A study of damping effects on spatial distribution and level of reverberant sound in a

rectangular acoustic cavity

Linda P. Franzoni, and Danielle S. Labrozzi

Citation: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 106, 802 (1999); doi: 10.1121/1.427097
View online: https://doi.org/10.1121/1.427097
View Table of Contents: https://asa.scitation.org/toc/jas/106/2
Published by the Acoustical Society of America

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A study of damping effects on spatial distribution and level
of reverberant sound in a rectangular acoustic cavity
Linda P. Franzoni
Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Duke University, Durham,
North Carolina 27708-0300

Danielle S. Labrozzi
Ericsson, 7001 Development Drive, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709-3969

共Received 2 December 1998; revised 31 March 1999; accepted 14 April 1999兲

Based on computer simulations of sound fields in rectangular enclosures, important observations are
made regarding sound pressure levels and the spatial variation of the broadband reverberant field.
From these observations an empirical formula is deduced that describes the slow spatial variation
of the broadband reverberant mean-square pressure in one lengthwise direction. Two room shapes
were studied: an elongated rectangular enclosure and an almost cubic enclosure, both with
broadband sound source共s兲 on an endwall. Source position, relative phasing of multiple sources,
level, and placement of absorptive material were variables in the study. The numerical results for the
spatially averaged mean-square pressure in the reverberant field were often not in very close
agreement with values predicted from a traditional Sabine approach. The prediction was improved
by accounting for the power absorbed on the first reflection and an approximate formula is given for
this correction factor. The reverberant sound field is characterized by a gradual spatial variation in
the direction away from the source. This spatial variation scales exponentially with the sidewall
absorptivity, as demonstrated by the numerical simulations. An approximate emperical formula is
shown to predict this spatial variation fairly well. The computer simulations showed elevated sound
pressure levels at the enclosure boundaries, for all cases, and also in the interior, for sound fields
excited by a single broadband source on an endwall. These intensification zones occur along a plane
in front of the source and along a plane which corresponds to the reflection of the source, whether
or not the source is on a line of symmetry. © 1999 Acoustical Society of America.
关S0001-4966共99兲00608-6兴
PACS numbers: 43.55.Br, 43.55.Ka 关JDQ兴

INTRODUCTION
Methods for predicting the magnitude and spatial distri-
bution of sound pressure in reverberant spaces include statis-
tical energy analysis, asymptotic modal analysis, classical
modal analysis, ray tracing techniques, finite element analy-
sis, and boundary element analysis. Statistical energy analy-
sis and asymptotic modal analysis are particularly suited for
systems which have high modal density and are lightly
damped 共with assumptions of uncorrelated modes, equal dis-
tribution of energy, etc.兲. With the exception of ray tracing,
the other methods mentioned are typically applicable in the
low-frequency range where there are relatively few modes in
the bandwidth of interest, and become computationally cum-
bersome at higher frequencies.
Many sound fields of practical importance are in the
high-frequency range, namely wavelengths are small com-
pared to the enclosure dimensions, have high modal density,
and are not lightly damped. Examples of these types of
sound fields are found in vehicle interiors, for example, air-
plane fuselages. At this time, an efficient theoretical method,
like asymptotic modal analysis, does not exist for determin-
ing the spatial distribution of sound pressure levels in these
types of spaces. It is the ultimate goal of this research pro-
gram to develop such a method. Toward that end, exact com-
puter simulations of the reverberant sound field in two rect-
angular acoustic cavities 共one which is long and narrow, one
which is more cubic兲 have been made. The computer pro-
gram provides a numerical solution to the three-dimensional
wave equation with the appropriate wall impedance and
sound source boundary conditions for each configuration
studied.
The computer simulations show some unexpected re-
sults. The traditional Sabine equation overpredicts the spa-
tially averaged mean-square pressures by 50% or more, in
some cases, when compared to the computer simulations.
The agreement is slightly better when there are multiple
sources on a wall, as opposed to a single point source. The
Sabine theory can be modified, by removing the energy ab-
sorbed by the first reflection. This adjustment factor im-
proves the results dramatically. An exact and an approximate
version of the modification is presented. As expected, both
the original Sabine theory and the modified theory break
down for increasing levels of absorption and for less homo-
geneously distributed absorption.
The spatial variation of the sound fields in the length-
wise direction correlates well with an exponentially varying
function. The exponent is linearly related to the sidewall ab-
sorptivity. This is particularly true for rooms studied with
equally distributed absorption, but shows similar behavior
when the absorption is distributed less uniformly. From the
correlations presented, an approximate equation for the ex-

802 J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 106 (2), August 1999 0001-4966/99/106(2)/802/14/$15.00 © 1999 Acoustical Society of America 802
ponentially varying spatial distribution of the broadband re-
verberant field is proposed. This equation is shown to work
well for the two rooms studied, and is thought to be a good
approximation in general.
In addition, intensification zones, i.e., locations with a
high level of spatial correlation between modes, are known
to occur at the boundaries. When a point source is located
along an axis of symmetry, intensification has been observed
in the interior as well. The computer simulations show that
for any point source location there will be intensification
zones in the reverberant field. The locations of the increased
sound pressure levels correspond to the source location and
the location of an image source. These effects are most pro-
nounced for lightly damped sidewalls, but are also present to
a lesser extent when damping is placed on a wall or walls of
the cavity.
I. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The first predictions of sound pressure levels in rooms
with different levels of absorption were based on the experi-
mental work of Wallace Sabine. From his experiments in
room acoustics, Sabine was able to develop an analytical
formula which related the mean-square pressure in the room
to the amount of absorption and physical dimensions of the
room. However, several assumptions inherent in the analyti-
cal expression limit its accuracy and usefulness. The one
which is most important is that the sound field in the room is
diffuse. This assumption is valid for lightly damped rooms
which have more reverberant characteristics. Other assump-
tions which affect the applicability of the prediction are: that
the propagation of sound in any direction of the enclosure is
equally probable, and that the boundaries of the enclosure
will provide continuous absorption.1 Sabine’s theory neglects
issues of room configuration, damping distribution, and the
effect of different angles of incidence on the absorption.2–7
Sabine’s classical work provided the basis for later room
acoustics theories, including geometrical acoustics. It has be-
come the foundation for other theories. For example, Eyring
based his theory on Sabine’s work without the assumption of
continuous absorption.2
Wave theory is also used to predict sound pressure lev-
els in enclosures. Unlike Sabine’s theory, this theory pro-
vides an exact solution to the sound field. It incorporates the
room configuration and damping distribution through the
boundary conditions of the room. The wave theory can only
explicitly solve for basic geometries that correspond to 11
coordinate systems which allow separation of variables for
the wave equation. It is also more useful in the low-
frequency range or in a small volume where the number of
waves is small. If a high-frequency or large volume is used,
the computation becomes cumbersome and impossible with-
out the aid of a computer.1,6,8,9 Also the vibration character-
istics of the boundaries of buildings, including walls, doors,
and windows are not accounted for in this theory.10
An approach that was considered by Gibbs and Jones
uses the method of images and accounts for a nondiffuse
sound field. It also uses the effective power of the image
source.3 The method of images is not a recent method and
was, in fact, discussed by Bolt in 1950.11 Another well-
803 J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 106, No. 2, August 1999
known technique for predicting sound pressure levels is ray
tracing, which is computationally intensive since it requires
following each sound wave in time and space as it reflects
and is absorbed at the surfaces.12
A method based on the energy differential equation is
applicable for enclosures in which the sound field is not
completely diffuse. The differential equation is based on
Sabine’s equation and Eyring’s equation. Related work is
presented in a paper by Ohta et al.9 Sergeev combined a
geometric and statistical approach in an effort to analyze a
nondiffuse rectangular room.13
For rooms that are of irregular or complex shape, the
finite element method is often used. It can also account for
nonuniform distributions of damping. This method is more
suited to the low-frequency range since the number of ele-
ments required is dependent upon the size of the wavelengths
present. At high frequencies, the wavelengths will be short
and the method will require a larger number of elements 共and
therefore, calculations兲.14–16
The prediction of sound fields in an enclosure can also
be determined by the boundary element method. An indirect
boundary element method has been investigated by Bernhard
and Kipp.17 The advantage of this method is that only the
boundaries are modeled. However, element size is still de-
pendent upon wavelength size, and at high frequencies a
larger number of elements will be needed. The ineffective-
ness of the boundary element method at certain frequencies
has been studied by Hussain and Peat.18 A method similar to
the wave theory is classical modal analysis 共CMA兲. The
sound pressure is described as a series of coefficients times
the normal modes of the system. This method is also re-
stricted to separable geometries. At high frequencies a large
computational effort is required, because the contributions of
the individual modes are taken into account. Usually the
‘‘hard box’’ or ‘‘rigid wall’’ modes of the system are used in
the expansion. Therefore, when the room deviates from the
hard wall conditions it takes more modes to approach the
correct result and all the modes become coupled to each
other.19
Statistical energy analysis 共SEA兲 is used to predict high-
frequency sound fields under certain conditions. These con-
ditions are: diffuse sound field, little or no damping, and that
the acoustic field behaves stochastically. In SEA the modes
of vibration of the room and its boundaries are an integral
part of the analysis. The entire system is divided into sub-
systems which contribute to the resulting sound pressure
level. The energy of each subsystem can be solved from a set
of linear equations which are derived by relating the power
of applied forces to the energy of the coupled systems. The
advantage of SEA is the minimal computational effort re-
quired since the modes are not considered individually.10
The disadvantages of SEA are: parameters such as ‘‘coupling
loss factors’’ are not well determined and may need to be
found experimentally; and SEA is not capable of resolving
the spatial variation of the sound field since it only predicts
average levels. Furthermore, SEA is restricted to the middle-
and high-frequency ranges since a large number of modes
are required for a diffuse field.20
A method similar to SEA is asymptotic modal analysis
L. P. Franzoni and D. S. Labrozzi: Damping of reverberant sound 803
 FIG. 1. Room shape and coordinate system.

