ROOM REFLECTIONS CAUSE ACOUSTIC DISTORTION

The audio product created in a studio needs to sound similar in a wide range of listening environments. Thus the audio product must be transferable to these different environments. The engineer must be aware of the acoustic signature of the room in which the audio product is created so that the rooms acoustic signature is not embedded into the audio product. Since we have no control over the acoustical design of the environments into which the audio product will be transferred to, every effort should be made to provide good acoustics in the creation environment so that the necessary image and signal balances can be executed correctly so that countless hours creating the product are not wasted. The recording industry is conscious of electronic distortion, but acoustic distortion is often overlooked in the pursuit of more electronic equipment.

Experience the difference and

LISTEN TO THE MUSIC,

NOT THE ROOM!

When the sound from a loudspeaker encounters the boundaries of a room, a very complex series of reflections occur. t is very difficult to isolate the direct sound alone, because these reflections interact with it and among themselves to produce a wide range of effects, which we call acoustical distortion. f proper acoustic design is not utili!ed, a room will introduce sonic distortion which prevents the "ngineer from hearing all of the detail information the loudspeakers and electronics are capable of delivering. The #coustic $istortion introduced by the room can be so influential that it dominates the overall sonic impression. The causes of acoustic distortion are:Modal Coupling- the acoustical coupling between the speakers and listener with the rooms modal pressure variations or room modes. Speaker-Boundary Interference- the coherent interaction between the direct sound and the omni%directional early reflections from the rooms ad&acent boundaries. Comb Filtering- the coherent constructive and destructive interference between the direct sound and early reflections. Sound Diffusion- the spatial and temporal reflection pattern due to mid and late arriving reflections. When one stops and realises that the speaker ' room interface is your acoustical microscope, it seems prudent to strive for the ultimate sonic resolution. ound for ound the acoustical treatment in a room !ill make more of an audible difference than any piece of electronic hard!are" speaker" or cable

ACOUSTIC DISTORTION AFFECTS THE PERCEPTION OF SOUND

#coustic distortion affects three psychoacoustic perceptions, namely(% Fre#uency $esponse or Timbre- refers to the perception of the harmonic content of the music and its spectrum. Imaging- refers to the si!e, and apparent position, of sonic images in the stereo soundstage. Spatial Impression- is the sense of spatiality, envelopment or sense of immersion in the sonic experience. #ll three forms of distortion occur across the entire frequency spectrum, but room modes and the speaker'boundary interactions predominate at low frequencies.

Electronic Equivalent of Room Colouration

magine secretly inserting a parametric equaliser and digital delay unit into the signal path prior to a critical mix with the circuit set to boost(% )*+!, *,-+! and -*.+! by */d0 and introduce ,ms, )ms and */ms of delay. The engineer would mix the sound and subconsciously attempt to ad&ust for these effects. magine the engineers surprise when they were informed of the trick and they played back the mix with the equaliser and delay switched off 11 This is 23T a practical &oke because the ROOM is playing tricks on the engineer% %&& T'( TIM( )) The (ngineer !ill al!ays be mi*ing !earing +room coloured+ ear muffs ))

ROOM MODES

Sound waves reinforce and cancel each other as they reflect back and forth between hard walls. This constructive'destructive interference results in resonances at frequencies determined by the distances between the walls.

4or example an 56 floor to ceiling dimension results in a fundamental room mode of )*+!. This modal response is characteri!ed by high and low pressure !ones throughout the room. The loudspeaker placement will accentuate or diminish modal frequencies depending on placement.

Similarly, an engineer will hear different modal responses depending on where they are seated.

Fig1 illustrates how the sound energy is distributed along a room dimension. The room dimension is shown as a fraction ranging from / to *. /.7 would be in the center of the room and * would be against a wall. "xamining Fig1 reveals that the fundamental has no energy in the center of the room. Fig1

hysically this means that if you !ere sitting in the middle of the room you !ould not hear this fre#uency The first harmonic, however, is at a maximum. t can be inferred from this plot that, in the center of the room all even harmonics are absent and all odd harmonics are at a maximum. ,hen listening to music in a room" the music !ill be modified by the room-s modal response and this acoustic distortion !ill depend on !here the speakers and the (ngineer are located

#s an example, in Fig2 presents the modal frequency response of a room with a *76 dimension. The microphone is located against a wall perpendicular to this dimension so that all modes along this dimension will be present. The first three modes are identified as 8*,/,/9, fundamental, 8-,/,/9, first harmonic and 8.,/,/9, second harmonic. #t low frequencies the room modes are widely separated and present a potential problem.

