Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION:

METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH:

Use of Acoustics as Sound Absorbers:

Acoustical Specifications for a Good Listening Room:

Main Acoustical Problems and How They Affect the Sound Quality:

Reverberation:

Lateral Reflections:

Direct to Reverberant ratio:

Early Reflections:

DESCRIPTION OF THE ROOM:

PROCEDURE:

DESCRIPTION OF ANALYSIS SOFTWARE:

RESULTS OF REVERBERATION ALONG WITH DISCUSSION IN

RELATION TO RECOMMENDED VALUES:

250 Hertz Octave Band:

500 Hz Octave band:

10

1000 Hz Octave Band:

12

2000 Hz Octave Band:

14

4000 Hz Octave Band:

16

8000 Hz Octave Band:

18

White Noise:

20

DISCUSSION ON RESULTING VALUES:

22

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION:

23

REFERENCES:

24

APPENDIX:

25

Introduction:
The acoustical performance of spaces in the built environment is important in
order to allow for clear communication. One method to evaluate the acoustics of
an indoor space is to use the reverberation time. The reverberation is defined as
the length of time required for sound to diminish by 60 decibels. In order to
provide a reproducible parameter, a standard reverberation time has been
defined as the time for the sound to die away to a level 60 decibels below its
original level. The reverberation time can be modelled to permit an approximate
calculation. (cite) http://hyperphysics.phyastr.gsu.edu/hbase/acoustic/revtim.html)
From that analysis this report is focused on the development and validation of a
computer tool to calculate the reverberation time of room C511.
The recommended design sound level and reverberation time for the room
compared to Australian / New Zealand standard AN/NZS 2107:2000. The
recommended reverberation time in the teaching room by Australian standards
is 0.5 to 0.7 seconds.
Different frequency sounds are used to for testing in that room. Sounds of
frequency from 250 Hz to 8000 Hz, white noise and sounds were analysed by
generating a code in order for us to find the reverberation time or the recorded
sound files by Matlab.

Methodology
The method adapted for the conducted test is listed below.

Firstly, the selection of a room on the base of AN/NZS 2107/2000

Standard. The room used for the analysis in this report is C511.
The sound files of different frequencies ranging from 250 Hz to 8000 Hz
and white noise sound was played and recorded in that room. The sound
played was on the ordinary speakers of that room and recorded by PCM
recorder using android phone.
The recording of the sounds are recorded a few milliseconds before the
sound played and stopped the recording after a few milliseconds so the
echo and decay could be recorded. This method is repeated for the
recording of all the sounds.
The recorded sound files were then analysed by using computer tool
Matlab.
Different plotting of graphs were created using codes to determine the
reverberation time.

Research:
Acoustics is the science of sound. There are numerous sorts of sound and
numerous ways by which it influences our lives. We utilize sound to convey and
you may also know that acoustics is important for creating musical instruments
or concert halls or surround sound stereo or hearing aids. Yet, stable is
additionally used to discover oil and gas, to study quakes and environmental
change, and to verify that the infant in a mother's womb is healthy. A few
creatures, similar to bats and dolphins, utilization sound to discover their
sustenance [1].

Use of Acoustics as Sound Absorbers:

Acoustic absorption alludes to the process by which a material, structure, or
object takes in sound energy when sound waves are encountered, instead of
mirroring the vitality.
There are various different types of sub disciplines acoustics such as
archaeoacoustics, bioacoustics, architectural acoustics and musical acoustics
etc. However, our project is based on recording sounds in a room and hence
focuses on architectural acoustics. Architectural acoustics (otherwise called room
acoustics and building acoustics) is the science and designing of accomplishing a
decent solid inside of a building and is a branch of acoustical engineering [2].
Architectural acoustics can be about accomplishing good speech intelligibility in
a theatre, restaurant or rail line station, improving the nature of music in a show
corridor or recording studio, or smothering commotion to make workplaces and
homes more beneficial and wonderful work environment and live in [3].

Acoustical Specifications for a Good Listening Room:

Room frequency response: +- 3 dB, from 250 Hz to 2 kHz.