共AMA兲. It is derived from classical modal analysis in a for-

mal way and involves the assumption that the number of FIG. 2. Source locations on ⫺L x wall for single source baffled monopoles
structural modes or acoustic modes approach infinity. The
resulting expression for pressure does not require the sum-
mation of the individual modal contributions. In fact, the were in-phase with each other and out-of-phase with the op-
spatially averaged AMA sound pressure level expression is posite diagonal; and two sources vertically in-line were in-
identical to that of SEA. Unlike SEA, asymptotic modal phase with each other and out-of-phase with the sources next
analysis is not restricted to spatial averages, which is one of to them.
the advantages of the method. However, uniform distribution
of absorbing material is assumed and the method is restricted
to low levels of absorption, i.e., ‘‘lightly damped
C. Damping distribution
systems.’’ 20–22
The damping material covered one or more entire walls,
II. DESCRIPTION OF THE ACOUSTIC SYSTEM and was modeled mathematically as a real impedance, sym-
STUDIED bolically z b or z w . The different configurations are shown in
Fig. 4. The absorptive wall共s兲 were either: the endwall alone
The study presented here is based on a computer simu- (z b ), two sidewalls only (z w ), or an endwall and two side-
lation of two rooms, one of which could be described as walls (z b and z w ).
‘‘long and rectangular’’ and one which could be described as The absorptivity in English sabins was calculated by
‘‘boxy’’ 共not quite cubic兲. A single point source or multiple adding the products of the random incidence absorption co-
point sources were placed on an endwall of the room. The efficient times the covered wall areas. A small wall covered
source location for single sources, the phase distribution for with a very absorptive damping material could have the same
multiple sources, and the amount and distribution of the ab- absorptivity 共sabins兲 as a larger area covered with less ab-
sorption were variables in the study. sorptive material. For generality, the results are presented in
A. Room configuration terms of a ratio of absorptivity to total surface area of the
enclosure, i.e., an effective absorption coefficient for the
The models used for this study were rectangular enclo- room as a whole.
sures. The first enclosure was a long rectangular room with
the dimensions of L x ⫽7.0 ft, L y ⫽3.0 ft, L z ⫽2.0 ft, and a
volume of 42 cubic feet. The second enclosure was more
cubic, with a volume of 49.35 cubic feet. It had the dimen-
sions L x ⫽3.5 ft, L y ⫽3.0 ft, and L z ⫽4.7 ft. Both enclosures
had the same surface area. Although these dimensions do not
seem realistic for a room, they correspond to the dimensions
of a scale model which will be used in future experimental
work. The coordinate system is shown in Fig. 1.

B. Source configuration
Simulations were run for the cases of a single source on
an endwall, and for cases where multiple 共4兲 sources with
different phase configurations were located on an endwall.
For the single source cases, eight different source locations
were chosen as shown in Fig. 2. For the multiple source
FIG. 3. Source locations for cases with four baffled monopole sources act-
cases, the source strengths were equal with locations fixed as
ing together in combinations of pairs which were either in-phase or out-of-
shown in Fig. 3, but the phases varied. Three configurations phase. If brought close enough together these sources could simulate a di-
were studied: all four sources in-phase; sources on a diagonal pole or quadrupole.

804 J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 106, No. 2, August 1999 L. P. Franzoni and D. S. Labrozzi: Damping of reverberant sound 804
 FIG. 4. Configurations of damping
distribution: 共a兲 impedance z b on the
x⫽0 endwall, 共b兲 impedance z w on y
⫽L y and z⫽L z sidewalls, and 共c兲 im-
pedance z b on the x⫽0 endwall and
z w on y⫽L y and z⫽L z sidewalls.

