density of the structure,
making it more diffcult for the low frequen-
cies to penetrate them.
The spacing between the holes in the perfo-
rated panels can be increased to obtain a
greater mass of the panel, for greater ab-
sorption in the low frequencies.
The density and thickness of mineral wool
panels can be increased by applying an
extra coat of paint.
Hard panel materials can incorporate air
gaps that are longer than the wavelength at
the frequency to be dampened. For exam-
ple, to dampen sound with a frequency of
125 Hz, the gap must be longer than 2.72
m, and the width and depth must also be
carefully calculated.
Hollow structures covered with thin panel
materials that are fexible in response to a
particular frequency are sound absorbing
in the low frequency range. However, hol-
low structures should only be used on ceil-
ings and walls because although a hollow
foor will absorb the low frequencies, they
also produce drumming sounds when
people walk on them or move chairs about.
Sawtoothdesignscandiffuseordampenthe
sound
A solid structure may cause problems with echo if
the material is too hard, with a fast sound response,
and if it is installed fat. One solution to this problem
is to ft the material in a sawtooth pattern instead of
fat. Installing the material in this way signifcantly
alters the acoustic environment: the fat structure car-
ries the sound and produces an echo; the sawtooth

Thesawtoothceilingdiffusesthesoundthroughouttheroom.
arrangement diffuses the sound into the room, mak-
ing it more suitable for dialogue. Diffusing the
sound in this way creates a more harmonious effect,
so this is a good way of making sound absorbing
surfaces more effective.
Whereas a hard material in a sawtooth arrange-
ment spreads the sound, a porous material in a saw-
tooth arrangement provides strong sound
absorption. This effect has been put to use in many
laboratories incorporating a listening room, for ex-
ample. The rooms are lined with porous materials ft-
ted in a sawtooth arrangement, allowing research-
ers to concentrate without being disturbed by
whatever else is happening in the lab.
Convexandconcavesurfaces
To create a room with a strong sound intensity, it is
a good idea to use concave surfaces. Concave
surfaces concentrate the sound at a single point,
thereby amplifying the sound. This effect is used in
buildings like churches.

Convex structures, on the other hand, spread the
sound. That is why you often see convex shapes on
the ceiling and walls of concert halls, where the
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sound has to be spread to the whole audience.

Wall niches are another good way of spreading the
sound. Niches can also be used to direct the sound
to a particular point, and this can be effective in
supporting speech, for example in auditoriums,
where the lecturers voice must be directed to the
part of the room where the students are sitting. In
this situation, early refections can ensure that the
sound reaches the rows at the very back. An early
refection means that the sound hitting a surface is
instantaneously returned to the listener. This is
important for speech intelligibility, because most
consonants crucial to the understanding of speech
are in the high frequency range, which means
they are among the frst sounds to be absorbed or
to die out over longer distances.

Protrusions designed as barriers on walls or ceilings
are good at catching what we call stray sounds.
Stray sounds are sounds that bounce around when
they are refected from surfaces. They can be a
problem in open plan offces, where people enjoy
the visual contact but would like to be able to work
undisturbed. But in rooms designed for speech, like
seminar rooms, barriers create delayed echoes that
can be very confusing.
Protrusionsaregoodatcatchingstraysounds.
Inconcerthalls,therightsoundiseverything.
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CHAP5SOUNDISSOMETHINGWECANBUILD
CHAP6
DIFFERENT
ROOMS,
DIFFERENT
SOUNDS

CHAP6DIFFERENTROOMS,DIFFERENTSOUNDS
Inanormalroom,thesoundislouderthanoutside
becauseitisrefectedbythewalls.
Sound behaves differently inside and outside. If you
call out in the middle of a feld, the sound seems to
disappear. It travels into the horizon, where it is
swallowed up, never to return. But if you stand in a
canyon surrounded by high cliffs, the rock refects
the sound, which you hear again as an echo. If the
journey made by the sound is long enough, the
brain registers the returned sound as a new sound,
which we call an echo.
Whatgoesaround,comesaroundsoundis
louderinsidethanout
In a normal room, the sound is louder than outside
because there is only a short distance to the walls
and ceiling, which refect the sound. The brain has
already combined the spoken sound and the
refected sound before it has a chance to register
that they are in fact two separate sounds. That is
why the sound seems to be louder inside than out
you hear double the sound inside, so to speak.
And inside, the structure of the space has a big
part to play in how the sound behaves. The space
can create a particular atmosphere if you go to a
sports arena to watch a game of basketball, for
example, you are immediately swept along by the
atmosphere in the crowd. The large space with
parallel surfaces virtually gives free rein to the
sound.
Although a certain amount of noise can be a good
thing in a large sports hall, the same cannot be
said of similar sized rooms in an educational
establishment. Noise can be disruptive to the
Asoundisthesumofitssurroundings.Thesoundwillbehaveoneway
inthislandscape,anddifferentlyinanother.Forexample,ifthereis
novegetation,thecliffwallswillproduceanecho.
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Theacousticsofaroomarealsoinfuencedbytheadjacentrooms.
Amusicroomnexttothisclassroomisnotaparticularlygoodidea.
Caremustbetakenwhendesigningopenplanoffcestokeep
thereverberationtimeandthegeneralnoiseleveltoaminimum.
Inasportshall,thelargespacewithparallelsurfaces
givesfreereintothesound.
teaching going on in adjacent rooms. That is why
the acoustics must not only take account of the
function of the room itself, but also what is happen-
ing in its immediate surroundings. Unless these fac-
tors are considered right from the start, it may be
necessary to retroft absorbers in places that were
not designed for them.
Thelargertheroom,thelongerthereverberation
time
In principle, it is safe to assume that the larger the
room, the longer the reverberation time. A long re-
verberation time can be disruptive in spaces in-
tended for dialogue or work, because the sound
has nowhere to go. This makes it diffcult to con-
centrate or hold a conversation.
In a large room it is generally a good idea to
avoid too many parallel surfaces. Parallel surfaces
bounce the sound back and forth within the space,
primarily between the ceiling and foor and from
wall to wall, creating a longer reverberation time.
The problem can be averted by changing the
shape of the room so there are fewer parallel sur-
faces or by adding protrusions, or by ftting sound
diffusers to the walls and ceiling, or even to the
foor in the form of furnishings. These methods
spread the sound, shortening the reverberation
time.
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CHAP6DIFFERENTROOMS,DIFFERENTSOUNDS

