CHAPTER 1: FUNDAMENTALS OF ARCHITECTURAL ACOUSTICS

SOUND THEORY

ARCHITECTURAL ACOUSTICS MAY BE DEFINED AS THE TECHNOLOGY OF DESIGNING SPACES, STRUCTURES,

AND MECHANICAL SYSTEMS TO MEET HEARING NEEDS. WITH PROPER DESIGN, "WANTED" SOUNDS CAN BE HEARD
PROPERLY AND "UNWANTED" SOUNDS OR "NOISE", CAN BE ATTENUATED TO THE POINT WHERE IT DOES NOT
CAUSE ANNOYANCE. HOWEVER, ACHIEVING GOOD ACOUSTICS HAS BECOME INCREASINGLY MORE DIFFICULT FOR
A VARIETY OF REASONS. TO CUT COSTS, THE WEIGHT OF CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS USED IN MANY OF TODAY'S
BUILDINGS IS REDUCED. SINCE LIGHT STRUCTURES GENERALLY TRANSMIT MORE SOUND THAN HEAVY ONES, THIS
PRACTICE POSES MAJOR ACOUSTICAL PROBLEMS.

ALL ACOUSTICS SITUATIONS HAVE THREE COMMON ELEMENTS SOURCE, TRANSMISSION PATH, AND
RECEIVER. THE SOURCE CAN BE MADE LOUDER OR QUIETER AND THE PATH CAN BE MADE TO TRANSMIT MORE OR
LESS SOUND.

SOUND IS A PHYSICAL WAVE, OR A MECHANICAL VIBRATION, OR SIMPLY A SERIES OF PRESSURE

VARIATIONS, IN AN ELASTIC MEDIUM. FOR ARCHITECTS, WE SIMPLY DEFINE SOUND AS AN AUDIBLE SIGNAL. IT
SIMPLY MEANS THAT THE SCIENCE OF ARCHITECTURAL ACOUSTICS IS CONCERNED WITH THE BUILDING
OCCUPANTS, AND SOUNDS WHICH HE OR SHE CANNOT DETECT ARE GENERALLY NOR OUR CONCERN.

TO FURTHER CLEAR THE AIR, IT IS ALWAYS ASSUMED THAT THE HEARER HAS A PAIR OF HEALTHY YOUNG
EARS WITH A DETECTION RANGE OF 20 TO 20,000 HZ. IT IS PROBABLY BEST TO VIEW SOUND AS A SERIES OF
PRESSURE VARIATIONS.

FIGURE OF SOUND PRESSURE WAVES

A. THIS IS A CONTINUOUS VIBRATION THAT CAUSES A SERIES OF COMPRESSIONS AND RAREFACTIONS TO

TRAVEL OUTWARD LONGITUDINALLY FROM THE SOURCE. AMPLITUDE INFORMATION IS CARRIED BY
PRESSURE, THAT IS, GREATER AMPLITUDE MEANS GREATER COMPRESSION AND GREATER RAREFACTION.

B. TWO SINGLE IMPULSES OF DIFFERENT MAGNITUDE (AMPLITUDE) ARE SHOWN TRAVELING AWAY FROM
THE SOURCE. NOTE HOW AMPLITUDE INFORMATION IS CARRIED BY DIFFERENCE IN PRESSURE.

PROPAGATION OF SOUND

A SOUND GENERATES OF A FALLING TREE IS A PHYSICAL DISTURBANCE, OR AN ALTERATION OR PULSATION

OF PRESSURE OF BEING DETECTED BY A NORMAL EAR BY TRAVELING THROUGH AIR. IN ANY CASE, A MEDIUM
POSSESING INERTIA AND ELASTICITY IS NEEDED TO PROPAGATE IT. SOUND WAVES DO NOT TRAVEL THROUGH A
VACUUM. THE AUDITORY SENSATION PRODUCED BY SOUND WAVES WILL BE CALLED SOUND SENSATION.

CHAPTER 1: FUNDAMENTALS OF ARCHITECTURAL ACOUSTICS

 SOUND HAS ITS ORIGIN IN VIBRATING BODIES. THE AMPLITUDE OF VIBRATION IS TOO SMALL TO BE
OBSERVED VISUALLY BUT OFTEN THE VIBRATION CAN BE FELT WITH THE FINGER TIPS, CONSIDER A BODY VIBRATING
IN AIR. AS IT MOVES IN AN OUTWARD DIRECTION, IT PUSHES A "LAYER" OF AIR ALONG WITH IT, THIS LAYER OF AIR
IS COMPRESSED, AND ITS DENSITY AND TEMPERATURE ARE CORRESPONDINGLY INCREASED. SINCE THE PRESSURE
OF THIS LAYER IS HIGHER THAN THAT IN THE UNDISTURBED SURROUNDING ATMOSHPERE, THE PARTICLES
(MOLECULES) IN IT TEND TO MOVE IN THE OUTWARD DIRECTION AND TRANSMIT THEIR MOTION TO THE NEXT
LAYER, AND SO ON. AS THE VIBRATING BODY MOVES INWARD, THE LAYER OF AIR ADJACENT TO IT IS RAREFIED. THIS
LAYER OF RAREFACTION FOLLOWS THE LAYER OF COMPRESSION IN THE OUTWARD DIRECTION, AND AT THE SAME
SPEED, THE SUCCESSION OF OUTWARDLY TRAVELING LAYERS OF COMPRESSION AND RAREFACTION IS CALLED
WAVE MOTION. THE SPEED OF PROPAGATION IS DETERMINED BY THE COMPRESSIBILITY AND DENSITY OF THE
MEDIUM THE LESS THE COMPRESSIBILITY OF THE MEDIUM AND THE LESS ITS DENSITY, THE FASTER WILL THE
WAVE MOTION BE PROPAGATED.

