Extract from Recording Studio Design 2nd Edition Philip Newel

4.5 Absorption
The most important controlling factor in room acoustics is absorption. The coefficient of absorption is the proportion of the acoustic energy which is not reflected when an acoustic wave encounters a boundary. All boundaries absorb to some degree or other, which is why the concept of a perfectly reflective wall is purely hypothetical. There are numerous means of absorbing acoustic energy, most of which result in converting it into heat. The possible exception is when absorption includes transmission, in which case the energy is lost to the outside world, such as via an open window, but eventually even this acoustic propagation will be absorbed in the air and converted into heat. At 1 kHz, the loss in dry air is about 1 dB per km, but in humid air it can be ten times that figure. Note that the 6 dB SPL reduction for each doubling of distance is not energy loss, but merely redistribution over a wider wavefront. There are fibrous absorbers, porous absorbers, panel absorbers, membrane absorbers, Helmholtz absorbers, and these days, active absorbers, which will be mentioned in later chapters. They all function in their own ways. Some of them absorb by their action in arresting the particle velocity, in which case they need to be spaced away from the hard boundaries. Others act on the pressure component of an acoustic wave, in which case they need to be placed at the boundaries of a room. The fibrous and porous absorbers can be considered together (fibrous absorbers are a sub-group of porous absorbers in general), as they both work by frictional losses caused by the interaction of the large internal surfaces of the material with the velocity component of the sound wave. Because the rapidity of the pressure changes (the pressure gradient) rises with frequency, the effectiveness of porous/fibrous absorbers also rises with frequency, due to the fact that the frictional losses increase as the particle velocity increases. As a result of this, the effect of these types of absorbers is affected by their density, their porosity, the space between the absorbent material and the wall, and their thickness. There are certain trade-offs, though. Table 4.1 shows the effects of thickness and density on fibrous absorbers. In general, barring any extra production processes that need to be paid for, one tends with most materials to pay for weight. Prices per kilogram are usually what count.

From Table 4.1 it can be seen that if we were to use a material such as mineral wool, then at 125Hz a thickness of one unit (say, 2.5 cm) could have an absorption coefficient of say 0.07, yet a thickness of 4 units (10 cm) of a similar density would have an absorption coefficient of 0.38 over 500% greater for probably four times the price (four times the thickness of the same density = four times the weight). However, if we had our given piece of mineral wool of one thickness unit (2.5cm), and an absorption coefficient of 0.07 at 125Hz, and another piece of four times the density (four times the weight per given volume) but the same thickness, the absorption coefficient would only rise to 0.1. We would therefore be paying about four times the price for an improvement in absorption of less than 50%. So, at 125Hz, weight for weight, and hence in rough terms cost for cost, adding four layers of a lower density material and allowing it to occupy four times the space would produce over five times the absorption increase over a single piece. Compressing those four layers into the space of one would reduce the absorption by a factor of about 4. Note, though, in Table 4.1 how at higher mid frequencies, and above a certain minimum thickness, neither increasing the density nor the thickness has much effect.

4.5.1 Other properties of fibrous materials Still on the subject of the absorbent properties of fibrous materials, there are other forces at work besides the ability to convert the sound propagation in air from adiabatic to isothermal. There is a factor known as tortuosity, which describes the obstruction placed in the way of the air particles in forcing them to negotiate their way round the medium. The tortuosity, in increasing the path length of the sound which travels through the fibres, also increases the viscous losses which