III. DEVELOPMENT OF WAVE THEORY pole of strength Q, located at y 0 , z 0 on the x⫽⫺L x wall.
The volumetric strength, Q, is defined as
The sound pressure in a rectangular enclosure as shown

冕冕 冏
in Fig. 1 must satisfy the three-dimensional wave equation: Ly Lz
Q⬅ u dz dy. 共4兲
⳵2p ⳵2p ⳵2p 1 ⳵2p 0 0
⫹ ⫹ ⫺ ⫽0. 共1兲 x⫽⫺L x
⳵x2 ⳵y2 ⳵z2 c2 ⳵t2
The following impedance boundary conditions apply on the This provides the final boundary condition. Namely,
x⫽0, y⫽L y and z⫽L z walls:
u 兩 x⫽⫺L x ⫽U 0 e i ␻ t ⫽Q ␦ 共 y⫺y 0 兲 ␦ 共 z⫺z 0 兲 e i ␻ t , 共5兲
p
u
冏 x⫽0
⫽z b ,
p
v
冏 y⫽L y
⫽z w ,
p
w
冏 z⫽L z
⫽z w , 共2兲
which can be extended to include multiple sources by super-
position. Invoking the acoustic momentum equation the
where the acoustic velocity, q⫽ui⫹ v j⫹wk. In addition to boundary condition on the source wall becomes
the impedance boundary conditions, there are also hardwall
boundary conditions on two other walls, y⫽0, and z⫽0.
⫺
1 ⳵p
冏 ⫽i ␻ Q ␦ 共 y⫺y 0 兲 ␦ 共 z⫺z 0 兲 e i ␻ t . 共6兲

冏 冏
⳵p ⳵p ␳ ⳵x x⫽⫺L x
⫽0, ⫽0. 共3兲
⳵z y⫽0
⳵y z⫽0
The mathematical solution for the case of a single monopole
The x⫽⫺L x wall, i.e., the source wall, is a hardwall except source of strength Q located at source location y 0 , z 0 results
for a point or points where there is a sound source. The in the following analytical expression for the pressure as a
source 共or sources兲 is assumed to be a simple baffled mono- complex quantity:

805 J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 106, No. 2, August 1999 L. P. Franzoni and D. S. Labrozzi: Damping of reverberant sound 805
 p 共 x,y,z,t 兲 ⫽ 兺m 兺n P mn 冉 z̄ b
kx
k
cos共 k x x 兲 ⫺i sin共 k x x 兲 冊 mean-square power-spectral density over the frequency inter-
val, where ␻ u and ␻ l are the upper and lower frequencies in
the band, respectively. Thus
⫻共 cos共 k y y 兲 cos共 k z z 兲兲 e i ␻ t , 共7兲
where p̄ 2 ⫽ 冕␻l
␻u
p̄ 2psd d ␻ and Q̄ 2 ⫽ 冕 ␻l
␻u
Q̄ 2psd d ␻ . 共9兲

4Q ␳ ck The power-spectral densities of the input and output quanti-

P mn ⫽ cos共 k y y 0 兲 cos共 k z z 0 兲
L yL zk x ties are related through the transfer function as follows:
1 p̄ 2psd ⫽ 兩 H 共 ␻ 兲 兩 2 Q̄ 2psd . 共10兲

冉 冊
⫻
kx
共 z̄ b k x ⫹k 兲 2 iz̄ b sin k x L x ⫹cos k x L x ␤ y 共 z̄ w 兲 ␤ z 共 z̄ w 兲 Assuming Q̄ psd is constant in the bandwidth of interest, the
k
mean-square pressure equals:

冕 冕
and ␻u ␻u
p̄ 2 ⫽ p̄ 2psd d ␻ ⫽ 兩 H 共 ␻ 兲 兩 2 Q̄ 2psd d ␻
kL y z̄ w ␻l ␻l
␤ y 共 z̄ w 兲 ⫽1⫹i
共 k y L y z̄ w 兲 2 ⫺ 共 kL y 兲 2
and ⫽Q̄ 2psd 冕 ␻l
␻u
兩 H共 ␻ 兲兩 2 d ␻ . 共11兲

kL z z̄ w Or, in terms of mean-square source strength in the band:

␤ z 共 z̄ w 兲 ⫽1⫹i .
共 k z L z z̄ w 兲 2 ⫺ 共 kL z 兲 2
The double summation arises because there are an infi-
nite number of wave numbers k y and k z , which satisfy the
p̄ 2 ⫽
Q̄ 2
␻ u⫺ ␻ l
冕 ␻u

␻l
兩 H共 ␻ 兲兩 2 d ␻ . 共12兲

given eigenvalue problem. The complex wave numbers, k y In the numerical studies, the integral was replaced by a
and k z , will be discussed in detail in the next section of this summation, and sufficiently small increments in frequency
paper. The dimensionless impedances z̄ b and z̄ w have been were taken, such that H( ␻ ) was essentially constant over
normalized by ␳ c. each d ␻ . Replacing the integral by a sum, d ␻ becomes
Equation 共7兲 is valid when there is one source of ( ␻ u ⫺ ␻ l )/N, where N is the number of increments:
strength Q on the x⫽⫺L x endwall. When there are multiple
sources, the superposition principle can be applied. For the p̄ 2 共 L y L z 兲 2 兺 n兩 H 共 ␻ 兲兩 2
case of four baffled monopole sources of strengths Q 1 , Q 2 , ⫽ . 共13兲
Q̄ 2 共 ␳ c 兲
2
N
Q 3 , and Q 4 , the term, Q cos(kyy0)cos(kzz0), can be replaced
by a summation of the four terms: This quantity is referred to as ‘‘dimensionless mean-square
兺 4j⫽1 Q j cos(ky y j)cos(kz z j), assuming that source 1 is located pressure’’ in the results section. When multiple sources were
at y 1 , z 1 and source 2 is located at y 2 , z 2 , etc. The sources considered, they were assumed to be equal in strength, such
can be in-phase or out-of-phase by making Q a positive or that the magnitude could be factored out of the sum and Eqs.
negative value. The four sources were not placed in close 共8兲–共13兲 could be applied.
enough proximity to each other 共within a wavelength兲, to
A. Complex wave numbers
simulate a dipole or quadrupole, even though their phases
were configured in that way. However, it was thought that Wave numbers k y and k z which appear in Eq. 共7兲, and
having multiple sources would produce a more diffuse sound therefore in the transfer function H( ␻ ), do not correspond to
field after fewer reflections than the rooms with a single m ␲ /L y and n ␲ /L z , as in the hardwall case for which z w
point source. ˜⬁. Due to the impedance boundary conditions at y⫽L y
In the numerical studies the pressure was calculated in a and z⫽L z , the wave numbers are complex. Applying the
one-third octave band about the center frequency of 4000 Hz impedance boundary condition at y⫽L y leads to the follow-
共corresponding to a dimensionless k c L x ⫽160 for room 1兲. ing transcendental equation for wave number, k y :
The dimensionless transfer function H( ␻ ) representing the
ratio of pressure p 共output兲 to source strength Q 共input兲 was k y L y tan共 k y L y 兲 ⫽i ␻␳ L y /z w . 共14兲
defined as To solve this equation, define: k y L y ⫽m ␲ ⫹ ⑀ , and substitute
into Eq. 共14兲:
pL y L z
H共 ␻ 兲⫽ , 共8兲
Q␳c 共 m ␲ ⫹ ⑀ 兲 tan共 ⑀ 兲 ⫽ikL y /z̄ w ⫽i ␥ . 共15兲
where H( ␻ ) is directly obtainable from Eq. 共7兲. The overbar denotes that the impedance has been normalized
Equation 共7兲 represents the pressure at a single fre- by ␳ c. Taking the derivative of Eq. 共15兲 with respect to ␥,
quency and at a single spatial location. In order to calculate gives a differential equation for d ⑀ /d ␥ :
the mean-square pressure in a frequency band, the following
d⑀ i cos2 ⑀
relationships were used and can be found in Ref. 23. The ⫽1 . 共16兲
mean-square level in the band is equal to an integral of the d ␥ 2 共 sin 2 ⑀ 兲 ⫹ ⑀ ⫹m ␲

806 J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 106, No. 2, August 1999 L. P. Franzoni and D. S. Labrozzi: Damping of reverberant sound 806