Space between axial standing waves : more than 5 Hz, less than 20 Hz

Reverberation time: 0,3 x (V/100 m3)^1/3 +- 50 ms from 200 Hz to 4 kHz, typically 200 to
400 ms.

Background noise level : NC-15 or near 20 dB.

Early reflections (0 to 15 ms): -10 dB or less relative to direct sound [4].

Main Acoustical Problems and How They Affect the Sound

Quality:
Reverberation:
It is the product of multiple closely spaced reflections on the rooms boundaries.
Reverberation augments sound and reasons a cover impact on the subtle
2

elements of the listened substance. Reverberation time is characterized as the

time it takes for a sound to reduction by 60 dB after its outflow. In an untreated
room, it can differ from 0.5 to 1.5 second contingent upon the recurrence, while
the suggested qualities are somewhere around 0.2 and 0.4 second for good
listening conditions [5].
Lateral Reflections:
Lateral reflections create phantom sources outside the speakers, enlarging the
stereo image. By doing so, they also contribute to enlarge every sound element
distributed between the speakers [6].
Direct to Reverberant ratio:
Direct to reverberant ratio is the distinction between the immediate and
resounded sound levels. A powerless proportion will add to cover the apparent
points of interest of the sound. Also, the stereo picture will endure if the
reverberant sound is excessively solid [5].
Early Reflections:
Early reflections are those which reach the listener within a delay of 15 ms
relative to the direct signal. The retarded sound creates phase problems by
combining to the direct one. The result is numerous dips in the frequency
response. This phenomenon is called comb filter [7].

Description of the room:

The room used for this acoustical test experiment is C511 which is in building C
level 5. The room has the dimension 4.877 x 7.144 meters. The room is quite big
and has many windows and wooden door with a glass. As it is a class room. So
we felt quite silence there, except a rare sound of passing by traffic. It has about
12 tables and more than 20 chairs. The room was carpeted and had few panels
for sound absorbing. Except the carpet and curtains the room contained hard
materials that reflect sound and doesnt absorb it. The photos of the room are
shown the following figures.

Figure 1.0 Room C511 Building C [Caputred by Praveer Dhalwal]

Figure 1.1 Room C511 Building C [Captured by Praveer Dhaliwal]

Procedure:
1. Firstly, download the sound files onto a device to play it.
2. Secondly, play few sound files and turn up the volume so that an echo can
be heard within the room, or sufficiently turn up the volume and stop it so
you can hear the sound die away completely.
3. After that, an active recording device is needed to record the sound. The
device used for recording in this report is an android phone and the
application used for recording is PCM recorder.
4. Each audio file of frequency 250 Hz to 8000 Hz and white noise audio file
is played and recorded few milliseconds before the sound file played and
after the sound stopped accordingly to procedure no 2.
5. Keep note of files recorded accordingly to the sound frequency played for
later analysing.
6. The same step is taken for all the audio files.
7. Using the Matlab code script file, the reverberation time for each octave
band is calculated by plotting them.

Description of Analysis Software:

The software used for the analysis of different frequency sound in this report is MATLAB.
MATLAB stands for Matrix Laboratory. Matlab is a fourth generation programming language with
a multi numerical computing environment. It allows matrix manipulations, plotting of functions, 2D
and 3D pictures, implementation of algorithms and many more features. (cite)
(http://www.math.utah.edu/~wright/misc/matlab/matlabintro.html)
The script code used for the analysis is discussed below in detailed.

1. [filename, pathname, filterindex] = uigetfile('*.wav', 'Pick audio

file');
This code is used for importing any wav extension sound file to MATLAB.

2. [Y, fs]= audioread(filename);

Audioread reads an audio file specified by the string FILE,
[Y, fs ] returning the sampled data in Y and the sample rate FS, in Hertz.

