What does acoustics mean?

The word acoustic is derived from the Greek language, acoustics is the science of sound that deals with the generation and transmission of sound. The term acoustics also means the sound characteristics and quality of a given space.

Why should I care about the acoustics of the room?

In case we would like to achieve the best sound quality with our carefully selected audio equipment, we cannot neglect the acoustics of the room. The location of the impeccable equipment is an important aspect, however, it is not enough in itself in most cases.

Room acoustics play a key role in designing auditoriums, recording studio, concert and theatre halls. With a well-planned design and specific tools one can achieve the same acoustic characteristics for an empty as well as for a crowded auditorium. For this purpose, already in the building process drop-ceilings are formed in such a way to direct the sound waves towards the audience, while other architectural solutions reduce echoes.

Also, the building process of movie theatres is carried out in line with the given specification, since even the most expensive equipment cannot offer the perfect movie experience if the acoustics of the room is not adequate.

Challenging existing building materials

If we design a home theatre or a recording studio for sound recording in one of the rooms of our family house, we can implement it taking into account the existing parameters and the building materials used. In such cases, the acoustics of the room is given, and we can measure and improve the sound in the room with the proper acoustic panels.

room acoustic treatment
Even control of sound waves

Why does the same equipment sound differently in two different rooms?

In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates in the air as a mechanical wave. If we switch on the home theatre system, the emitted sound vibrates the particles in the air, and this vibration is transmitted from particle to particle travelling as a sound wave until it reaches a solid surface within the room. Depending on the surface, being it the wall of the room made of bricks or plasterboard, the window or the curtains, the path of the sound continues in different ways. Depending of their density, some materials absorb while others reflect the sound that reaches them. This is why it may happen that we hear the same equipment in a different way if we use it in another place.

use of acoustic diffusers behind the speakers (3)-room acoustics treatment
Even control of sound waves

What are the frequent issues of our customers regarding acoustic treatment they contact us for?

Most of the problems are caused by the reverberation time, diverse reflections, or the echo of the room. They also contact us because they plan to create a recording studio, and the D.I.Y. method or acoustic foam treatment of the walls causes secondary issues, such as the over-dampening of the high frequencies. Many people use styrofoam or acoustic foam if they notice some kind of anomaly in their room or studio.


Very often they cover a large area of walls by one of the materials mentioned above, yet they experience sadly that it became even worse. The reason for it is that these materials – acoustic foam and styrofoam – are not suitable to absorb the bass notes, however, they absorb the high frequencies, by which they cause the opposite effect: low frequencies become even more dominant.

The first task should be to attenuate bass frequencies


Another common problem in room acoustics is over dampening. If somebody picks up some information about the treatment of the echoes and purchases some bass absorbers, he or she can easily over dampen the basses, which also makes the listening to music or watching movies unpleasant.

The sound not only need to be absorbed but also to be scattered in order to get a clean dynamic sound without echoes. Moreover, we will be needing diffusers also to achieve this. It is unnecessary to pack the whole room with diffusors and accessories; the trick is to find the right reflection points of the room.

What steps should be taken to reach the optimum acoustics of the room?

If the quality of sound emitted by the carefully selected and pricey equipments and accessories is deteriorated by the bad acoustics of the room, then as a first step, we need to identify the parameters and the areas, which should be improved based on acoustic measurements of the given room. During the measurement we do not focus on the sound or the performance of the equipment, these data are not the ones we are evaluating. We measure the acoustic properties of the room or studio, by which we can point out essential acoustic weaknesses of the room or the studio, and thus make recommendations on how to solve these issues.

room acoustic design with diffuser front panel acoustic absorber (3)
acoustics treatment

How do we improve the acoustics of the room?

Acoustic panels – the stylish and unique design elements of the flat

Most people – especially ladies of the family – are getting worried that they will need to make a major compromise for the sake of good sounding. However, it shouldn’t be the case. Acoustic panels can be prepared in various colours and patterns, even with unique, e.g. family photos. Depending on the type of panels, they can be placed on the floor or mounted on the wall. Cleaning doesn’t require a special care either as the panels are made of wood and covered with imitation leather or acoustic velvet, therefore, they can be wiped with a wet cloth.

Acoustics treatment

Sound diffusion, absorption and isolation are the most important tasks in the acoustic treating of recording and mixing studios. Professional bass traps have excellent sound absorption and isolation properties, they can even trap the deeper frequency ranges. We start developing acoustics by treating the corners. The diffusors scatter the sound evenly in the given space. Audio recording can only be perfect with professional acoustic design. Bass traps are not exclusive to recording and mixing studios that handle deep frequency ranges, but can also work well in a home studio if we consider them in terms of sound absorption and isolation. The acoustic foam and the product made with DIY methods will not be able to trap the low frequency sounds, it wont produce the favourable results.

If you live in a noisy environment, or work in an open-plan office, sound absorption is also required in this type of work space. If you feel dead beat or have problems in your private life, may be you are under constant noise pollution.  

G.H.

Written by Róbert Polgár

 

Similar Posts