Changingtheangleoftheglassfront
refectsthesounduptotheceiling.
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Reducingnoisewiththerightsurfaceangle
Care must be taken when designing large spaces,
like open plan offces, to keep the reverberation
time and the general noise level to a minimum. For
example, there is a tendency in commercial build-
ings to use large glass facades a hard material
that refects all sound at the same angle it arrives.
The result is a long reverberation time and a noise
level so high that it affects peoples ability to con-
centrate.
One way to reduce this noise is to ft angled or
sound diffusing elements to the opposite wall or
simply to alter the angle of the glass by just six
degrees. If the surface is angled to the ceiling, the
sound is refected towards the ceiling instead.
Absorbers can also be installed in the ceiling to trap
some of the sound, reducing the reverberation time
and the general noise level. Another option is to
erect screens to curb some of the sound. For exam-
ple, if people need to make lots of phone calls as
part of their work, a screen next to them can prevent
the sound from the calls spreading to the rest of the
room. Sound barriers in the ceiling can make
partition screens even more effective.
Theimportanceoftheceilinginacoustics
Whereas hard parallel surfaces send the sound
straight back to the source, vaulted ceilings focus the
sound at a particular point. A focused sound gives
the space an almost sacred character.
A good example of this is the acoustics in Stockholm
Public Library, built in the 1920s: the ceiling is
domed in order to create a solemn and exalted
atmosphere as you move around the world of books
and learning. These days, talking is allowed in
libraries, and the atmosphere in general is more in-
formal than it was 80 years ago. This exposes the
weaknesses of the structure the sound stays sus-
pended in the space for a long time, making it
diffcult to hold a conversation.
A concave shape in the ceiling carries the sound
around, which you can experience for yourself in the
Whispering Gallery in St Pauls Cathedral in London.
You can stand in the dome and whisper to someone
beyond the normal hearing range. The concave
shape sends the sound around the dome, unlike a
convex shape, which would spread the sound in
every direction.
The shape of the ceiling is therefore very important to
the acoustics in a room. An incorrectly shaped ceiling
can be very disruptive to the activity going on in the
room.
Theratiobetweenthelengthandwidthofthe
roomalsoaffectsthesound
As discussed earlier, the size of the room is an
important factor in determining the reverberation
time. The size of the room is also a signifcant ele-
StockholmPublicLibraryhasthesameacousticsasachurch.
Welcometothepeoplestemple.
StPaulsCathedralinLondonwithitsfamousWhisperingGallery.
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)SMLAVTLOFTEDERUMPLACERESABSORBENTERNE
PRIMRTILOFTFLADEN
(ERMANGLERTEKST (ERMANGLERTEKST
| smalle bojtlo|teoe rum placeres
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0
ment in the character of the sound.
A small, non-rectangular room will provide ample
high frequency absorption, but the low frequencies
will be unpleasant, requiring the use of elements like
panel absorbers.
Large, moderately furnished rooms need broad-
band absorbers throughout the ceiling surface. In
large rooms, additional diffusion or barriers should
be installed in the ceiling, because that is where
the problem of sound propagation is at its greatest.
In rooms intended for dialogue, the goal is not so
much to dampen noise as to spread the sound
without refecting it back.
The shape of the room also infuences how the
sound behaves in general. For example it is more
diffcult to predict how sound will behave in a non-
rectangular room than in a rectangular room.
Some non-rectangular rooms enhance the sound
quality, while others can create unintended mirror
points.
The room height also determines the quantity of
sound absorbing material that must be used. In a
room with a low ceiling, the sound waves hit the
ceiling before the walls. That is why the absorbers
must be ftted to the ceiling. But in a narrow room,
the sound hits the walls before the ceiling, so the
absorbers go on the wall. If the room is both wide
and high, the absorbers must be ftted above the
normal storey height (2.5 m) for the most beneft,
and generally speaking, a larger number of
absorbers or sound diffusers should be ftted to the
walls.
Furthermore, if two rooms are connected, the sound
in one room can infuence the sound in the other.
For this reason there should be an acoustic transi-
tion between the two rooms, so that the sound is not
perceived as being very different from one room to
the other. If the difference is too great, it can feel as
if you have cotton wool in your ears as you move
between rooms.
In narrow rooms with
high ceilings, the absorbers
are fxed to the walls.
In small rooms
with low ceilings,
the absorbers are
ftted to the
ceiling surface.
In large rooms with high ceilings, sound absorbers are ftted
to the ceiling and sound diffusers/sound absorbers are ftted
to the walls.
Combinedsoundabsorberandsounddiffuser.
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CHAP6DIFFERENTROOMS,DIFFERENTSOUNDS
CHAP7
THESOUND
OFASOFA
ABOUTSOUNDANDFURNISHING
2
CHAP7THESOUNDOFASOFA
There is a big difference between the way sound
behaves in an empty room and in a furnished room.
In an empty room there are no furnishings to diffuse
the sound in the room, so the sound waves mainly
move in a plane, bouncing back and forth between
opposite parallel walls or between the foor and
ceiling if they are parallel to each other. In situations
like this, absorbers are not particularly effective if
they are only ftted to one surface.
However, the effect of the absorbers on the sound
can be enhanced if the room is designed to incor-
porate materials that also diffuse the sound. Placing
three dimensional structures on the walls, ceiling or
foor diffuses the sound so it covers a wider area,
allowing the absorbers to work more effectively
because they can trap the sound over a wider
range.
Furniturecandiffuseandabsorbsound
In furnished rooms, this diffusing effect is produced
by the furniture the sound encounters the furniture
and spreads in different directions. The amount of
sound diffused depends on the amount of furniture
in the room and how it is arranged. In principle, it is
possible to calculate the precise sound diffusion on
the basis of the foor area occupied by the furniture.
It is usually enough simply to consider how much
furniture there will be when the room is fully fur-
nished.
More care needs to be taken with the type of furni-
ture in the room. Upholstered furniture is capable of
absorbing sound as well as diffusing it, especially in
the high frequencies, but hard furniture only diffuses
the sound. That is why churches usually have
wooden pews the special sacred atmosphere is
enhanced by the long reverberation time. The
atmosphere would be destroyed if upholstered seat-
ing were used in churches.
Room dividers are another kind of furniture with a
design that differs according to the acoustic needs.
They have different acoustic properties depending
on their design, orientation and material composi-
tion. For example, although room dividers can be
used to diffuse the sound, they can also be used to
screen off colleagues with jobs that produce a lot of
sound.
Furniturecandiffuseandabsorbsound.
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CHAP8
STRATEGIC
SOUND
DESIGN