FIG. 5. A single trajectory in the x direction in room 1 with a dimensionless
impedance of 22.5 on two sidewalls and 0.5 on the endwall. The sound field
is shown, with and without the pressure which comes directly from the
source. The source is slightly off-center on the source endwall.
This equation was first numerically integrated for ⑀ and then
converged to a higher level of accuracy by applying a
Newton–Raphson scheme to Eq. 共15兲. Knowing ⑀, wave
number k y is then
k y ⫽ 共 m ␲ ⫹ ⑀ 兲 /L y . 共17兲
The process is the same for k z . The wave numbers are guar-
anteed to be orthogonal by the Sturm–Liouville theory. The
wave number in x is found from the dispersion relation:
k x ⫽⫾ 冑共 ␻ /c 兲 2 ⫺k 2y ⫺k z2 . 共18兲
B. Calculation of sound pressure level in the
reverberant field
For a harmonic sound source共s兲, computation of Eq. 共7兲
with the appropriate complex wave numbers results in the
total acoustic pressure 共as a complex quantity兲 at any point in
the rectangular acoustic cavity as a function of frequency.
This pressure includes the pressure directly from the source
as well as the reverberant field. In order to study the rever-
berant field, it was necessary to remove the portion of the
complex sound pressure that came directly from the source
to the point of evaluation before taking the root-mean-square
and the band average. The source on the wall behaves like a
simple baffled monopole with harmonic time dependence.5
As a dimensionless ratio, this can be written as follows:
p directL y L z iL y L z k ⫺ikr
⫽ e . 共19兲
Q␳c 2␲r
The contribution of the direct field is given in Eq. 共19兲 for a
single source which is located a distance r from the point
where the pressure is being calculated.
Figure 5 shows an example of the dimensionless pres-
sure in the 1/3rd octave band centered at 4000 Hz (kL x
⫽160 for room 1兲 with and without the direct field. In this
plot, a ‘‘numerical microphone’’ traversed the more cubic
cavity along a line of constant y, z, i.e., on a trajectory mov-
ing between the source wall and the endwall. The sound
source in this case was a single baffled monopole at source
807 J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 106, No. 2, August 1999
location 1 共slightly off-center; see Fig. 2兲. All future results
presented will be for the reverberant field only 共i.e., the di-
rect field removed兲.
C. Volume average of reverberant field
Trajectories were run with the reverberant field com-
puted along a line parallel to the x, y, or z axis. The starting
location for each trajectory varied, and many trajectories
were run starting from each of the three walls x⫽0, y⫽0,
and z⫽0. The x trajectories were averaged to represent a
typical spatial distribution in the x direction. The same was
done for the y and z directions. Assuming these averages
denoted by P ave ave ave
x , P y , P z represent a continuous distribu-
tion in their respective directions, the trajectories they repre-
sent will cross through each other and will only include the
elevated boundary levels at the beginning and ending of their
own trajectory direction. Therefore by volume averaging
these cross-sectional averages, the interior will be counted
three times, while the boundaries would be counted once.
Interior average values, excluding the boundary and elevated
levels in its vicinity 共approximately one-third wavelength
from each wall兲 were calculated separately and defined as:
P interior , P interior , P zinterior . Therefore, a more precise volume
x y
average can be calculated by subtracting two-thirds of the
volume average of P interior x , P interior
y , P zinterior from the volume
ave ave ave
average of P x , P y , and P z . This result will only count
the interior once and each boundary once.
IV. SPATIALLY AVERAGED REVERBERANT FIELD:
MODIFICATION OF SABINE THEORY
According to Sabine, the spatially averaged mean-square
reverberant pressure can be calculated from
4 ␳ c⌸
2
p̄ rev⫽ , 共20兲
A
where A 共in sabins兲 is the total absorptivity in the room and
⌸ is the power of the sound source. The power of a baffled
monopole5 can be written as
␳ ck 2 Q 2
⌸⫽ . 共21兲
4␲
Note, this implies that if the source strength Q is constant in
a band, as was assumed in this study; then the power must
vary with frequency. For comparison between the predicted
reverberant sound pressure level and the calculated one in
the study, the pressures in both cases were nondimensional-
ized by (Q ␳ c)/(L y L z ).
A. Removal of first reflection
In the Sabine theory, it is assumed that the reverberant
field contains sound waves that have undergone many reflec-
tions. By using Eq. 共21兲 for the power in Eq. 共20兲 the rever-
berant field is overestimated since this implies all of the
power from the source is present in the reverberant field. In
actuality, some of the power from the source is absorbed on
the first reflection, additional power is absorbed on the sec-
ond, etc. In the first few reflections, the sound has not yet
L. P. Franzoni and D. S. Labrozzi: Damping of reverberant sound 807
achieved a diffuse character, but rather has a definite nondif-
fuse form. As suggested by Eyring’s early work in this area,
a way to compensate for this effect is to adjust the power of
the source in the Sabine equation 关Eq. 共20兲兴 by removing
power that is absorbed by the first few reflections. The larg-
est contribution comes from the first reflection. It will be
shown that good agreement between the simulations and the
theory was obtained when only the first reflection was taken
into account.
The incremental power which is absorbed from the first
sound wave coming directly from the source onto an incre-
mental area 共␦␰ ␦␩兲 of an impedance-covered wall at an
angle ␪ 共measured from the normal to the surface兲 is
␦ ⌸ absorbed⫽ 共 p̄ 2 / ␳ c 兲 ␣ 共 ␪ 兲 cos共 ␪ 兲 ␦ ␰ ␦␩ , 共22兲
where ␣共␪兲 is the oblique incidence absorption coefficient. FIG. 6. Dimensionless mean-square pressure for three source locations ver-
The mean-square pressure, which is used to calculate inco- sus absorptivity level. Theoretical prediction based on original Sabine equa-
herent intensity, is equal to that from a point source of tion 共solid line兲, three predictions 共dashed lines兲 adjusting the source power
to account for losses due to the first reflection 共modified Sabine equation兲,
strength Q: and data from numerical simulations are shown.

p̄ 2 ⫽ 冉 冊
␳ ck
2␲
2
Q2 1
2 r2
. 共23兲
configuration of damping. For simplicity, the data presented
The power absorbed is then found by integrating Eq. 共22兲 are for cases where the same amount of impedance is placed
over all the covered surface areas of the enclosure. The ␰, ␩ on two sidewalls and the endwall opposite the source 共as
variables represent a 2-D coordinate system for a covered opposed to different impedance values on each of the walls兲.
wall. The variable r in Eq. 共23兲 equals the distance from the In Fig. 6, the predicted values from the modified Sabine
point source 共for example, at y 0 , z 0 兲 to a point on the cov- equation, the predicted values from the original Sabine equa-
ered wall 共␰, ␩兲. Assuming a normalized real impedance r̄ b tion, and the corresponding values from the computer simu-
on a given wall, the fraction of power absorbed to total lations are shown. Curves are drawn through the predicted
power of the source is values. The numerical data points from the simulations are
shown as symbols. Source location 1 is near the center of an
⌸ absorbed 2
⌸ total
⫽
␲
冕冕 W

