Acoustics Research Centre University of Salford

The use of Sound Intensity for Characterisation of Reected Energy in Small Rooms
Julin Romero-Prez, Bruno Fazenda, Mark R. Avis 1.- Objectives: a) To develop a measurement system aiming to measure the strength, temporal and spatial properties of Early sound eld in Small Rooms with a spherical resolution similar to the Minimum Audible Angle (MAA = 2 at the front). b) To nd out useful descriptors to characterise the acoustic of the Early Reection energy in small rooms. 2.- Methods: Use of a Custom Rotation Cradle for the p-p probe. Cross Laser alignment for the measurement of real positions at the receiver. Calculation of Instantaneous Intensity in Time Domain. Computation of Active Complex Instantaneous Intensity in Time Domain by applying the Hilbert transform H(f(t)) [1]. 3.- Results: a) Time Domain method applied to Position 1 :
Graph of the Instantaneous Intensity arrivals at plane XZ from 0 ms to 12.4375 ms
1 0.9 Envelope Intensity X Envelope Intensity Z
H H

Email: J.RomeroPerez@edu.salford.ac.uk

Active instantaneous Intensity X Heyser

0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 0 1 2 3 4 5

Time of arrival Direct Sound = 0.208 ms

Time of arrival First Reection = 5.385 ms

!

Time[ ms ]

For the Direct Sound both component signals x and z have same polarity. By simple trigonometry the modulus of the intensity yields a direction estimation of 45. For the First Reection both components have opposite polarity, therefore the estimated angle becomes negative: -75

Use of Short Time Fourier Transform (STFT) with Equivalent geometric centre with a Laser Cross Rectangular Bands (ERB) and Diffuseness Estimate ( ) [2]. Octagonal prole for rotating: 45, 90 135, 180, 225 and 270 xed

1 iactive ( t ) = Re p ( t ) + jH p ( t ) u ( t ) jH u ( t ) complex 2 Rotation cradle aligned at its

)(

Instantaneous Intensity in X axis [ W / m ]

Graph of the Instantaneous Intensity at plane XZ (Logarithmic scale)

90 120 30 60

Graph of the Active Complex Instantaneous Intensity at plane XZ (Logarithmic scale)

90 120 30 60

20 150 10

Direct Sound 30

20 150 10

Direct 30Sound

180

210

First ! Reection
240 270

Less accurate estimation of First Reection

300

180

330

210

First ! Reection
240 270

More Accurate estimation of First Reection 330

300

b) Short Time Fourier Transform (STFT) Method applied to Position 1: Female thread for tripod mounting Manufactured in Minalum de Mxico S.A. de C.V.1
Mean Direction of sound arrivals at the plane XZ in ERB bands 10 9 8 7
5 Diffuseness Estimate ( ) at the plane XZ in ERB bands

Assembly detail of pieces of the Rotation Cradle. It was manufactured using a CNC milling machine on High grade Aluminum within tolerances of 1m 14 measurement positions were tested in steps of 1, 2 and 5 covering an angle range of 30.
Receiver Positions
14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 54 3 2 1

Precise location geometric centre of the p-p probe with the aid of a rectied Location Pin with 45 taper that acts like a mechanical pointer.
_______________________________ 1 http://www.minalum.com.mx/

First Reection

3.5

Direct sound

6
Frequency [ kHz ]

First Reection

Direct sound

5 4 3 2 1 0 1

Frequency [ kHz ]

16 Equivalent Rectangular Bands (ERB) in the frequency domain

4.5 4

Time Window resolution = 2.667 ms

20%

30%

40%

3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0

50% Specular

60%

70%

80%

90%

100% Specular

4 5 Time [ ms ]

10

4 5 Time [ ms ]

10

Source Position

90

4.- Discussion: Absolute Relative Errors as a percentage.

45 1st
40

Absolute Mean Relative Error and Standard Deviation Relative Error of Direct Sound Average Instantaneous Intensity by each Position using the p p probe
40

Absolute Mean Relative Error and Standard Deviation Relative Error of First Reflection Average Instantaneous Intensity by each Position using the p p probe

35

Outsider values
Relative Error of Angle of arrival [ % ]

35

Outsider values

14th 0

180

Horizontal Plane oriented on the x-z plane

Relative Error of Angle of arrival [ % ]

Direct Sound

15

30

30

25

25

20

20

First Reection
14th 1st -45

15

15

10

10

10

11

12

13

14

15

10

11

12

13

14

15

Position Number [ ]

Position Number [ ]

Rigid Floor in the semi-anechoic chamber

-90

-75

5.- Conclusions: Two methods had been presented to characterise the Time of Arrival, Strength and Direction of Arrival of Early Reections: a) Time Domain (TD) and b) Short Time Fourier Transform (STFT) method.

Fourth Laser pointer used aligned with the rope of the plumb bob

Third Laser pointer used to measured the acoustic centre of the speaker

Laser pointer combined with plumb bob accuracy 1 mm

Using these methods two variants had been compared: Instantaneous Intensity and a more accurate method based on Complex Instantaneous Intensity. The accuracy of the angle of arrival of Direct Sound and First Reection case had been validated using two measurement probes: a) p-p probe with a Mean error = 2.36 1.27 compared with a ST350 Soundeld Microphone, which has a mean error =18.79 0.256(results not shown). The average error was performed using the ERB bands of STFT method. Both methods TD and STFT are complementary. 6.- References:
[1]
Heyser, R., Instantaneous intensity, in AES 81st Convention Nov 12-16 1986, Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A.1986. [2]
Merimaa, J., et al., Measurement, Analysis, and Visualization of Directional Room Responses, in AES 111th
Convention, New York, N.Y., U.S.A., 2001 September 2124, 2001. [3]
Mller, S. and P. Massarani, 'Transfer-Function Measurement with Sweeps'. Journal of the Audio Engineering
Society, 2001. 49(6): p. 443-471.

Fourth Laser pointer on a railway trolley perpendicular to the metal ruler

Detail of plumb bob at origin of the speaker and mic stand vibration decoupler