The preceding chapters explain how sound is

affected by wind, air humidity, materials, structures,
furnishings and room size. This knowledge can be
used in architecture to create the right acoustics and
build spaces that people feel comfortable in. The
key is to think creatively and get architecture and
acoustics to interact just like the Ancient Greeks,
who used their expertise in acoustics to create the
unparalleled amphitheatres we admire to this day.
Thereverberationtimeisanimportanttool
It is not diffcult to achieve an acoustic balance by
taking account of the properties of the materials and
the shape of the room, and by ftting the right
number of sound regulating elements in the right
places. The reverberation time is a useful tool in
calculating the amount of absorbing material to use
and the absorber type that is most appropriate. The
reverberation time gives an indication of any need
to regulate the sound. It can be calculated relatively
easily by dividing the volume of the room by the
amount of absorption achieved by one square metre
of the absorbing material installed (known as the
Sabine formula).
Roomswithnoisyactivitiesmusthaveashort
reverberationtime
When designing a room, it is important to consider
what the room will be used for. If there is a lot of
noise from machinery or telephones, it is good to
have a short reverberation time so as to prevent the
sound staying in the space for a long time. To
achieve a short reverberation time, absorbers can
be ftted to the ceiling and the walls. Fitting absorb-
ers to the ceiling alone can reveal a pre-existing
echo that was previously masked by the general
noise. This happens a lot in rooms with walls made
of hard materials that are parallel to each other. For
this reason, it is a good idea to ft absorbers to the
walls or furnish the room in a way that diffuses the
sound. Another option is to erect a barrier around
the actual sound source, stopping the sound at
source.
Alongreverberationtimeisacceptableinrooms
intendedforonewaycommunication
If a room with a short reverberation time is used
for orations like a sermon, the sound is usually
very dry in the sense that it is quickly cut short.
Rooms with a dry sound sometimes make it diff-
cult to give the voice and therefore the oration
the necessary fullness and roundness. A long
reverberation time, on the other hand, gives the
words a rounder tone or quality, and means that
the speaker can leave pauses between the words
for rhetorical effect. This is especially important in
churches, where the minister can choose to dwell
on certain words to lend more weight to the mes-
sage. A long reverberation time adds emphasis.
This makes a long reverberation time a good thing
in rooms used for one-way communication, for
example churches and lecture halls. One way of
creating a long reverberation time is to use fat
surfaces and a room with a large volume.
Roomsfortwo-waycommunicationneedgood
speechintelligibilityandeaseoflistening
It is equally important to avoid a dry sound in
rooms where communication takes place over short
distances or where human interaction occurs. It can
otherwise be diffcult to pick up what is being said.
In particular, it is important for the consonants to
CHAP8STRATEGICSOUNDDESIGN
Inachurch,thelongreverberationtimeemphasises
thesolemnatmosphere.
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5
carry clearly, because the intelligibility of a word
largely depends on the consonants. At the same
time, it is important to dampen the background
noise. The best way to solve the problem is to plan
for an early refection of the sound, followed by
suppression. To achieve this, ceilings and walls can
be designed to both refect and absorb the sound.
This ensures that the unwanted noise is removed
while the dialogue in the room is still picked out.

In teaching situations it may also be benefcial to
have relatively long reverberation times, even
though the rhetorical demands are not the same as
in a lecture hall. In a classroom there is more dia-
logue between the teacher and pupils, and the
speech is faster and more colloquial than a lecture.
This means the reverberation time should not be as
long as in a lecture hall. Although the sound should
dissipate more quickly, the consonants must be
clear so that it is easy to understand what is being
said. If pupils need to work hard to hear what their
teacher is saying, they will fnd it diffcult to concen-
trate and learning will be the frst thing to suffer. It
is therefore extremely important to adjust the indi-
vidual frequencies: if absorption is too effective in
the high frequencies, the room will devour the con-
sonants, dramatically reducing speech intelligibility.
Avoidlargeroomsindaynurseries
In day nurseries, the challenges are very different.
There are high levels of physical activity and most of
the contact is one-to-one and there is hardly ever
a need to gather everyone in one place. It is a good
idea to keep rooms small or medium size apart
from tending to be less noisy, small children can fnd
Ifpupilsneedtoworkhardtohearwhattheirteacherissaying,theywill
fnditdiffculttoconcentrateandlearningwillbethefrstthingtosuffer.
Inadaynursery,thefurnishingscancontribute
tosoundabsorptionandsounddiffusion.
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CHAP8STRATEGICSOUNDDESIGN

Inopenplanoffces,extensivesoundabsorptionandsounddiffusionareessential.
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their way around these rooms more easily and they

feel more secure there. Day nurseries will still be
relatively noisy places, so it will always be benef-
cial to ft additional sound absorbers and sound
diffusers to the ceiling and the walls. The room can
also be furnished to aid sound absorption and
sound diffusion and thereby prevent the sound
propagating and becoming a problem.
Openplanoffcesamajoracousticchallenge
In rooms where physical activity takes place along-
side concentrated work, for example open plan
offces, extensive sound absorption and sound diffu-
sion are essential. There is often a lot of activity in
offces: employees get up from their place for a meet-
ing or a cup of coffee while their colleagues next to
them carry on working. So to make sure that every-
one can function in the room, very extensive noise
suppression measures must be put in place. For exam-
ple, absorbers can be supplemented with sound bar-
riers in the ceiling, and screens can be erected inside
the room to keep noise to a minimum.
The furnishings of an open plan offce must take
account of the need for quiet, while also allowing
small groups to work together. This can be achieved
by positioning meeting rooms as sound locks within
the offce or by creating informal meeting areas, for
example by the coffee machine and away from the
desks. If a number of different functions need to be
housed in the same building or on the same foor,
sound-intensive activities should be separated from
sound-sensitive activities for example it is rarely a
good idea to have a call centre in the same room as
the accounts department.
Soundandfunctionmustmatch
When planning the layout of several rooms at a
time, it is a good idea to use the zoning principle to
make the transition between the rooms as smooth as
possible. A building can accommodate a wide
range of activities ranging from silent to noisy, so it
is important to create acoustics in which the sound
matches the function in each of the rooms. If sound,
function and environment do not go together, the
room will somehow feel fake. Something to aim for
is to make the sound conditions refect the character
and size of the rooms so clearly that even a blind-
folded person could hear what kind of room it is.
Therelationshipbetweenroomsaffectsthe
sound
The relationship between the individual rooms is
also important. If a room is linked to other rooms by
a narrow corridor, the sound from that room can
spread to the others. This sound movement is verti-
cal as well as horizontal, and the corridor concen-
trates the sound in the same way as an ear trumpet.
This sound lock principle can be used to make two
connected rooms sound the same. Absorbers can
be installed in strategic places in the sound lock, on
the basis of calculations to determine which surfaces
refect most sound.
Even if two adjacent rooms are not connected by an
open passage, it is still important to consider the
way they relate to each other in terms of sound.
Ifthesounddifferencebetweenthetworoomsistoogreat,
itsometimesfeelsasifyouhavecottonwoolinyourearsasyouenter.
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CHAP8STRATEGICSOUNDDESIGN

