Factors Affecting Architectural Acoustics

1.Reverberation Time When the reverberation time is too high,

the sound produced by the speaker will persist for a long period of
time. Similarly ,when the reverberation time is low, sound dies
quickly and becomes inaudible in a short amount of time. In order
to improve the sound, reverberation time of a hall should be
increased to an optimum value. Remedies :- Decreasing total
absorption coefficient of the wall Placing sound reflection boards
inside a hall
2. Loudness Reverberation time of a hall is directly proportional
to loudness. Low loudness results in existence of sound for a
shorter period while high loudness results in existence of sound for
a longer period. Therefore sound produced by the speaker should
be within audible range. Remedies :- Placing sound absorbing
boards to reduce loundness Placing sound reflecting boards to
increase loudness
. 3. Echelon Effect Unwanted sounds are produced when people
walk on staircase or floors o r hard paved paths due to poor
finishing of the floor surface, structural effects, etc. The above
mentioned unwanted sound are termed as echelon effect .
Remedies :- Finishing the floors or stairs very finely. Using
carpet to caver floors and stairs.
. 4. Structure-Borne Sound Sound waves generated inside a hall
are known as structure-borne sound. They are produced due to
apparent motion of benches & footsteps & propagated through
walls and floors. Remedies :- Using rigid structures so as to rest
the vibrations. Introducing discontinuities in the path of sound.
Converting floor and ceilings with suitable sound absorbing
materials & anti-vibration mouths.
. 5. Echo If the time interval between direct sound and reflected
sound is less than 1/15 of a second, the reflected sound is helpful
in incresing loudness. But if the time interval is less than that,
then the sound arrives later and will cause confusion. Remedies : To prevent unnecessary reflection of sound. Covering long

distance walls and ceilings with suitable sound absorbing

materials.
. 6. Focusing due to walls and ceilings Sound produced by
speaker undergoes multiple reflections at ceilings and walls.
Reflected sounds from ceilings and walls should not be focused on
particular point, rather it should be distributed throughout a hall.
Generally a plane surface reflects sound uniformly but a curved
surface does not. So reflection of sound from a curved surface
produces a harmful effect. Remedies :- Radius of curvature of
ceilimg should be kept twice the height of the building Distribution
of sound waves from a concave surface should be made uniform
. 7. Resonance within a building Sound waves get amplifies when
the frequency of vibration of air particles matches with the halls
natural frequency of vibration. Thus, it results in an unwanted
sound effect in side a hall. Remedies :- Model-Hall or a model
auditoriun should be kept inside a vessel which contains water.
The water-wave particle movememnts are studies and are used for
the construction of actual hall or auditorium.