3. dt=1/fs;
dt is the time of each sample in data and 1/fs represents is the division
of data per second. means 1/48000 samples per seconds.
4. t=(0:1:length(Y)-1)'*dt;
t gives the time from start to end.
5. x= hilbert(Y);
env = abs(x);
Hilbert computes the so-called discrete-time analytic signal
Env keeps the absolute values of variable x used for Hilbert.
6. db = 20*log10(env)
this code equation covert the Sound Pressure Level (SPL) into decibels
(db).
7. ws = 0.05
w = round(ws*fs);
ws is created to take the least significant values in the graph and rounded
with the sample rate to calculate the moving average
8. plot(t,db)
this code is used to plot the time vs decibels plot.
9. t1 = input('Enter lower limit in sec: ');
tu = input('Enter upper limit in sec: ');
tLi = round(t1/dts);
tUi = round(tu/dts);
yy = mAve(tLi:tUi);
xx = ts (tLi : tUi);
P = polyfit(xx', yy, 1);
These codes are used to select the range for the slope. And to calculate
the slope;
6

10.
rt = abs(60/P(1))
This final code is used to calculate the reverberation time
abs give the only positive values.
The specific code for the analysis of sound file is given in Appendix.

Results of Reverberation along with Discussion in

Relation to Recommended Values:
During the analysis of octave bands, each octave band graph is plotted.
The graphical representation of each recorded octave band display a
visual decay, when the sound is about the die in the chosen room. The
slope of that decay is calculated to get the reverberation time for each
octave band.
During analysis each octave band is shown in the below along with graph
and resulting value.

250 Hertz Octave Band:

Figure 2.0 250 Hz [MATLAB PHOTO]

The graph in figure 1.0 show the Sound Pressure Level versus time
elapsed graph. The graph start with a little bit gape and end with no
sound except a very quite sound for decay analysis. Every graph in this
report will be given like this for decay and approximate reverberation
time.

Figure 2.1 250 Hz in Decibels [db]

The graph in figure 1.1 is plotted in decibels after conversion. The red line
along the changing magnitude and frequency is the moving average of
decay of sound.

Figure 2.2 250 Hz Zoomed photo for limits

Figure 1.2 is same as figure 1.1, the purpose for zooming the graph is to
get the limits to calculate the reverberation time. A straight line in the
form is slope is clearly visible in this analysis.

Figure 2.3 250 Hz Matlab results

Figure 1.3 shows the final resulting values of 250 Hz. ws is the moving
average and lower limits and upper limits are in seconds. The final
calculated value is 0.7384 for reverberation rt.
The results from reverberation time and graph of decay conclude that the
room used for recording have majority of solid surfaces and dampening
panels on the roof which allows room to dampen at faster rate
Results of the 500 Hz, 1000 Hz, and 2000 Hz, 4000 Hz, 8000 Hz and white
noise are given in the following section.
10

500 Hz Octave band:

Figure 3.0 500 Hz Octave Band

11

Figure 3.1 500 Hz in Decibels along with Moving Average

Figure 3.2 500 Hz Octave band Decay graph

12

1000 Hz Octave Band:

Figure 4.0 1000 Hz Octave Band

13

Figure 4.1 In Decibels along with Moving Average

Figure 4.2 1000 Hz Decay graph

14

2000 Hz Octave Band:

Figure 5.0 2000 Hz Octave band graph

Figure 5.1 in Decibels along with the Moving Average

15

Figure 5.2 2000 Hz Octave Band Decay graph

16

4000 Hz Octave Band:

Figure 6.0 4000 Hz Octave Band graph

Figure 6.1 2000 Hz graph in Decibels along with Moving Average

17

Figure 6.2 4000 Hz Octave Band Decay Time Graph

18

8000 Hz Octave Band:

Figure 7.0 8000 Hz Octave Band Graph

19

Figure 8.1 8000 Hz Octave Band graph in Decibels along with Moving
average

20

Figure 8.2 8000 Hz Octave Band Decay Time Graph

White Noise:

Figure 9.0 White Noise Graph

21

Figure 9.1 White Noise Graph in Decibels along with Moving Average

Figure 9.1 White Noise Decay graph

22

Discussion on Resulting values:

The results measured from the analysis of the acoustical behaviour of the
room by playing octave bands to calculate the reverberation time is given
in the following table.
Table 1
Octave
bands [Hz]
250
500
1000
2000
4000
8000
White
Noise

Reverberatio
n Time [s]
0.738
0.52
0.79
0.823
0.554
0.63
069

The results of reverberation time from each octave band are quite close
but changes for each octave band is close enough to the standard level
(0.5 0.7). However the average the average reverberation time from the
results of the octave bands is calculated 0.5792 seconds.
The graph of table 10 is shown below in figure below.