The sound in the rooms must be harmonised so that

there is a pleasant transition from one room to the
other. Harmonising sound in this way consists of
adjusting the reverberation time and the materials
used in the two rooms to minimise the difference per-
ceived when walking from a small room to a large
room. If the difference between the two rooms is too
great, it sometimes feels as if you have cotton wool
in your ears as you enter.
Materialsinfuencethesound
Like the structure, the material composition helps to
determine the tone colour of the room. In a room
with hard materials, the sound is perceived clear and
sharp, whereas soft materials produce a softer atmos-
phere and a mushy sound in the room. The position-
ing of materials also partly determines the sound
experience the more protrusions there are, the more
they can colour the sound in the room.
Of course, the choice of materials depends on much
more than their acoustic function. For example in
classrooms, it is a good idea to use materials that are
able to withstand rough treatment, or that are easy to
care for without impairing the acoustic properties.
Otherwise there is a risk that the room will quickly
look tatty and that the absorbers will no longer work
as intended because they have been incorrectly
maintained. Possible vapours from the materials must
also be taken into account, especially if the building
has large areas of glass, which can heat up the room
and the materials. The materials should therefore be
selected on the basis of general considerations about
the function of the room.
Goodacousticsdoesnothavetobediffcult
When planning the sound in a room it is a good idea
to think of walls, ceilings and foors as mirrors and
then imagine the sound waves moving around in the
room. The acoustic-modifying materials will be most
effective at the places that are frst encountered by the
sound waves. The changes needed to create a pleas-
ant acoustic environment are normally quite modest.
Simply changing the angles between the foor and
ceiling or between the walls can diffuse the sound and
improve the acoustics:
Summary
1. Room shape
As described above, the shape of the room has a
big impact on the perception of the acoustic
environment. But certain other factors are crucial
in determining the overall effect:
Parallel walls should be ftted with sound diffus-
ing elements if a short reverberation time is
wanted and if sound absorption mainly occurs
in the ceiling.
Domed ceilings or round rooms can produce
an amplifying effect, so they should be avoided
in everyday situations.
Pum meo parallelle vgge/lo|ter oomlneres a|
lyobolger som spejles mellem oe parallelle |laoer.
Der|or skal e||ekten a| oe |laoer ellmlneres enten
veo lyoabsorbenter og/eller lyool||usorer.
Rooms with parallel walls/ceilings are dominated by
sound waves that are refected between the parallel
surfaces. The effect of the surfaces therefore has to be
eliminated using sound absorbers and/or sound
diffusers.
Punoe rum eller kupler senoer lyobolgerne tllbage
tll oets center og op|attes som lyoen pumper mellem
vggene og oets center.
Saoanne konstruktloner er svre at styre akustlsk
og bor oer|or kun anvenoes bvor en overraskenoe
e||ekt onskes.
Round rooms or domes send the sound waves back to
the centre, and the perception is that the sound is pul-
sating between the walls and the centre. These structu-
res are diffcult to control acoustically, so they should
only be used for effect.

In rooms up to 2.8 m in height, absorbers are

ftted to the whole of the ceiling surface alter-
natively 5% of the ceiling plus 15% of the
walls can be covered.
If the room measures more than 8.5 m and the
reverberation time is short, echoes will be
audible unless absorbers or sound diffusers are
ftted to the walls.
In small rooms with low ceilings, the absorbers
are mainly ftted to the ceiling surface.
)SMLAVTLOFTEDERUMPLACERESABSORBENTERNE
PRIMRTILOFTFLADEN
Surfaces need to be angled by at least
degrees to prevent echoes.
Baffes are good at preventing sound propagation in
large rooms, and are effective when combined with
screens in open plan offces, for example. But baffes in
rooms designed for speech can create problematic
echoes.
8a||el konstruktloner er e||ektlve tll at |orblnore
lyouobreoelse l storre rum og er e||ektlve sammen
meo |.eks skrmvgge l storrumskontorer.
In large rooms with low ceilings, absorbers
should be ftted all over the ceiling surface. To
minimise sound propagation, sound barriers
can be installed in the ceiling.
Fitting effective absorption to the ceiling in rooms over 8.5 m in
width/length (50 ms 17 m) only exposes the echo between
the walls. The walls should have effective sound diffusion
sound diffusion may be achieved by angling the walls by de-
grees or ftting wall elements at an angle of 6 degrees.
veo at vlnkle vgge/lo|ter mere eno 6 graoer
|orblnores staenoe bolger. Det bar tlollgere vret
anvenot l blogra|er.
6
Angling walls and ceilings by more than degrees prevents
persistent waves. Cinemas used to apply this approach.
In rooms between 2.8 and 3.2 m in height, the
amount of absorbers should correspond to
115% of the foor surface area, i.e. 100% on
the ceiling and 15% on the walls.
In rooms between 3.2 and 3.8 m in height, the
amount of absorbers should correspond to
120% of the foor surface area.
In rooms between 3.2 and 4 m in height, the
amount of absorbers should correspond to
125% of the foor surface area.
For acoustic reasons, room heights over 4 m
should be avoided.
Pumbojoer over 2700 mm skal tll|ores ekstra
absorbenter pa vggene. Der kan tll|ores oen l
skemaet an|orte mngoe optll 4 meter.
Kan skemaet anvenoes over 4 meter rumbojoe
|orekommer resultatet uslkkert. veo storrumskontorer
o.l. skal mngoen overboloes samt oen ekstra mngoe
a| lyool||userenoe materlaler som anbe|ales veo
normal rumbojoe.
Rooms more than 2800 mm in height must have extra
absorbers on the walls. The quantity is given above
up to 4 m. In rooms over 4 m in height, the result can
be uncertain. In open plan offces, etc., the stated co-
verage of absorbers must be ftted, as well as the qu-
antity of sound diffusing materials recommended for
normal room heights.
| rum meo en breooe/lngoe over 8,5 meter (50 mg 17 m/2) meo e||ektlv absorbent l lo|t
a|slores ekkoet mellem vggene. Der bor placeres en e||ektlv lyool||uslon pa vggene
evt. kan lyool||usloner opnaes veo at vlnkle vggene 6 graoer eller uo|ore skrastllleoe
vgelementer som ogsa bar 6 graoers vlnkllng.
CHAP8STRATEGICSOUNDDESIGN
50
In narrow rooms with high ceilings, the
absorbers are mainly fxed to the walls.
In rooms with curved ceilings, absorbers are ftted
over the ceiling surface and sound barriers are
installed to prevent sound transmission along the
ceiling surface.
| boje rum placeres absorbenter
eller ol||usorer unoer balkonen pa
balkon|orkanten samt pa oe vgge
oer |orblnoer balkonnerne.
In high rooms, absorbers or
diffusers are ftted under-
neath and in front of balco-
nies, and on the walls
connecting balconies.
| smalle bojtlo|teoe rum placeres
absorbenterne pa vggene.
In narrow rooms with
high ceilings, the absor-
bers are normally fxed to
the walls.
Stairwells are ftted with absorbers or diffusers
in places where the sound is expected to be
carried or refected usually the wall, under the
landing and the banisters.
2. Structures
Solid structures refect much of the sound, which
means their sound absorption capacity is
limited. However, this is a good thing in rooms
where acoustic music is played and one way
communication takes place.
Panels on a hollow base provide sound absorp-
tion in the bass range but not in the high
frequency range.
False foors provide sound absorption in the
bass range, but can produce drumming sounds
when people walk on them.
In low rooms, adding mineral wool to the cavity
behind a perforated panel increases absorption
in the low frequencies.
Domed or concave ceilings concentrate sound so
they may have an amplifying effect. That is why
they should be avoided in everyday situations. In
rooms with domed ceilings, absorbers are ftted
to the whole ceiling surface, and the geometrical
centre of the dome should be well above head
height.
Convex surfaces spread the sound and refect
the sound over distance.