0 0
H r̄ b z s2
共 r̄ b z s ⫹1 兲 冑共 x⫺x s 兲 2 ⫹ 共 y⫺y s 兲 2 ⫹z s2
end wall, source location 3 is near a hard–hard corner of the
enclosure, and source location 6 is near a damped–damped
corner. In all cases, the modified Sabine estimate outper-
⫻dx dy, 共24兲 forms the original Sabine estimate, although the most sub-
stantial improvement occurred for source location 6.
where x s , y s , z s locates the source in a coordinate system
To consider the power absorbed due to subsequent re-
referenced to the covered wall, and W and H are the dimen-
flections, a similar calculation can be done. Image sources
sions of the covered wall. This integration must be done for
should be included which correspond to each ‘‘hardwall’’
each covered wall, and the results summed to give the total
reflection. The power absorbed by each impedance wall from
fraction of power absorbed on the first reflection.
each image source should then be calculated. Consideration
The power in Eq. 共21兲 is then multiplied by (1
of subsequent reflections improves the results. However, in
⫺(⌸ absorbed /⌸ total)) and the resultant power is used in Eq.
most cases reasonable agreement was achieved after removal
共20兲 to predict the reverberant mean-square pressure aver-
of the first reflection, and the increased calculation effort
aged throughout the volume. The resulting equation is a
required to account for the subsequent reflections could not
modification of the Sabine prediction 关Eq. 共20兲兴, namely:
be justified.
2
p̄ rev⫽
4 ␳ c⌸ total
A
• 1⫺冉⌸ absorbed
⌸ total
. 冊 共25兲
B. Approximate formula for power adjustment
This expression only accounts for the energy absorbed by the
first reflection, but improves the agreement considerably. As an alternative to performing the integrals in Eq. 共24兲
Equation 共25兲 will be referred to as the ‘‘modified Sabine over each absorbing surface, an approximation could have
equation.’’ been made. However, this approximation does not account
As an example, data for source locations 1, 3 and 6 in for source position. In the approximation, ¯␣ is defined as the
Room 2 are presented in Fig. 6. For each level of absorptiv- effective absorption of the room.
ity, there will be one prediction based on Eq. 共20兲 共the origi- ␣ randomS covered
nal Sabine equation兲 regardless of source position. However, ¯␣ ⬅ . 共26兲
S total
after correcting for the first reflection, there will be three
different predicted values for each of the three different ¯␣ is called ‘‘dimensionless absorptivity’’ or equivalently,
source positions in the same room with the same amount and ‘‘absorptivity/surface area,’’ in subsequent plots. The

808 J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 106, No. 2, August 1999 L. P. Franzoni and D. S. Labrozzi: Damping of reverberant sound 808
FIG. 7. Comparison between two methods of calculating the fraction of FIG. 8. Sensitivity to source position as shown by the percent error between
power to be used in the modified Sabine equation, (1⫺⌸ absorbed /⌸ total). the modified Sabine equation and the computer simulations for calculating
Circles correspond to calculations for each specific room geometry. The line the spatially averaged mean-square pressure of the reverberant field. Results
is an approximate result. for rooms 1 and 2 are plotted versus the effective absorptivity of the room.
Impedances z b and z w were equal. Dashed lines correspond to a linear fit
through the average error for a given level of effective absorptivity for each
amount of power absorbed by incident sound waves directly room.
from the source is approximately equal to
⌸ absorbed⬇⌸ total¯␣ . 共27兲 ergy absorbed on the first reflection from an absorbing wall.
Without this correction 共i.e., the original Sabine equation兲,
Therefore, an approximate correction factor for the modified
predictions were always too high; this correction brought the
Sabine equation could have been
results into closer agreement as shown by the error plots. For
⌸ absorbed these plots, percent error is given by
1⫺ ⬇1⫺ ¯␣ , 共28兲
⌸ total calculated⫺predicted
%error⫽100• , 共29兲
corresponding to an adjusted source power equal to ⌸ total predicted
⫺⌸ absorbed⬇⌸ total(1⫺ ¯␣ ). In Fig. 7, a comparison is shown
where ‘‘predicted’’ refers to the modified Sabine equation
between the approximate correction factor 关Eq. 共28兲兴, and the
and ‘‘calculated’’ refers to the computer simulation results.
calculated source adjustment, (1⫺⌸ absorbed /⌸ total) based on
The sensitivity to source position is shown in Fig. 8. A
the integrals given in Eq. 共24兲 for both rooms where there are
single baffled monopole is the sound source, and the damp-
multiple sources on the endwall and z b 共endwall impedance兲
ing material has been evenly distributed over two sidewalls
is not necessarily equal to z w 共sidewall impedance兲. The
and an endwall. For each room, eight different source loca-
cases where z b ⫽z w fall closest to the line. Note, for a given
tions were run, each giving different values for the volume-
absorptivity, several combinations of z b and z w values are
averaged sound pressure level at a fixed absorptivity. The
possible 共and are presented兲. Although this approximation
appears to work fairly well, all subsequent results are based
on the modified Sabine equation corrected by the source ad-
justment from integrating the power absorbed over each of
the absorbing surfaces 共an exact result兲.
This correction factor is similar to that derived by oth-
ers, in that it also bears a relationship with absorptivity. In
both the Norris and Eyring formula and the Millington–Sette
formula for reverberation time there is a factor of ln(1
⫺¯␣e), where ¯␣ e is the effective random-incidence energy-
absorption coefficient.5

C. Comparisons between numerical simulations and

predicted values
In Figs. 8–10, the percent error between the volume-
averaged dimensionless sound pressure levels predicted by
the modified Sabine equation and those calculated from the
computer simulation are plotted versus the dimensionless ab-
sorptivity of the room 关English sabins 共ft2兲/total surface area
共ft2兲兴. These errors have been minimized by adjusting the
power 关using Eq. 共24兲兴 to account for losses due to the en-
FIG. 9. Sensitivity of relative phasing in the case of multiple sources on the
endwall. Percent error in the spatially averaged mean-square pressure of the
reverberant field for rooms 1 and 2 are plotted versus the effective absorp-
tivity of the room. Impedances z b and z w were equal. Dashed lines corre-
spond to a linear fit through the average error for a given level of effective
absorptivity for each room.

809 J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 106, No. 2, August 1999 L. P. Franzoni and D. S. Labrozzi: Damping of reverberant sound 809

