Geometrical Room Acoustics

The analytical methods of the previous chapters enable predictions of the sound field in an enclosure accounting for numerous geometric and material details of the boundary conditions. In practice however, many acoustical spaces of interest have far too many geometric complexities to permit meaningful predictions of a sound field. In this case, rather than perform painstaking, detailed estimates of the field, it often suffices to estimate the spatial average of the field due to changes in some global, or average acoustical features of the space. For example, it is often extremely important to be able to estimate how the average sound levels in a space will be affected by changes in the average sound absorption on the surfaces. The ability to perform this sort of rough estimate can provide valuable guidance in designs and gives much needed insight without the burden of complicated mathematics.