Curved surfaces send the sound back to their centre,
and sound can travel along the curve, re-emerging a
long way from the sound source. Curved structures
and domes are perceived to be amplifying structures,
so they are used in churches, etc.
8ueoe |laoer senoer lyoen tllbage moo oets center,
llgesom lyoen kan lobe pa langs a| buen og oykke neo
langt |ra lyoklloen. 8ueoe konstruktloner og kuplen,
op|attes som lyo|orstrkenoe konstruktloner og
anvenoes oer|or l klrken o.l.
(ERMANGLERTEKST (ERMANGLERTEKST
In barrel vaults, barriers
should be installed to
prevent sound propagation.
Convex structures diffuse the sound. Structures of this type
are used in lecture halls or concert halls, where sound
diffusion can be enhanced by creating heavier structures.
Konkave konstruktloner vlrker lyospreoenoe.
Konstruktloner a| oenne art anvenoes l |oreoragssale
eller l koncertsale, bvor lyospreonlngen kan |orstrkes
veo at bygge konstruktloner meo oget tyngoe.
51
3. Absorbers
The general sound environment of the room is
infuenced by all the materials in the room neg-
atively by some, positively by others. Absorbers
can improve the factors that stand in the way of a
perfect sound environment.
To reduce the general sound level, broadband
absorbers should be strategically deployed on
the largest surfaces.
Bass absorbers are also effective even if they
are not strategically placed.
Absorbers providing high absorption should be
used to prevent sound propagation in other
words for noise reduction.
Absorbers with refection as well as absorption
properties should be used where speech intelligi-
bility and ease of listening are essential, and
where there will also be an element of interaction.
Highly refective materials should be used
where speech intelligibility and ease of listen-
ing are important, and where the sound needs
to travel over a long distance.
High frequency absorbers are used in large
rooms with hard surfaces, or in unfurnished
rooms.
Mid frequency absorbers are used in moder-
ately furnished rooms.
Low frequency absorbers are used in small,
densely furnished rooms.
Low ceiling heights with a porous or perforated
absorber provide good high frequency absorp-
tion, but poor absorption in the low frequen-
cies.
Upholstered furniture, carpets, mattresses and
people are all good high frequency absorbers.
4. Reverberation time
The anticipated reverberation time of a room can
be calculated by comparing the absorption prop-
erties of the individual materials with their surface
area.
In an empty room, the reverberation time can
be calculated using the Sabine formula without
the addition of sound diffusion.
In room with sparse furnishings providing some
diffusion, the overall absorption is higher. This
means that a factor of 0.15 can be added to
the original absorption.
In a moderately furnished room, a factor of 0.2
can be added to the original absorption.
In a densely furnished room, a factor of 0.3
can be added to the original absorption.
But the calculation of reverberation time does
not indicate where the absorbers should be ft-
ted or whether insuffcient diffusion may result
in unwanted echoes, which is usually the case
with short reverberation times of 0. seconds
and lower. That is why in this situation addi-
tional absorbers or diffusers are specifed for
the wall surfaces.
Once the room has suffcient diffusion, there is
a minimal difference between the measured
reverberation times when comparing absorbers
with a high absorption value and others with a
lower absorption value.
5. Sound diffusion
Sound diffusion occurs if a material has a hard,
structured surface or if structures with angular,
three dimensional edges are used, or with the
help of furniture.
A sound is diffused if the sound waves travel in
many different angles, making echoes impossible.
Another very important effect is that sound ab-
sorbing materials become more effective when
they are used with sound diffusing materials, be-
cause the absorption can act over a larger sur-
face area. At frst sight it can seem quite compli-
cated to calculate the necessary quantity of
diffusing materials in a room, but the instructions
below contain some general guidelines for
achieving the optimum acoustic effect.
| rum meo en breooe/lngoe pa over 8,5 meter uogor moblerlng og reoler langs vggene en
e||ektlv lyool||uslon som oger e||ekten a| lo|t absorbenter.
In rooms more than 8.5 m in width/length, furniture and
bookcases against the walls deliver effective sound diffusion,
enhancing the effect of ceiling absorbers.
CHAP8STRATEGICSOUNDDESIGN
52
Sound diffusers are effective on walls facing a
high glass facade, for example.
Textured and structured surfaces and thick per-
forated panels are good sound diffusers.
7. Privacy
Use strategically placed screens to prevent
sound refecting from areas where privacy is
required.
Partitions and room dividers must be placed as
close to the ceiling/foor/wall as possible.
Partitions should form shielding angles.
The natural defection of sound waves means
that partitions less than 1.5 m in height are
ineffective.
The higher the partition, the more effective the
absorbers and sound barriers in the ceiling will
be.
Good speech intelligibility is the enemy of
good privacy.
8. Speech intelligibility
Create an effective early refection followed by
good sound absorption.
To achieve an effective early refection, use
absorbers providing absorption, diffusion and
refection.
Over longer distances, where greater refection
and diffusion are important, curved or undulat-
ing surfaces can be used to refect and diffuse
the sound.
Small curved niches, pointing in the direction of
the listeners, enhance speech intelligibility.
Kontor-sklllevgge l storrumskontorer skal suppleres meo barrlerer l lo|tet.
The privacy index in open plan offces can be boosted by
combining room dividers with barriers in the ceiling and
diffusers on the walls.
Three dimensional shapes are effective sound dif-
fusers and can be used opposite highly sound re-
fective structures like large glass facades. Three
dimensional structures also include thick panels
with dense perforations.
Examples of other sound diffusers: polygonal
elements like boards placed edgeways, profled
ceilings, various profled shapes, old-fashioned
wide door frames, stucco and similar fxtures.
Special sound diffusers can also be designed
as sound absorbers by calculating their depth
and width in relation to the wavelength to be
absorbed.
Niches in the walls and ceiling also have a
sound diffusing effect.
Angled wall elements (minimum 6 degrees) or
convex elements are sound diffusers.
Furniture, room dividers, etc., are good sound
diffusers.
In large rooms with a high ceiling, bookcases
and sound absorbers on the walls are an effec-
tive combination.
6. Lowering the sound level
It is essential to lower the sound level quickly in
certain rooms, while in others, doing so causes
problems. People need to be able to concentrate
in an open plan offce, so the propagation of
sound must be kept to a minimum. The level of pri-
vacy must be high enough that people nearby
cannot understand calls and be disturbed by
them, in other words that the sound does not
spread beyond the private sphere. The downside
to this is reduced speech intelligibility. In confer-
ence rooms and other rooms intended for voice
communication, good sound propagation and
good speech intelligibility are important this
means minimal sound level reduction.
3 olmenslonelle |ormer er e||ektlve som lyool||usorer
og kan anvenoes over|or strkt lyore|lekterenoe
konstruktloner |.eks store glas|acaoer.
3-olmenslonelle konstruktloner er ogsa tykke plaoer
meo en boj per|orerlngsgrao.
CHAP9
DIFFERENT
ROOMS,
DIFFERENT
ACOUSTICS
STRATEGICSOUNDDESIGN
INDIFFERENTBUILDINGTYPES
5
CHAP9DIFFERENTROOMS,DIFFERENTACOUSTICS
SCHOOLS
It is important for the materials to provide good
absorption in the low frequencies, so that extrane-
ous sounds are absorbed instead of disturbing the
lesson. At the same time, there should, if possible,
be good refection in the high frequencies this is
the consonant frequency range that is so crucial to
good speech intelligibility. The absorbers should
also be able to withstand wear and tear and must
be easy to care for.
Classrooms
Teaching used to take place from the front of the
class, with pupils copying down what the teacher
wrote on the blackboard. The teacher had to be
clearly audible, but chatter from the pupils had to
be dampened. There were some fxed rules about
where the absorbing and refecting materials were
to be placed for example, sound refective materi-
als over the teachers desk and sound absorbing
materials over the pupils. These days there is more
interaction between teachers and pupils. This means
that the sound regulating products need to both
spread and refect the sound, while also having
sound absorbing properties. In other words, the
acoustic design is much more complex.
In a modern classroom, the reverberation time must
be short. As a result, quiet sounds may be diffcult to
hear, and the teacher may not be able to use
rhetorical techniques in the lesson. The ceiling must
be actively used in order to support the dialogue
between teacher and pupil. Absorbers on the walls
are also useful in creating a short reverberation time
and good sound distribution in the room. The
number of absorbers required depends on the
height of the room. The higher the ceiling, the more
absorbers are needed. The sound can also be
spread by positioning furniture and fttings in strate-
gic places, for example bookcases along the walls.
If the room is lit by overhead lighting units, it is also
a good idea to ft absorbers inside the units.
Other requirements and
recommendations
The acoustic products must not release dust
and particles into the surroundings.
Hazardous materials must not be allowed to
accumulate in the products.
Wall and ceiling materials must be light,
and light-diffusing to prevent refections.
It must be possible to clean, wash and
repaint absorbers on ceilings and walls
without altering the acoustic properties. This
is especially relevant for absorbers that are
permanently attached and diffcult to
replace.
Absorbers on ceilings and walls must be
impact resistant. It may be necessary to ft
surfaces with additional impact resistance to
the lower parts of the wall.
Floor-mounted material must be easy to
maintain and not too hard.
Rubber disks under the chairs reduce scrap-
ing noises while also protecting the foor.
Openplansolutions
In some schools, teaching takes place in large open
rooms this presents many, often contradictory,
acoustic challenges. The pupils need to be able to
work in their groups undisturbed. But the teacher
also needs to be able to speak to all groups at once,
or to individual pupils. This requires what the experts
call a high Speech Transmission Index (STI) and a
high level of privacy. The problem is that a high STI
creates poor privacy. In rooms with very good pri-
Teachingusedtotakeplacefromthefrontoftheclass.Nowthereismuchmore
dialogue,andthiscallsfordifferentacousticsintheclassroom.
55
vacy, the teacher may have to use a microphone to
reach all pupils, which ruins any rhetorical effects the
teacher might want to use.
Themanychallengesfacing
openplansolutionsinschools
Acousticians willing to recommend open plan solu-
tions in schools are few and far between. As we
have seen, open plan arrangements have many
problems, and it is diffcult to identify straight-
forward and effective acoustic solutions.
If too much attention is paid to reverberation time
alone, it is not possible to create the best environ-
ment for speech communication. There is much
more to it than that. But if we start by looking at
the reverberation time, a lot of absorbers will be
needed to create a short reverberation time in a
large open plan classroom. It is not enough to
place absorbers on the ceiling and walls
additional sound barriers are needed in the form
of movable partitions and/or room dividers.
Partitions and room dividers must be installed
either touching or as close as possible to a wall,
ceiling or foor. This achieves good privacy
between different groups. In order for the teacher
to work effectively, the partitions should be strategi-
cally located to create a central point where the
teacher can stand. Everyone in the room must have
unimpeded acoustic contact with the centre point,
so it may be a good idea to ft sound refecting
materials in the ceiling above the centre point.