Extract from Recording Studio Design 2nd Edition Philip Newel

the air encounters as the sound waves try to find their way through the small passageways available for their propagation. In certain conditions, air can be quite a sticky fluid. There are also internal losses as the vibrations of the air cause the fibres to vibrate, and in order to bend, they must consume energy. Frictional losses are also present as vibrating fibres rub against each other. Energy is required for all of this motion of the fibres, and by these means, acoustic energy becomes transformed into heat energy. As the above losses are proportional to the speed with which a particle of vibrating air tries to pass through the material, their absorption is greater when the particle velocity is higher. If we consider a sound wave arriving at a wall, the wall will stop its progress and reflect it back. At this point of reversal of direction, the pressure will be great, but the velocity will be zero. The same consideration applies to any ball which bounces from a wall. The absorbent effect of fibrous materials is thus greatest when they are placed some distance away from a wall, and if any one frequency is of special interest, then a distance of a quarter of its wavelength would be an optimal spacing away from a wall for the most effective absorption by a fibrous material. The quarter and three-quarter wavelength distances are the regions of the maximum particle velocity of a wave. Conversely, membrane absorbers are dependent upon force for their effectiveness, and so should be located near to the point of maximum pressure (i.e. close to a wall) if absorption is to be maximised. The absorption mechanisms are thus very different. 4.5.2 Absorption coefficients Acoustic absorption is the property which a material possesses of allowing sound to enter, and not to be reflected back. In this sense the absorption coefficient refers not only to the sound internally absorbed but also to that which is allowed to pass through. A large open window is therefore an excellent absorber, as only minuscule amounts of any sound which reaches it will be reflected back from the impedance change caused by the change in cross-sectional area of the spaces on each side of it. A solid brick wall is a very poor absorber, as it tends to reflect back most of the sound energy which strikes it. Now let us put some practical figures on some different materials. A 2.5cm slab of a medium density mineral wool can absorb about 80% of the mid and high frequency sound which strikes it. An open window will absorb in excess of 99% of the sound energy which is allowed to pass through it, and a brick wall, made from 12 cm solid bricks, will allow about 3% of the sound to enter or pass through. Looked at another way, the mineral wool will reflect 20% of the sound energy back into the room, the open window will reflect less than 1%, and the brick wall 97%. If we now look at the same materials in terms of sound isolation, the situations are very different. An open window will provide almost no isolation except a small amount at frequencies with wavelengths longer than the largest dimension of the opening. The slab of 2.5cm mineral wool will provide around 3 dB of isolation (although at low frequencies almost nothing), but our brick wall will provide over 40 dB of isolation. Thus, in these cases, absorption coefficients and sound isolation properties are unrelated. In fact, in the examples quoted, they run in reverse order. Absorption and isolation properties should not be confused. 4.5.3 Porous absorption Curtains, carpets and other soft materials are all porous absorbers, but they are also fibrous. There is another group of porous absorbers in which fibrous friction is not present. These include micro-perforated materials with rigid skeletons, such as specially perforated plastics, in which the friction due to tortuosity and air viscosity is the predominant reason for the absorption. Rocks, such as pumice, also come into this category, as do porous plaster and some open-cell plastic foams. Figure 4.25 shows the typical absorption curves of some porous/fibrous absorbers, and Figure 4.26 shows the effect of spacing such absorbers away from a hard wall. It is clear from the latter figure that such absorbers will absorb more strongly at frequencies whose quarter wavelengths are less than either the distance of the material from the wall, or the thickness of the material itself if it is bonded to the hard surface. This seems to suggest that as frequencies rise above the quarter wavelength frequency there could be a drop in absorption, because the point of maximum particle velocity may no longer coincide with the position of the absorbent material. However, in practice, due to the spread of the region of the wave over which the particle