FIG. 10. Sensitivity to damping distribution. Percent error of the spatially
averaged mean-square pressure in the reverberant field versus dimensionless
absorptivity are shown for rooms 1 and 2 with a fixed source configuration,
but with different impedance values on the absorbing walls.
percent error associated with each source position versus di-
mensionless absorptivity is represented by a circle 共solid for
room 1, open for room 2兲. For a particular absorptivity there
are eight %error values, one for each source location. A
dashed line representing a linear curve fit through the aver-
age of the errors at each absorptivity for each room. Two
observations can be made: one regarding the average error
versus absorptivity level, and the other regarding the spread
of the %error around the regression line through the mean
values as a function of absorptivity level.
As expected, the average error grows with increasing
absorptivity. Comparing the results of the two rooms, for a
given absorptivity the overall average error is smaller for the
more cubic room. This is an expected result because the
more cubic room distributes the energy more evenly. How-
ever, the error is more spread out with respect to source
position. This is most likely due to the increased surface area
of the source wall in the more cubic room 共room 2兲 resulting
in larger distances between source positions. In addition, the
error appears to have a wider variation with source position
as the absorptivity increases 共again, more pronounced for
room 2兲. These comparisons are made between the numerical
simulation and the Sabine prediction with the first reflection
removed; at higher absorptivity levels, the removal of subse-
quent reflections becomes more important.
In Fig. 9, the percent error 共calculated as before兲 is plot-
ted versus dimensionless absorptivity for cases having four
sound sources on an endwall. The spatial separation between
all sources was several acoustic wavelengths. The relative
phasing of the four broadband sound sources was varied, but
their positions on the endwall were fixed. The damping con-
figurations were such that the impedance values were equal
on the three absorbing walls. Three cases are shown: 共1兲
sources on a diagonal are in-phase with each other and out-
of-phase with the diagonally opposing sources; 共2兲 sources
vertically in-line are in-phase with each other and out-of-
phase with the sources next to them; and 共3兲 all four sources
are in-phase.
At each absorptivity level, the predicted level of spa-
tially averaged mean-square pressure 共corrected for first re-
810 J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 106, No. 2, August 1999
flections兲 is a constant since the phase information and fixed
source positions do not change the modified Sabine equation.
However, three different levels are obtained by the numerical
simulations for the different source phase relationships. Per-
cent errors were computed based on the differences between
the calculated and predicted results 关Eq. 共29兲兴. Again, a re-
gression line 共dashed兲 was run through the average of the
three errors at each absorptivity value. As expected, the er-
rors grow with increasing absorption due to the failure of the
theory to predict the reverberant field in highly damped
rooms. When the four sources are in-phase, the highest spa-
tially averaged reverberant mean-square pressures were ob-
tained, whereas when the sources were out-of-phase with the
sources beside them 共‘‘vertically in-phase’’兲 the lowest spa-
tially averaged reverberant mean-square pressure levels were
obtained. This is most likely due to a partial null along the
centerline where the sources essentially canceled each other
out, causing a reduction in the overall levels.
In Fig. 10, similar error plots are shown for cases where
the source phasing was held constant and the damping dis-
tribution was varied. The diagonally in-phase configuration
was used, since it was closest to the average of the other
cases. Of the source configurations studied, it was thought to
create the most ideal 共diffuse兲 sound field. The damping con-
figurations were shown in Fig. 4. Different values of endwall
impedance (z b ) were used as well as different values of side-
wall impedance (z w ) to achieve overall absorptivity levels in
the rooms.
Circles 共solid for room 1, open for room 2兲 in Fig. 10
correspond to a damping distribution where z b ⫽z w , i.e., the
same impedance is used on the endwall and the two side-
walls. Since in the previous plot the damping was evenly
distributed in this way, these circles are the same as those on
the previous plot. Squares represent damping configurations
where the endwall impedance is very large, making it essen-
tially a hard wall. In these cases, only the sidewall imped-
ance is used to achieve the desired amount of absorptivity in
the room. Cases where the impedance on the endwall is not
equal to the impedance on the two sidewalls, and neither the
endwall impedance nor the sidewall impedance are large
enough to consider them ‘‘hard,’’ are represented by a dia-
mond symbol.
A special case was also considered, designated by an
triangle, where the endwall impedance was equal to the char-
acteristic impedance of air ( ␳ c). The sidewall impedances
could be adjusted to give different values of absorptivity for
the room, and these cases gave extremely high errors in the
adjusted Sabine equation 关Eq. 共25兲兴. Only one of these cases
is shown because the other cases have errors so large they
are outside the range of the plot. For example, in room 2 an
error of 253% at 13 English sabins occurs when 共normalized兲
z̄ b ⫽1 and z̄ w ⫽500, and an error of 71.7% occurs at 14.7
English sabins for a similar case with slightly more absorp-
tive sidewalls (z̄ w ⫽100). In these cases, the presence of a
highly absorptive wall 共anechoic, at normal incidence兲
makes the sound field directional rather than diffuse, since
there are relatively few reflections from this wall. This damp-
ing configuration causes Sabine’s assumption of equal en-
ergy in all directions to be violated.
L. P. Franzoni and D. S. Labrozzi: Damping of reverberant sound 810
FIG. 11. The spatial variation of mean-square pressure in the lengthwise
direction is shown as an average of all trajectories in the x direction for
room 1. The source location was 8 and dimensionless impedance of 4.0
distributed on two sidewalls and an endwall.
As shown in Fig. 10, the theory predicts the levels more
accurately when the impedance is more equally distributed.
Other than the special case of an anechoic 共at normal inci-
dence兲 endwall, the largest errors generally occur when the
endwall is a hard wall with no absorption 共actually a very
large real impedance兲. These errors are more pronounced in
the more cubic room because all of the walls contribute
equally to the absorption and distribution of sound. In the
more rectangular room the sidwalls play a more important
role in distributing the sound.
V. SPATIAL VARIATION OF THE REVERBERANT
FIELD
Plots of sound pressure versus distance have ‘‘fast’’ and
‘‘slow’’ variations. Over short distances, there are sometimes
rapid variations around a mean level, while over larger dis-
tances there tends to be a slower change in the mean level.
To study the slower changing spatial variation of the sound
pressure in a certain direction, cross-sectional averages of the
dimensionless mean-square pressure in a one-third octave
band centered at 4000 Hz were plotted versus distance away
from the source. The cross-sectional averages were taken by
averaging the many trajectories in a single direction.
In Fig. 11, a typical spatial variation plot is shown. This
plot shows the spatial average at cross sections along the
longest dimension of room 1, the elongated rectangular
room. There is a single source 共at location 8, near a damped/
hard corner兲 on the source wall and impedances are equal on
the two sidewalls and the endwall (z̄ b ⫽z̄ w ⫽4, corresponding
to 32 English sabins兲. Notice the average reverberant sound
pressure levels vary by a factor of 10 from one end of the
room to the other. In this case, an error of 27% occurred in
the volumetric spatially averaged reverberant pressure pre-
dicted by the modified Sabine Theory 关Eq. 共25兲, i.e., includ-
ing the power correction兴 when compared to that calculated
by the computer simulation. This is obviously not a very
uniform sound field.
811 J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 106, No. 2, August 1999
FIG. 12. The natural logarithm of the mean-square pressure in Fig. 11
versus dimensionless distance x̄ is shown, along with a linear curve fit
through the data. The equation of the line and correlation coefficient 共R兲 are
given.
A. Curve-fit analysis
A function of the form
p̄ 2 ⫽Ce ␮ x̄ 共30兲
was assumed for the spatial variation of the average level in
a y-z plane as a function of normalized distance (x̄
⫽x/L x ). An exponential curve fit was determined for the
data points calculated, or alternatively, the natural logarithm
of the spatial average was plotted versus distance and a linear
fit was determined which best fit the data. Other curve fits
using polynomials of different orders were also tried, but the
numerical data had the best correlation using exponential
curve-fits.
In Fig. 12, the natural logarithm of the average pressure
values 共plotted in Fig. 11兲 is taken and the curve is replotted.
A straight line can be fit through these values with a corre-
lation coefficient of 0.992. The slope and intercept of the line
are approximately ⫺2.34 and 3.66, respectively. These val-
ues are taken from the equation for the line which best fits
the data. The slope and intercept of this line have a specific
meaning with respect to the spatial variation of the mean-
square sound pressure levels in this frequency band.
Taking the natural logarithm of both sides of the as-
sumed form for p̄ 2 results in the linear equation:
ln共 p̄ 2 兲 ⫽ln C⫹ ␮ x̄. 共31兲
The slope 共␮兲 of this line corresponds to the rate of spatial
exponential fall-off of the sound pressure level and the inter-
cept (ln C) is related to both the overall average level and the
slope times the distance traversed. It was found empirically
that the rate of exponential attenuation, ␮, and the amount of
absorption on the sidewalls of the cavity are linearly related
to each other.
One pair of slope and intercept exists for each source
location and damping configuration. There are pairs of slope
and intercept values for each of the cases which were con-
sidered in the study. In Figs. 13 and 14, the slopes 共i.e., the
exponential decay rate, ␮兲 are plotted versus the absorptivity
from the sidewalls only. The intercept values are not plotted
L. P. Franzoni and D. S. Labrozzi: Damping of reverberant sound 811