Fig2. The (1,0,0), (2,0,0), and (3,0,0) modes are identified.

#s the frequency increases, room modes are still present, but their number and density increase and are not perceived as a problem. This form of modal acoustic distortion is best addressed with low frequency absorption. 3ne can easily simulate the effect of room modes by maximi!ing a parametric equali!er at only specific frequencies associated with the room6s dimensions. f the room did not introduce any modification to what is being heard Fig2 would be a flat line1

Speaker-Boundary Interference Response

:oom modes develop as reflected sound interferes with itself. This type of acoustic distortion is due to the coherent interference between the direct sound from a loudspeaker and the reflections from the room, in particular the corners immediately surrounding it.

This distortion occurs across the entire frequency spectrum, but is more significant at low frequencies. We refer to it as the Speaker 0oundary nterference :esponse or S0 :. n Fig3 a loudspeaker is located .6 from each room surface with coordinates 8.,.,.9. The four virtual images responsible for first order reflections are also shown. 3ne on the opposite side of the main room boundaries. # virtual image is located an equivalent distance on the opposite side of a room boundary. The distance from a virtual source to the listener is equal to the reflected path from source to listener. n addition to the four virtual images shown, there are ) more. Three virtual images and * real image in the speaker plane and , images of these above the ceiling and floor planes. magine that the walls are removed and ** additional physical speakers are located at the virtual image positions. The resultant sound at a listening position would be equivalent to the sound heard from one source and ** reflections.

Fig3. Sound from real and virtual speakers com ine to create the speaker! oundar" interference response.

Fig#. Speaker$%oundar" &nterference 'esponse for several loudspeaker positions in a corner.

The effect of the coherent interference between the direct sound and these virtual images is illustrated in Fig4. The S0 : is averaged over all listening positions with the speaker located ,6 from one, two and three walls surrounding the loudspeaker. t can be seen that as each wall is added, the low frequency response increases by .dB and the notch, at roughly *//+!, gets deeper. #t low frequencies there is typically very little absorption efficiency on the boundary surfaces and the notches can be between . and /0 dB ) #s in the case of room modes, the S0 : response in Fig4 would be a flat line at /d0. The conclusion is obvious(%

1e2er place a speaker-s !oofer e#uidistant from the floor and t!o surrounding !alls The low frequency rise illustrates why one can add more bass by moving the speakers into the corners of a room.

COMB FILTERING
#nother form of acoustic distortion introduced by room reflections is comb filtering. t is due to interference between the direct sound and a reflected sound. n ;rofessional <ontrol :ooms, we are primarily concerned with the interaction between the direct sound and the first%order 8i.e. single%bounce9 reflections. :eflections cause a time delays, because the reflected path length between the "ngineer and source is longer than the direct sound path. Thus when the direct sound is combined with the reflected sound, we experience notching and peaks referred to as comb filtering.

The location of the first notch is given by the speed of sound divided by twice the total path length difference. The spacing between subsequent notches is twice this frequency. 4or example, a *ms delay corresponds to a path length difference of *.*. feet. The first notch occurs at 7//+!, with subsequent notches *///+! apart. The audible effect of comb filtering is easy to experience using a delay line and produces various effects such as chorusing or flanging, depending on the length of the delay. Shorter delays have wider bandwidth notches and thus remove more power than longer delays. This is why microsecond and millisecond delays are so audible. The effect of a reflection is illustrated in Fig5 and Fig6.

n Fig5 we illustrate the time and frequency responses from the right speaker only. The upper curve shows the arrival time and the lower curve shows the free%field response of the loudspeaker. n Fig6 we show the effect of adding a side wall reflection to the sound of the right speaker. 2ow the upper curve shows the arrival time of both the direct sound and the reflected sound. The lower curve shows the severe comb filtering that a single reflection introduces. f a speaker had a free%field response like this lower curve, it would never be accepted. =et, many rooms are designed without reflection control.

Fig(. Time and frequency response of the direct sound from a loudspeaker. Fig). Time and frequency response of the direct sound combined with a side wall reflection. The comb filtering is apparent.

