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ReverberationTime
ReverberationTime
Thereverberantsoundinanauditoriumdiesawaywithtimeasthesoundenergyisabsorbed
bymultipleinteractionswiththesurfacesoftheroom.Inamorereflectiveroom,itwilltake
longerforthesoundtodieawayandtheroomissaidtobe'live'.Inaveryabsorbentroom,
thesoundwilldieawayquicklyandtheroomwillbedescribedasacoustically'dead'.But
thetimeforreverberationtocompletelydieawaywilldependuponhowloudthesoundwas
tobeginwith,andwillalsodependupontheacuityofthehearingoftheobserver.Inorderto
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provideareproducibleparameter,astandardreverberationtimehasbeendefinedasthetime
forthesoundtodieawaytoalevel60decibelsbelowitsoriginallevel.Thereverberation
Auditorium
timecanbemodeledtopermitanapproximatecalculation..
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Rationalefor60dBReverberationTime
Thereverberationtimeisperceivedasthetimeforthesoundtodieawayafterthesound
sourceceases,butthatofcoursedependsupontheintensityofthesound.Tohavea
reproducibleparametertocharacterizeanauditoriumwhichisindependentofthe
intensityofthetestsound,itisnecessarytodefineastandardreverberationtimeinterms
ofthedropinintensityfromtheoriginallevel,i.e.,todefineitintermsofrelative
intensity.
Thechoiceoftherelativeintensityto
useisofcoursearbitrary,butthereisa
goodrationaleforusing60dBsincethe
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ReverberationTime
loudestcrescendoformostorchestral
musicisabout100dBandatypical
roombackgroundlevelforagood
musicmakingareaisabout40dB.Thus
thestandardreverberationtimeisseento
beaboutthetimefortheloudest
crescendooftheorchestratodieawayto
theleveloftheroombackground.The
60dBrangeisabouttherangeof
dynamiclevelsfororchestralmusic.
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Whatisadesirablereverberationtime?
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Whatisadesirablereverberationtime?
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ReverberationTime
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Auditorium
acoustics
Theoptimumreverberationtimeforanauditoriumorroomofcoursedependsuponits
intendeduse.Around2secondsisdesirableforamediumsized,generalpurposeauditorium
thatistobeusedforbothspeechandmusic.Aclassroomshouldbemuchshorter,lessthana
second.Andarecordingstudioshouldminimizereverberationtimeinmostcasesforclarity
ofrecording.
Thereverberationtimeisstronglyinfluencedbytheabsorptioncoefficientsofthesurfacesas
suggestedintheillustration,butitalsodependsuponthevolumeoftheroomasshowninthe
Sabineformula.Youwon'tgetalongreverberationtimewithasmallroom.
Reverberationtimedefinition Examples
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ReverberationTime
ReverberationTimeCalculation
ApproximatereverberationtimescanbecalculatedfromtheSabineformula:
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Modelingaroomof
HeightH=
m=
ft
LengthL=
m=
ft
WidthW=
m=
ft
Auditorium
acoustics
withabsorptioncoefficients:
awalls=
, afloor =
, aceiling =
m2=
givesaneffectiveabsorbingareaofSe =
foraroomofvolumeV=
foraverageof aavg =
m3=
Thecorrespondingreverberationtimeis RT60 =
ft2
ft3.
seconds.
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ExamplesofReverberationTimes
Onewaytorespondtothequestion"Whatisagoodrangeofreverberationtimesfor
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ReverberationTime
concerthalls?"istogiveexamplesofsomeofthemostfamoushallsintheworld.Forthe
overallaveragereverberationtimes:
Vienna,Musikvereinsaal:2.05seconds
Boston,SymphonyHall:1.8seconds
NewYork,CarnegieHall:1.7seconds
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Auditorium
acoustics
Buttheoverallaveragereverberationtimedoesnottellthewholestory.Thevariationof
reverberationtimewithfrequencyisalsoimportant.:
Examplesofthevariationofreverberationtimewithfrequency
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