FIG. 13. Effect of source type on the exponential decay rate in rooms 1 and
2. A linear relationship is shown between the quantity: exponential decay
rate, ␮ times the area ratio 共cross-sectional area/sidewall surface area兲 and
the effective sidewall absorptivity. The damping distribution is held con-
stant, with impedances z b and z w equal.
because no new information is gained from these plots. The
overall average sound pressure levels have already been
shown to correlate with the total absorptivity, based on the
modified Sabine Equation, in previous plots.
Figures 13 and 14 show that there is a linear relation-
ship between the amount of absorption on the sidewalls of
the room and the decay rate, ␮, of the reverberant field.
When the decay rate is multiplied by the ratio of cross-
sectional area to sidewall surface area the results for both
rooms collapse nicely onto a single plot. In Fig. 13, the
source configurations are varied; both rooms are presented
on the same plot. The single source cases have been aver-
aged into a single value at each level of sidewall absorptivity
in order to avoid cluttering the plots with many individual
data points for each sound source location. A linear relation-
ship between the sidewall absorptivity and the exponential
decay rate can be extrapolated from the plots. The line relat-
ing ␮ times the area ratio and the sidewall absorptivity has
zero intercept and a slope of approximately ⫺1/2.
FIG. 14. Effect of damping distribution on the exponential decay rate in
rooms 1 and 2. Results are for a single source configuration. An approxi-
mate linear relationship is shown between the quantity: exponential decay
rate, ␮ times the area ratio 共cross-sectional area/sidewall surface area兲 and
the effective sidewall absorptivity.
812 J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 106, No. 2, August 1999
In Fig. 14 results of exponential decay rate versus side-
wall absorptivity are also shown, but for the cases of differ-
ent damping configurations. In each of these cases, the
sources are the four monopoles whose diagonals are in-
phase. For the longer room 共room 1兲, Fig. 14 shows that the
values for different damping configurations cluster about a
line. However, in the more cubic room, where the lengthwise
direction from source to endwall is substantially shorter than
in the previous room, the damping distribution makes a big-
ger difference in the rate of exponential spatial variation, and
the plot shows significant ‘‘spread’’ in the data.
B. Development of an empirical formula
Assuming that Eq. 共30兲 is an appropriate model for the
slow spatial variation of the reverberant mean-square pres-
sure in the lengthwise direction of the enclosure, determina-
tion of the constant C and the exponent ␮ in terms of known
2
quantities leads to a formula for p̄ rev as a function of x. The
plots of exponential decay rate times the area ratio 共cross-
sectional area/sidewall surface area兲 versus dimensionless
sidewall absorptivity show an approximately linear relation-
ship between these two quantities. A fairly good approxima-
tion for the slope of this line is ⫺1/2, in which case, the
exponential decay rate can be written as
1 S sidewall surface 1
␮ ⫽⫺ ¯␣ w ⫽⫺ ¯␣ w S̄, 共32兲
2 S cross-section 2
where S̄ is the area ratio of the sidewall surface area divided
by the cross-sectional area, and ¯␣ w is the random incidence
absorption coefficient associated with the sidewall imped-
ance times the ratio of sidewall surface area covered by the
sidewall impedance divided by the total sidewall surface
area. In other words,
S covered
¯␣ w ⫽ ␣ random• . 共33兲
S sidewall surface
Therefore, ¯␣ w is an effective wall absorption coefficient 共and
has been the abscissa for the previous two plots兲. The con-
stant C can be determined from the volume average of the
reverberant mean-square pressure.
The volume average of Eq. 共30兲 is:
具 p̄ rev
2
典 spatial ave⫽ 冕
⫺1
0
Ce ␮ x̄ dx̄⫽
C
␮
共 1⫺e ⫺ ␮ 兲 . 共34兲
From this equation, the constant can be determined from
known quantities, assuming the spatial average of the rever-
berant mean-square pressure is known or can be predicted. It
has been shown that when the power has been adjusted to
account for that which is absorbed on the first reflection, the
spatially averaged reverberant mean-square pressure can be
predicted from the modified Sabine formula with some
amount of error.
The error 共as shown in Figs. 8–10兲 grows with increas-
ing absorption in an approximately linear manner. Depend-
ing upon the variable under consideration, source position,
source type/phase, or absorption distribution, the slope of the
linear growth in percent error 共divided by 100兲 varies from
approximately ⫺0.4 to ⫺0.7 for the cases studied. Choosing
L. P. Franzoni and D. S. Labrozzi: Damping of reverberant sound 812
 FIG. 16. Room 2, comparison between the numerical simulation and the
FIG. 15. Room 1, comparison between the numerical simulation and the approximate exponential curve for the spatial variation of the reverberant
approximate exponential curve for the spatial variation of the reverberant field in the lengthwise 共x兲 direction. Different curves correspond to different
field in the lengthwise 共x兲 direction. Different curves correspond to different levels of absorption. Also, note intensification at the boundaries.
levels of absorption. Also, note intensification at the boundaries.
lengthwise direction are shown. The horizontal axis varies
an intermediate value of ⫺0.5 to represent an average rate of from x̄⫽⫺1 at the source wall to x̄⫽0 at the absorbing
error growth, a correction factor based on the absorption endwall. Three sets of curves are shown on each graph, cor-
level can be determined. Defining E as the percent error di- responding to different levels of absorption. In these cases,
vided by one hundred 关from Eq. 共29兲兴: the impedances on the endwall and the absorbing sidewalls
were equal. The solid lines correspond to data from the nu-
具 p̄ calculated
2
典 ⫺ 具 p̄ predicted
2
典 1 merical simulations. These are averages of between 8 and 11
E⫽ ⫽⫺ ¯␣ total , 共35兲
具 p̄ predicted典
2
2 parallel trajectories at fixed y, z locations running in the x
direction. The dashed lines correspond to the approximate
where 具 p̄ predicted
2
典 is the reverberant mean-square pressure curves based on Eq. 共37兲 共linear due to the logarithmic
predicted by the modified Sabine equation 共corrected for the scale兲. Note the elevated levels at the boundaries, these will
first reflection’s absorbed power兲. Therefore, a good approxi- be discussed in the next section. Also, notice that the long
mation for 具 P̄ rev
2
典 spatial ave would be rectangular room 共room 1兲 has more spatial variation than
room 2.
具 p̄ rev
2
典 spatial ave⫽ 具 p̄ predicted典 • 共 1⫺ 2 ¯
2 1
␣ total兲 . 共36兲
Overall, the approximate equation does remarkably well
Equation 共36兲 can then be substituted into Eq. 共34兲 to solve compared to an extensive 共exact兲 numerical simulation. The
for the constant in terms of known quantities, where same formula predicts the spatial distribution of the cross-
具 p̄ predicted
2
典 is given by Eq. 共25兲. From Eqs. 共32兲, 共34兲, and sectional average mean-square pressure in these two very
共36兲, an approximate expression for the slow spatial variation different rooms with errors that are typically 1 dB or less.
in the broadband reverberant mean-square pressure as a func- Further analytical work is underway to more fully develop
tion of known quantities is the predictive formulas presented. Current empirical results