If the teachers role is more about supporting the
individual groups, the acoustic needs are different.
In this case, the emphasis should be on reducing
sound propagation in the room. This can be done
using screens, for example, but other elements in
the room can also make a contribution, say if the
ceiling has a three dimensional shape. This creates
sound barriers that limit the spread of sound in the
room.
Other recommendations
Teaching in open plan environments is at its
most effective in peace and quiet. There are
many conficting acoustic requirements that
need to be met in open plan environments, so
acoustic interventions alone may not manage
to create ideal teaching conditions. It will also
be necessary to develop what we could call
an ethos of quiet in other words, behaviour
and behaviour patterns that are compatible
with the acoustics of the room. The ethos can
be promoted by the furnishings, just as the
choice of colours can determine the mood in
the room. For example, warm red colours cre-
ate more intensity in the room, while most blue
and green colours create a low intensity.
It is also important for an open plan solution
not to open onto a thoroughfare, where the
footsteps and chatting of passers-by can dis-
rupt the lesson. The sound of footsteps can be
very distracting, and the chances of hearing
them are higher in an open plan arrangement.
Hollow foors should be avoided, the foor
covering should be soft and absorbing, and all
chair legs should be ftted with soft rubber
disks.
When open plan solutions are designed, it is
not recommended to combine different storeys.
If several storeys are combined in an open
plan arrangement, the sound can be carried
between the foors despite attempts to pre-
empt this with absorbers on mezzannine decks
and deck front faces. The reason is that the
connected rooms act as amplifers for each
other.
P
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o
:

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b
5
Mainassemblyhalls
Assembly halls are often used for group teaching.
This means that the teacher must be able to impart
information, and it must also be possible for group
work to take place undisturbed. This presents some
diffcult acoustic challenges: the general noise level
has to be reduced, but the speech response must be
good if the sound absorbers are too effective, the
teacher may not be able to reach the back rows.
Too few sound absorbers, on the other hand, will
increase the effect of noise and make concentration
diffcult.
In main assembly halls and similar spaces, it is
therefore a good idea to use wall absorbers and
some partitions to absorb and spread the sound,
with effective absorbers installed in the ceiling. This
Inthemainassemblyhall,thegeneralnoiselevelhastobereduced,
butthespeechresponsemustbegood.
D
a
h
l
s
k
e

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i
d

S
c
h
o
o
l
,

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i
m
s
t
a
d
,

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y
.

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:

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,

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m
e
f
o
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e
r
n
e
CHAP9DIFFERENTROOMS,DIFFERENTACOUSTICS
5
creates a good acoustic environment that can be
used for group work as well as one-way communi-
cation.
It is generally a bad idea for a hall to span multiple
foors, because this makes it particularly diffcult to
control the acoustics.
Folding walls and cover plates are widely used to
subdivide large spaces into smaller rooms, but they
rarely produce the desired acoustics. The problem
is that the sound of footsteps is carried by the foor
structure when the walls are closed. And when the
walls are open, the plates covering the tracks may
cause annoying delayed echoes.
Musicrooms
See the section about concert halls later in this
chapter.
Musicroomassoundsource
Music has long wavelengths, especially in the bass
range, which means it can easily travel through the
walls into adjacent rooms. To prevent this happen-
ing, mass must be added to the walls. If the walls
consist of plasterboard, for example, several layers
can be placed on top of each other. The foor
structures must also be interrupted so there is no
direct connection between the rooms.
Gymnasiums
Gymnastics and other sports make a lot of noise.
So in rooms used for sports it is a good idea to
dampen some of the sound without taking away
the rooms natural sound a quiet sports hall
would sound wrong: calls and loud sounds often
have a positive effect on physical exertion.
Because the high frequencies disappear as they
move through the air, there is no need to dampen
high frequencies in gyms. Instead, the entire ceiling
should be covered with sound absorbers with effec-
tive absorption in the low frequencies, and steps
should be taken to prevent echo. Echoes can occur
in rooms between and 20 m in width most
sport halls, in other words. Problems with echo can
be avoided by installing sound diffusers on the
walls.
Absorbers in sports halls must be highly impact
resistant. That is why the absorbers used should
pass the so-called ball safety test. Ball-safe ceilings
are tested according to a special standard in
which the ceilings are hit with a pumped up hand-
ball. In Germany they have gone a step further,
testing wall absorbers even more stringently than
ceiling absorbers to see if the absorbers could
withstand being installed behind a handball goal.
But the toughest test uses a hockey ball, and tests
Itisntalwaysjustaquestionofsuppressingthesoundasmuchaspossible.For
example,callsandloudsoundsoftenhaveapositiveeffectonphysicalexertion.
Acousticmusicneedsaresponsefromtheroom,
soitishighlydependentontheroomshape.
A
c
a
d
e
m
y

o
f

m
u
s
i
c
,

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,

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.