Figure above shows clear visual graph of the reverberation time for the
each octave band.
In term of the room used for the recording, the significant amount of the
sound energy bounces off the walls and solid surfaces. However the
contents of the room such as chairs, carpet and computer and electronic
devices would have been contributed in a wide amount on the absorption
of sound, therefore fewer echoes could be produced rather than a quite
empty room. The chosen room did not provide a generally long
reverberation time because of the rooms abundance of the obstacles and
the gaps and spaces in the room.

23

Conclusion and Recommendation:

In conclusion, there is unevenness in the resulting values of reverberation
time and in comparison to the standard values. During the recording time,
rooms and windows were kept close for linearity however lack of evenness
could be the external noise, chatter, wind blowing, temperature or air
pressure in that room. Moreover there are many more factors that can be
the reason of the inconsistencies. Therefore improvement can be made by
recording the sound in zero noise zones and with no background noises.
Furthermore it is also possible to get the significant reverberation time by
choosing the points of lowest time and highest time value to get the
prominent results.
Some of the results of the octave bands are inconsistent to the standards.
i.e. 8000 Hz. However some are in the range of Australian standard i.e 250
Hz, 500 Hz 1000 Hz and 4000 Hz. The unnecessary increase in the
resulting values can be improved by using high absorbing panels,
decoupling and dampening techniques.

24

References:
No h fontes bibliogrficas no documento atual.

25

Appendix:
The following code is a copy of the program used for the calculation of
reverberation time. The program is written and compiled on MATLAB.

clear all
clc
close all
[filename, pathname, filterindex] = uigetfile('*.wav', 'Pick audio file');
[Y, fs]= audioread(filename); % Choose the soundfile wav extension
dt=1/fs; % sample rate
t=(0:1:length(Y)-1)'*dt; % time varient along Y
figure(1) % create figure 1
plot(t,Y) % plot t versue Y PLOT
grid on % make a grid around the plot
title('250 Hz') % title of the graph is 250 hz
ylabel('SPL[-]') % y axis is labeled as SPL
xlabel('Time [s]') % x axis is lebeled as Time
ylim([-max(Y) max(Y)]*1.1) % show the limiting values from -1.1 to +1.1
[x]= ginput(2); % crop or select a specific region
xlim([x(1,1) x(2,1)]) % limit x axis values
%%hilbert transform to Calculate the Envelope
x= hilbert(Y);
env = abs(x); % take absolute values, result positive value
db = 20*log10(env); % convert to db
figure(2)
plot(t,db)
ylabel('SPL [dB]')
xlabel('Time [s]')
%Moving Average
ws = 0.02 %moving average
w = round(ws*fs); %moving average & sample frequency product
% for loop is used to calculate the average of all points in each segment
c=0;
for idx_s = 1:w:length(Y)-w
c = c+1;
idx_e = idx_s + w -1;
mAve(c) = mean ( db(idx_s:idx_e) );

26

end
dts = dt*w;
ts =(0 : 1: length(mAve)-1)'*dts;
hold on
plot(ts,mAve,'r')
% SELECT REGION FOR SLOPE-FIT
t1 = input('Enter lower limit in sec: ');
tu = input('Enter upper limit in sec: ');
tLi = round(t1/dts);
tUi = round(tu/dts);
yy = mAve(tLi:tUi);
xx = ts (tLi : tUi);
%CALCULATE SLOPE
P = polyfit(xx', yy, 1);
%CALCULATE REVERBERATION TIME
rt = abs(60/P(1))

27