冉 冊
are based on the correlations observed in the numerical simu-
1
1
2¯ ␣ w S̄ lations; specifically, that both the error in the predicted spa-
2
p̄ rev共 x̄ 兲 ⫽ 具 p̄ predicted
2
典• 1⫺ ¯␣ total
2 ␣ w¯S
共 1/2 兲 ¯ tially averaged reverberant pressure and the exponential de-
共e ⫺1 兲
cay rate of the spatial variation scale linearly with
¯
•e ⫺ 共 1/2 兲 ¯␣ w S x̄ , 共37兲 absorptivity.
where 具 p̄ predicted
2
典
comes from Eq. 共25兲 with Eq. 共24兲 as a C. Intensification zones
correction. Instead, a completely analytical, but more ap-
It is well-known that the sound pressure level will have
proximate, formula that avoids integrating Eq. 共24兲 to com-
a maximum at a hard wall, edge, or corner of the room due to
pute the absorbed power can be written as:

冉 冊冋
4 ␳ c⌸ total ␣ total兲共 1⫺ ¯␣ total/2兲
共 1⫺ ¯
2
p̄ rev共 x̄ 兲 ⫽
A ␣ w S̄/2兲
共 1⫹ ¯
This formula uses Eq. 共28兲 rather than Eq. 共24兲, and a three-
term Taylor Series expansion for the exponential term in the
denominator of Eq. 共37兲. Notice the equation can be grouped
into the product of: the original Sabine formula, an absorp-
tivity correction, and an exponential spatial dependence.
In Figs. 15 and 16, plots of the spatial variation for the
broadband reverberant mean-square pressure field in the
册
the spatial correlation at the boundaries. However, on an im-
¯ pedance wall, it is possible to have a local minimum rather
e ⫺ 共 1/2 兲 ␣¯ w S x̄ . than a maximum, particularly for highly absorptive walls. In
addition to the special cases of room boundaries, when there
共38兲 is a point source on a wall the sound pressure levels will be
elevated along a line in front of the source. In fact, the sound
pressure levels will be increased on intersecting planes which
pass through the source. These regions of increased sound
pressure level, both on boundaries and on interior planes,
have been termed ‘‘intensification zones.’’ 24
In the previous figures 共Fig. 15 and Fig. 16兲, the typical
intensification zones can be seen at the two ends of each

813 J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 106, No. 2, August 1999 L. P. Franzoni and D. S. Labrozzi: Damping of reverberant sound 813

FIG. 17. Average of trajectories in the y direction showing intensification
zones at sidewalls and center when the source is in the center. Source loca-
tion 2 共refer to Fig. 2兲, room 1. Separate curves for different impedances
showing different levels, but intensification present in both cases.
room. While the magnitudes are different, the behaviors are
similar. The impedance endwall is at x̄⫽0, and the source is
located at dimensionless x̄⫽⫺1. The peaks at the two end-
walls are indicative of intensification zones due to correla-
tion at hard walls, even though the endwalls are absorptive.
Intensification zones corresponding to a source location
of a single ‘‘point’’ source are shown in Figs. 17 and 18. To
demonstrate these intensification zones, trajectories across
the cavity are shown. In Fig. 17, the source is in the center of
the source wall, and two curves are shown corresponding to
different levels of absorption. The intensification peak
clearly shows up at the center plane where dimensionless y
⫽0.5 for both values of impedance plotted. Adjusting for the
different scales in the two cases, it is remarkable how similar
the character of the curves appears. These plots are averages
of parallel trajectories which were run in the y-direction at
various fixed x, z positions. Each of the individual y trajec-
tories that make up one curve on the plot had a substantial
peak in the center.
In Fig. 18, the source is at location 4, which is located at
FIG. 18. Intensification due to single source. Source location 4 corresponds
to dimensionless y⫽0.7, its image with respect to the hard wall occurs at
dimensionless y⫽0.3. The dimensionless impedance is on two walls and the
end wall and equals 11.0.
814 J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 106, No. 2, August 1999
a dimensionless ȳ coordinate of 0.7 from the ȳ⫽0 共hard兲
wall. There is a peak here due to the correlation of this lo-
cation with the source position, even though the direct field
has been removed. In addition, there is another peak at ȳ
⫽0.3, which corresponds to a correlation with a reflection
off the hard wall. This peak also appears in every trajectory
that was run across the room in the y direction, for this
source location. These types of intensification phenomena
are somewhat surprising, since there is no symmetry in-
volved. It was previously assumed that for this type of rein-
forcement in a fairly diffuse field, the damping would have
to have been symmetrically distributed and/or the source
would have needed to have been on a line 共plane兲 of sym-
metry. However, the intensification effect was detected in
most of these numerical simulations 共nonsymmetric situa-
tions兲, although it was weaker for more absorptive imped-
ance cases.
VI. CONCLUDING REMARKS
Numerical simulations of the acoustic sound field in two
enclosures were used to study the effects of damping distri-
bution and source location 共or phase configuration兲 on the
characteristics of the reverberant field. It was shown that the
overall spatial average can be fairly well predicted using
classical results based on Sabine’s early work. Compared to
the numerical results, a better prediction can be obtained
when the source strength is diminished by an amount equiva-
lent to that which is absorbed by first reflections from ab-
sorbing surfaces, and an approximate formula for this was
given. When taken into account, agreement between the pre-
dicted spatially averaged sound pressure level, and those
which were calculated from the numerical simulations
showed the expected trends. Errors in prediction increased as
the absorptivity increased, because the sound field became
less diffuse.
The Sabine theory 共traditional or modified兲 was better
able to predict the spatially averaged sound pressure levels
when multiple sources were used to excite the room, than
when a single source was used. Multiple sources probably
require fewer reflections before the sound field can be de-
scribed as diffuse. Other than adjusting the power of the
source to account for loss due to absorption of the first re-
flection, the Sabine theory is unable to account for the rela-
tive locations of the source and the absorption. This effect is
less pronounced when there are multiple sources.
The global spatial variation of the sound pressure levels
in the direction from source wall to opposite endwall was
best described by an exponentially decaying function. The
rate of spatial decay in the lengthwise direction scaled lin-
early with the sidewall absorptivity. The overall levels scale
with total absorptivity, in rough agreement with classical
theory. A simple empirical formula for the spatial variation
as an exponentially decaying function was shown to agree
fairly well with the computer simulations of both rooms,
even though the room geometries were very different.
Regions of elevated sound pressure level were observed
in the numerical simulations. These regions not only oc-
curred at the boundaries of the room, as expected, but also
occurred in the interior of the room in certain cases. These
L. P. Franzoni and D. S. Labrozzi: Damping of reverberant sound 814
intensification zones appeared for cases where a single
source was present, and were most pronounced for cases
with light damping. However, the source did not need to be
on a line of symmetry, and the damping did not need to be
distributed symmetrically for these intensification zones to
occur. Increased sound pressure levels occurred both in front
of the source and on a plane which corresponded to a reflec-
tion of the source off a hardwall.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was sponsored by the National Science Foun-
dation under Grant No. CMS-98-96345.
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