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.

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M
a
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5
the materials intended for installation close to the
foor. In halls for badminton and other sports that
are usually played with white balls, the absorber
colour should be chosen to create a contrast with
the ball such as grey. If white is used, there is a
risk that the players will fnd it diffcult to see the
ball.
Roomsinspecialschools
In special schools, teaching and play often take
place in the same room. This makes it necessary to
dampen noise as well as increase speech intelligibil-
ity. The best way to do this is to use effective absorb-
ers with diffusing properties throughout the room.
Because the room is also intended for play, the
products are recommended to be impact resistant
and easy to clean.
Roomsforspecialeducation
Special education usually involves just one teacher
and one pupil. A muted sound environment is
good because it enhances personal contact during
teaching. If the room has a high ceiling and/or is
wide, the right atmosphere can be created by ft-
ting a large number of absorbers to the ceiling. If
the room is narrow, the best place for the absorb-
ers is on the walls.
Other recommendations
In school rooms, many materials are perma-
nently attached. So it is very important to be
able to care for the materials. It must be possi-
ble to paint the surfaces without affecting the
acoustic properties. The surfaces of the materi-
als must also be able to withstand wear and
impact. If the environment is particularly tough,
the strength of the material can be increased by
reducing the spacing between the battens.
Alternatively, products with reinforced surfaces
can be used.
DAYNURSERIES
Noise is often a problem in day nurseries. With so
many children all in a small area, it can be diffcult
to fnd a quite spot. On top of this, day nurseries are
increasingly expected to prepare children for life at
school and to provide elementary instruction.
The days routine in a day nursery consists of indoor
and outdoor play, food and rest, alternating
between high and low noise levels. The usual
attempts to solve the noise problem involve large
amounts of sound absorbing materials. But this often
causes the children to shout louder because they do
not get an immediate response children these days
are used to lots of attention from adults, so naturally
they respond with shouts and calls if they are not
heard frst time. One way of solving this problem is
to avoid gathering large groups of children in one
place.
Yet the problematic sounds sometimes do not come
from the children themselves but from the surround-
ings for example mechanical noises from play
equipment or from chairs being dragged across the
foor. It is good practice to try to dampen the
mechanical sounds when designing the acoustic
environment one way to do this would be carpets,
and another would be rubber disks under furniture.
Playroom
The playroom in a day nursery is usually a noisy
place with lots of people and lots of play equipment.
This room usually has a large volume, and it is
Amutedsoundenvironmentisgoodforroomsusedforspecialeducation
becauseitenhancespersonalcontactduringteaching.
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CHAP9DIFFERENTROOMS,DIFFERENTACOUSTICS
5
Itisquietinherenow.Butnoiseisoftenabigproblemindaynurseries.
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CHAP9DIFFERENTROOMS,DIFFERENTACOUSTICS
0
important to have lots of natural light. This equates
to a large amount of glass in the room, and this can
refect the sound and make it seem louder. In this
type of room it is important to ft as many absorbers
as possible to the walls as well as the ceilings.
Bookcases and bouncing mattresses can also help
dampen the sound, but the best solution is to divide
the playroom into smaller zones to differentiate the
intensity of play.
Other recommendations
As in schools, many materials are permanently
attached. So it is very important to be able to
care for the materials. It must be possible to
paint over the surfaces without affecting the
acoustic properties. Because children tend to
explore the world using their fngers, it is
important that the materials cannot break
apart, and also that there are no small parts
that children might swallow. The surface of the
materials must also be resistant to wear and
tear and be able to withstand bumps and
bangs. In places where conditions are particu-
larly tough, the material can be strengthened
by reducing the distance to the base or by
using products with reinforced surfaces.
OFFICES
Reception
The reception is the face the company presents to
the outside world. As soon as people enter, they
get a sense of the spirit of the place and the
atmosphere at work. That is why it is so important
for the reception to refect the image the company
wants to present to the outside world relaxed
and informal, or formal and effcient. This atmos-
phere is created by the materials and the sound in
the room. The reception should provide the peace
and quiet needed in order to serve clients, but the
receptionist also has to be able to hear when
someone approaches. To meet these twin require-
ments, the most effective sound regulating materi-
Theplayroominadaynurseryisusuallyanoisyplace
withlotsofpeopleandlotsofplayequipment.
Receptionsshouldprovidethepeaceandquietneededinordertoserveclients,
butthereceptionistalsohastobeabletohearwhensomeoneapproaches.
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InopenplanoffcesintheUSandCanada,theysolvenoiseproblems
usingartifcialsoundtocanceloutthenoise.
als are placed above the reception desk, with less
effective materials elsewhere.

Offcelandscapes
Fitting out an offce landscape to create a pleasant
working environment is a major acoustic chal-
lenge. The problem is how to reduce the general
noise level while ensuring that there is adequate
masking of the sound: reducing the reverberation
time immediately reveals lots of sounds that had
been masked by the general noise environment.
The shorter the reverberation time, the clearer even
quiet sounds become for example the sound of a
computer keyboard.
Open plan offces are widespread in the US and
Canada. They solve the noise problems there by
introducing artifcial sound designed to counteract
the noise. They use electroacoustic systems that
produce sounds at the same frequency as the
sounds being combated. This cancels out part of
the incoming sound waves. However, this is not a
common solution in Europe. In other cases, the
noise problems can be solved by increasing the
distance between the workstations to make the
sound insignifcant and to create more sound inti-
macy within the workstations.
When designing an open plan offce, it is impor-
tant to consider which jobs thrive on interaction,
and which are happiest with a high degree of con-
centration. Sales and marketing jobs enjoy and
need interaction, unlike the accounting depart-
ment, where people need to work more quietly and
concentrated. In general, very noisy activities like
call centres should be separated from the other
offces. Group rooms and one-person offces
should be incorporated into open plan offce con-
cepts, to enable more concentrated work to take
place in small groups or individually.