Extract from Recording Studio Design 2nd Edition Philip Newel

velocity isquite high, this sensitivity to frequency does not occur unless the absorbent material is very thin. 4.5.4 Resonant absorbers In this category we have panel absorbers and Helmholtz absorbers. Figure 4.27 shows the construction of two typical panel absorbers, and Figure 4.28 shows a Helmholtz resonator in the form of a slotted concrete block. Unlike the fibrous/porous absorbers, which act on the velocity component of an acoustic wave, the resonant absorbers act on the pressure component of the wave (see Figures 4.9 and 4.10), so they are most effective when they are placed close to the hard boundaries of a room, where the pressure component of the resonant modes is at a maximum. When the panels are made of wood or plasterboard, for example, it is the internal frictional losses within the cellular or particulate make-up of the materials which converts the acoustic energy into heat, during the panel vibration. In the Helmholtz type of absorber, the frictional losses are due to the high particle velocities that occur in the openings at resonance. The principle difference in effect between the fibrous/porous absorbers and the resonant absorbers is that the former generally tend to absorb better as the frequency increases, whereas the latter tend to function more effectively at lower frequencies. Figure 4.29 shows the typical sort of absorption curve to be expected from panel absorbers, and comparison with Figures 4.25 and 4.26 should prove interesting. For further comparisons, Figure 4.30 shows typical absorption curves for Helmholtz absorbers. The frequency of peak absorption of a panel absorber is a function of the vibrating mass of the panel and the depth of the air space behind it. These are mass-spring systems, where the panel is the mass and the air cavity provides the spring. The stiffness of the spring is inversely proportional to the depth of the cavity, so, as the cavity increases in depth, the spring becomes less stiff and the resonant frequency drops. Increasing the mass of the panel also reduces the resonant frequency. All resonant absorbers are massspring systems, so in the case of the Helmholtz absorber, the air cavity again provides the spring, but this time the air slug in the neck of the resonator (the slot in the block in the case of Figure 4.28) provides the mass.

Before leaving the subject of porous absorbers let us consider the anechoic chamber construction shown in Figure 4.2. It can be seen that the porous/fibrous glass-fibre wool which is used as the absorbent material is in the form of wedges. In Table 4.1 we saw that the effect of thickness and density changes are such that more dense material was less absorbent weight for weight. This is partially because it presents more of a barrier to the arriving sound wave, which can enter into the pores of the less dense material more easily. So, because the surface necessarily presents a change in acoustic impedance from that of the air in the room, some proportion of the acoustic energy will be reflected back. The effect is somewhat like a lot of people all trying to pass through a few doors very quickly, but where they must keep walking at the same speed even if they cannot immediately enter a door. The only way is back! The wedges in the anechoic chamber present less of an abrupt obstacle to the encroaching acoustic wave, and so allow it to enter more gradually into the absorbent material. It also presents a greater surface area of material on each wall than could be provided by a plane surface of the same material. In fact, yet another function of the wedges is that they tend to produce the same amount of absorption independent of the angle of incidence of a sound wave, which in measuring chambers is another important point to be considered, even if it is not too relevant in studio situations.

Extract from Recording Studio Design 2nd Edition Philip Newel

A variation on the Helmholtz absorber is the perforated sheet. Although the holes may seem to occupy only a very small proportion of the surface area, they act over a much greater area because of diffraction effects which funnel the sound energy into each mouth from a much larger area. If the resonator mouths are less than a half wavelength apart, they enhance each others radiation resistance and are then capable of absorbing a considerable range of frequencies around resonance. For comparison purposes, Table 4.2 shows the absorption coefficient at various frequencies for a selection of materials. The figures should not be taken as gospel truth, however, because differences inherent in the materials themselves, and in the way that they are applied, can have a great effect on their in-situ absorption. Nevertheless, the tendency can clearly be seen from the table that the porous/fibrous absorbers decrease in effect as the frequency lowers, whereas the resonant absorbers tend to increase in effectiveness as the frequency lowers.

4.5.5 Membrane absorbers These consist of a flexible, impervious sheet in place of the panel material shown in Figure 4.27. If the sheet is sufficiently lossy, and has a low bending stiffness, very significant amounts of acoustic energy can be turned into heat within the material of the sheet membrane. The air behind provides a damping spring. The membranes are typically plasticised bituminous material or mineral loaded flexible plastics. Polymer materials of high internal loss are also used. The early work on these absorbers was done by the BBC using bituminous roofing felt as the membrane. The trials were dogged by the tendency of the characteristics of the materials to change with temperature and time, and they were also inconsistent from batch to batch, even from the same manufacturer.

Extract from Recording Studio Design 2nd Edition Philip Newel

Specially produced materials are now in widespread use around the world, and many specialist acoustic material manufacturers have their own proprietary types. Dependent on use, such deadsheets as they are commonly known, range in weight from around 3 to 15 kg/m2. The lower weights are used more for acoustic control, whilst the higher weights are more effective for sound isolation. These materials will be considered further in later chapters. What these deadsheets have in common is that they are all very highly damped.