The message is to absorb these interfering reflections" so !e can listen to the music" and not the room3

IMAGING

maging refers to our ability to perceive and accurately locate the instruments, voices and effects which comprise the soundstage. The factors affecting locali!ation and the acoustic soundstage are reflections from the room6s boundary surfaces which cause comb filtering. These reflections cause frequency response notches and peaks which fool the ear'brain 8auditory system9 and degrade our ability to experience the sonic images as they were intended to be perceived. maging is optimi!ed by an maging #coustic Treatment which absorbs the room6s first order reflections over a wide range of frequencies.

SPATIAL IMPRESSION

The spatial impression refers to the intangible sensation of openness, envelopment or spaciousness and the feeling that we are part of or immersed in the audio'video event we are experiencing. >ood <ontrol :ooms allow us to faithfully recreate an experience. The sense of envelopment is related to the amount of sound reaching the mix position from the sides of the

room. The use of sound diffusing surfaces on the rear wall help to naturally create an impression of ?passive surround sound?. Thus $iffusive #coustic Treatment is used to create envelopment, widen the sweet spot, add warmth and naturalness to the sound, and uniformly distribute the sound throughout the room3

FREQUENCY RESPONSE (Bass Response)

The perceived bass response in a room is controlled by(% The free-field speaker response" The room dimensions" The acoustic coupling of the engineer4speakers to the rooms modal pressure 2ariations" The speaker-boundary interference bet!een the direct sound and ad5acent reflections" The internal contents of the room" The acoustical nature of the boundary surfaces and surface treatment and The hearing response and training of the engineer3 %ny absorption or amplification o2er a fre#uency range" that is introduced by the room" !ill color the sound that !e hear The room !ill thus introduce its o!n signature rather than ha2ing a flat fre#uency response3 Since most of today6s speakers are of high quality and we may not have any control over the rooms dimensions, we can focus our attention on proper speaker placement and acoustical treatment. ;roper speaker placement can minimi!e exciting the room6s resonant frequencies and the interference between the speaker and reflected sounds from the nearby corner. This can result in severe cancellations if the speaker is located an equal distance from all boundaries. #fter locating the speakers 8and engineer9 properly, 0ass #bsorption should be utilised to reduce the room resonances and minimi!e the speaker'boundary interference.

DAMP the MODES

The magnitude of the room mode effects can be reduced by increasing the damping factor of all the modes by suitable use of low frequency absorbers. The most common are acoustical foam or other porous absorbers which absorb sound by converting sound energy into heat.. The efficiency of a porous absorber is highest when the sound is travelling at its highest velocity. This point is reached at @ of the wavelength and thus varies with frequency. #t low frequencies

like *//+!, this distance is about -.7 from the wall. Anfortunately at the wall surface where the porous absorber is usually placed, the particle velocity is !ero. This is where the soundwaves change direction on reflection and hence the velocity is !ero. Since porous absorbers rely on particle velocity, they have minimal efficiency at low frequencies. The point to be taken away is that(% &%CI16 7$78S %BS7$B($S 71 % ,%&& IS 7I1T&(SS

ACOUSTIC TREATMENTS MINIMIZE ACOUSTIC DISTORTION AND IMPROVE THE PERCEPTION OF SOUND

S8MM%$9 f you cant take the room out of the mix, you cant take the mix out of the room 1 f you are building a new room, use good dimensional ratios to provide uniform modal frequency distribution. $esign for a symmetrical listening environment for good imaging. ;lace the speakers symmetrically and on axis for the best response. Bocate the speaker and engineers position to optimise the acoustical coupling with the rooms pressure variations and speaker%boundary interference. i.e. optimise the bass response. Cinimise first order reflections from the walls, ceiling and floor between the speakers and the listening position using appropriate absorption or diffusion. B(,%$( of console reflections and minimise them. $iffuse rear wall reflections over at least D/E of the surface. ;rovide low frequency absorption on the rear wall to minimise low frequency cancellation effects. $amp low frequency modes by applying appropriate low frequency absorbers at maximum room pressure locations.

CAUTION
%bsorption coefficients of many absorbers are measured and #uoted for $andom Incidence Sound $eflections3 The reflections in a studio" especially from the side-!alls" are mostly at gra:ing angles3 8nder these circumstances many materials can appear reflecti2e to the higher fre#uencies and hence their performance !ill be belo! that e*pected3