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CHAP9DIFFERENTROOMS,DIFFERENTACOUSTICS
2
Ingrouprooms,theacousticsneedbeabletocopewithhectic
aswellasmoresubduedgroupactivity.
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Grouprooms
Group rooms are small rooms intended for project
work and similar activities. In group rooms, the
acoustics need to be able to cope with hectic as
well as more subdued group activity. So it is a
good idea to know in advance what kind of activity
will take place in the room: in small units, the need
for privacy is outweighed by the need for good
speech intelligibility.
One-personoffces
One-person offces are designed for concentration,
so they must be shielded from other peoples activi-
ties. They are often flled with bookcases and furni-
ture, removing any need for sound regulating mate-
rials. In the case of larger offces, however, it may
be necessary to adjust the sound, and the sound
environment inside and outside the offce will have
to be harmonised. If the whole building is divided
into individual offces, the rooms must be harmo-
nised with each other in terms of the sound environ-
ment, so that people do not move from a place with
a long reverberation time to a room with a short
reverberation time or vice versa. If the reverberation
times are not in balance, there can be an unpleas-
ant feeling in the ears when moving from one room
to another.
Corridors
In buildings with individual offces, the corridor is
the link between the offces and other rooms like the
conference rooms or dining halls. As well as con-
necting the rooms physically, the corridor should
also incorporate an acoustic adjustment or zoning
between the rooms, to prevent major differences in
reverberation time from room to room. Corridors can
also be landings or mezzanines covering several
foors. Absorbers should be ftted in carefully
selected places to achieve the desired zoning
between the rooms.
Inone-personoffces
thereisrarelyanyneedforsoundabsorbers.
Ifthebuildingisdividedintoindividualoffces,therooms
mustbeharmonisedwitheachotherintermsofthesoundenvironment.
Inbuildingswithindividualoffces,thecorridoristhelinkbetween
theoffcesandotherroomsliketheconferenceroomsordininghalls.
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CHAP9DIFFERENTROOMS,DIFFERENTACOUSTICS

Conferencerooms
Conference rooms must be good for one-way com-
munication from a platform, while also allowing dia-
logue to take place. The design therefore follows the
same principles as for classrooms.
LECTUREHALLS
In lecture halls, the amount of dialog between the
lecturer and audience is usually very limited. This
means that the room should be designed for good
speech intelligibility from the platform, while sound
from the audience needs to be dampened so that
the lecturer does not need to strain to be heard
above any noise. Sound refecting materials are use-
ful above and behind the speaker, with sound diffus-
ing materials over the audience. To prevent echoes,
sound absorbing and sound diffusing materials are
also ftted to the rear wall and the side walls.
CONCERTHALLS
The room must have a reverberation time of 0. sec-
onds for acoustic music, and a reverberation time of
0.3 seconds for electrically amplifed music. In other
words, the type of music being played in a music
room makes a big difference.
Acoustic music needs a response from the room, so
it is highly dependent on the room shape. Thus, a
long reverberation time creates a better sound the
reason why people enjoy singing in the bathroom is
that the reverberation creates a fuller voice. In a
very small room, it may be diffcult to bring out the
lowest notes because of their long wavelength. That
is why a music room needs to be a certain size if
very deep instruments will be played in it. In rooms
intended for classical music, the absorbers should
also have limited absorption and good refection.
Panel structures can sometimes create resonance or
sing along, so to speak for example instruments
like the piano, double bass and cello have a
stronger sound if they are in contact with a hollow
foor structure. Sound barriers on the ceiling and
walls should also be avoided in rooms intended for
music and singing without amplifcation, as they
can produce delayed echoes.
With electrically amplifed music, the room must
affect the sound as little as possible. The room
should not play along. The sound must therefore be
dampened as much as possible using absorbers on
the walls and ceiling. The foor should be ftted with
carpets, and if the walls are angled in relation to
each other, the sound will be absorbed even more.
If acoustic music and electrically amplifed music
will be played in the same room, reversible acoustic
panels can be installed on the walls. Reversible
acoustic panels have an acoustically absorbing
material on one side and a refecting material on
the other. The refecting side is used for acoustic
music, and the sound absorbing side is used for
electrically amplifed music.
Inroomsintendedforclassicalmusic,theabsorbersshould
havelimitedabsorptionandgoodrefection.
Conferenceroomsmustbegoodforone-waycommunication
fromaplatform,whilealsoallowingdialoguetotakeplace.
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Inlecturehalls,theamountofdialoguebetweenthelecturerandtheaudienceisusuallyverylimited.
Thismeansthattheroommustbedesignedforgoodspeechintelligibilityfromtheplatform.
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CHAP9DIFFERENTROOMS,DIFFERENTACOUSTICS

CINEMAS
In cinemas, it must not be possible to hear the room
at all the only audible sound should come from
the speakers. To achieve the optimum sound, the
room must have many speakers and the reverbera-
tion time must be brought as low as possible. When
the reverberation time is greatly reduced, other
sounds that were concealed before become more
prominent. In some situations, even very quiet
sounds can create echoes if the sound source has a
fat surface, for example when a door closes. To pre-
vent echoes, all surfaces must be angled by at least
6 degrees to each other. If the surfaces in a cinema
are parallel and cannot be angled in this way,
sound diffusing structures on surfaces are vital.
Other recommendations
Because the absorbers are installed in the
feld of peripheral vision, the surfaces should
be matt and rough textured to prevent glare
and light refection.
The materials should also be dark and light-
absorbing.
The wall materials must be child-proof and
impact resistant.
HOSPITALS
For many people, a hospital stay is a time of uncer-
tainty: they are away from home and do not always
know what to expect. There are lots of unfamiliar
sounds in a hospital, and this can also be unset-
tling. So the individual wards must be well insulated
from the sounds outside, creating an atmosphere of
intimacy and safety on the ward. Large amounts of
hard materials tend to be used in hospitals, which
need to be counteracted by similar amounts of
absorbers.
Itisimportantforhospitalwardstobeeffectivelyshieldedfromexternalsounds,
inordertocreateanatmosphereofintimacyandsafety.
Incinemas,soundsfromtheaudiencemustbedampenedasmuchaspossible.
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Other recommendations
The materials must be easy to clean.
The materials must only accumulate or give
off minimal quantities of dust, to avoid dam-
aging sensitive instruments and impairing
hygiene.
In some rooms there is overpressure above
the ceiling for reasons of hygiene, requiring
additional stability in the ceiling structure.
In operating theatres, porous materials are
not recommended because bacteria and
other impurities can settle there.
In a hospital environment, bright, warm
colours often give a greater feeling of secu-
rity.
RESTAURANTS
It is diffcult to formulate clear rules for the acoustic
environment in restaurants and other eating estab-
lishments, because not all restaurants are trying to
create the same atmosphere. If it is the kind of res-
taurant where people meet with friends before a
night on the town, the sound environment should
be much livelier than in a quiet, romantic restau-
rant. Basically, the sound needs to match the res-
taurant, so the architect should always fnd out as
much as possible about what the restaurant will be
like. Will the customers sit at long refectory tables
or in small, cosy alcoves? With refectory tables,
noise from the other guests is part of the atmos-
phere, but alcoves must feel isolated, giving guests
a sense of being in their own little world.
In general, though, it is true to say that acoustics
have not been taken into account at all in many
new restaurants. Large glass facades and hard
materials on foors and walls amplify the noise
from the other guests, so you virtually have to
shout at each other. That is why it is a good idea,
even in lively restaurants, to spread and dampen
the sound in selected places.
Inarestaurantwherepeoplemeetwithfriendsbeforeanightonthetown,
thesoundenvironmentshouldbelivelierthaninaquietromanticrestaurant.
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Part of the group
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Acoustic
- sound of Architecture
design