DIFFUSERS

DIFFUSION
• Diffusion, in acoustics, is the efficacy by which sound
energy is spread evenly in a given environment.
• A perfectly diffusive sound space is one that has
certain key acoustic properties which are the same
anywhere in the space.
• A non-diffuse sound space would have considerably
different reverberation time as the listener moved
around the room.
• Virtually all spaces are non-diffuse. Spaces which are
highly non-diffuse are ones where the acoustic
absorption is unevenly distributed around the space,
or where two different acoustic volumes are coupled.
• The diffusiveness of a sound field can be measured
by taking reverberation time measurements at a large
number of points in the room, then taking the
standard deviation on these decay times.
• Small sound spaces generally have very poor
diffusion characteristics at low frequencies due to
room modes.
 DIFFUSERS
• Diffusors are used to treat sound aberrations,
such as echoes, in rooms.
• They are an excellent alternative or
complement to sound absorption because
they do not remove sound energy, but can be
used to effectively reduce distinct echoes and
reflections while still leaving a live sounding
space.
• Compared to a reflective surface, which will
cause most of the energy to be reflected off at
an angle equal to the angle of incidence, a
diffusor will cause the sound energy to be
radiated in many directions, hence leading to a
more diffusive acoustic space.
• Diffusors can aid sound diffusion, but this is
not why they are used in many cases; they are
more often used to remove coloration and
echoes.

• Diffusors come in many shapes and materials.

Quadratic-residue diffusors
• it is the combination of the excellent diffusion
characteristics of MLS designs with wider
bandwidth.
• A new design was discovered, called a quadratic
residue diffusor Quadratic-Residue Diffusors can
be designed to diffuse sound in either one or two
directions.
• They too suffer from "flat plate" frequencies, but
at a higher frequencies than MLS
diffusorsPrimitive-root diffusors
• Primitive-root diffusors
• These are based on a number theoretic
sequence based on primitive roots.
• Although they produce a notch in the scattering
response, in reality the notch is over too narrow a
bandwidth to be useful.
• In terms of performance, they are very similar to
Quadratic-Residue Diffusors.
Optimized diffusors
• By using numerical optimisation, it is possible
to increase the number of theoretical designs,
especially for diffusors with a small number of
wells per period.
• But the big advantage of optimisation is that
arbitrary shapes can be used which can blend
better with architectural forms.
Two-dimensional ("hemispherical") diffusors
• Example of a 2D acoustic diffusor using QRD
method
• Designed, like most diffusors, to create "a big
sound in a small room," unlike other diffusors,
two-dimensional diffusors scatter sound in a
hemispherical pattern.
• These diffusors are very helpful for controlling
the direction of the diffusion, particularly in
studios and control rooms.