THE CHANGES IN PRESSURE, DENSITY, AND TEMPERATURE DUE TO THE PASSAGE OF THE SOUND WAVE
THROUGH AIR ARE USUALLY EXTREMELY SMALL.

VELOCITY OF PROPAGATION

SOUND TRAVELS AT DIFFERENT VELOCITIES DEPENDING UPON THE MEDIUM. IN AIR, SOUND VELOCITY IS
344M/SEC OR 1130 FPS. THIS CORRESPONDS TO 770 MILES PER HOUR (MPH) OR 478 KILOMETERS PER HOUR (KMPH)
SLOW INDEED WHEN COMPARED TO LIGHT AT 186,000 MILES PER SECOND. SINCE SOUND TRAVELS NOT ONLY IN
AIR BUT ALSO THROUGH PARTS OF THE STRUCTURE IT IS OF INTEREST TO KNOW THE VELOCITIES IN OTHER MEDIA.
SOUND TRAVELS MUCH FASTER IN LIQUIDS AND SOLIDS THAN IT DOES IN AIR.

SPEED OF SOUND

AS SOUND TRAVELS MUCH SLOWER THAN SPEED OF LIGHT, THE RESULTING DEFECTS IN MANY ROOMS ARE
ECHOES AND REVERBERATIONS. EXPERIMENTAL DATA SHOW THAT WHEN THE REFLECTED SOUNDS WHICH REACH
AN OBSERVER ARE DELAYED MORE THAN ABOUT 0.058 SECOND, RELATIVE TO DIRECT SOUNDS, THEY ARE
DISTINGUISHED AS ECHOES. REVERBERATION, CONSISTS OF SUCCESSIVE REFLECTIONS OF A SOUND IN A ROOM,
AND SINCE SOUND TRAVELS ONLY ABOUT 1130 FEET OR 344 METERS PER SECOND THESE USUALLY WILL BE A
RATHER LONG SUCCESSION OF THESE REFLECTIONS BEFORE THE SOUND DIES AWAY TO INAUDIBILITY.

THE SPEED OF SOUND PLAYS A SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN ARCHITECTURAL ACOUSTICS. THE SPEED OF SOUND
IS INDEPENDENT OF FREQUENCY, INTESITY, AND CHANGES IN ATMOSHPERIC PRESSURE. TEMPERATURE DOES HAVE
A SIGNIFICANT EFFECT ON THE SPEED, INCREASING IT ABOUT 1.1 FEET OR (3 CENTIMETERS) PER SECOND PER
DEGREE FAHRENHEIT RISE IN TEMPERATURE.

THE TERM VELOCITY OF SOUND IS OFTEN USED INTERCHANGEABLY WITH SPEED OF SOUND ALTHOUGH,
THE TWO ARE NOT THE SAME. VELOCITY INCLUDES BOTH SPEED AND DIRECTION OF PROPAGATION, IT IS SPEED IN
A SPECIFIED DIRECTION THAT IS VELOCITY IS A VECTOR QUANTITY. THE DIRECTION OF PROPAGATION IS THE
DIRECTION OF THE ADVANCE OF THE WAVE, DEFINED MORE ACCURATELY BY THE PERPENDICULAR TO A WAVE
FRONT (SURFACE OF CONSTANT PHASE) OF THE ADVANCING WAVE.

CHAPTER 1: FUNDAMENTALS OF ARCHITECTURAL ACOUSTICS

FREQUENCY

THE NUMBER OF TIMES THE CYCLE OF COMPRESSION AND RAREFACTION OF AIR MAKES IN A GIVEN UNIT
OF TIME OR 1 SECOND IS DESCRIBED AS THE FREQUENCY OF A SOUND. IF THERE ARE 1000 CYCLES IN ONE SECOND,
THE FREQUENCY OF THE SOUND IS 1000 CPS 1000 HERTZ (HZ) IN THE STANDARD NOMENCLATURE. IN THE FIGURE
HIGHER FREQUENCIES WOULD BE SHOWN BY COMPRESSIONS AND RAREFACTIONS THAT ARE CLOSER TOGETHER
AND LOWER FREQUENCIES BY THOSE THAT ARE FURTHER APART.

IN SOUND, FREQUENCY IS OFTEN REFERRED TO BY A TERM BORROWED FROM MUSICAL CONCEPTS

PITCH. THE HIGHER THE FREQUENCY THE HIGHER THE PITCH. THE APPROXIMATE FREQUENCY RANGE OF A
HEALTHY YOUNG PERSON'S HEARING IS 20 TO 20,000 HZ. THE HUMAN SPEAKING VOICE HAS A RANGE OF
APPROXIMATELY 100 TO 600HZ IN FUNDAMENTALS, BUT HARMONICS REACH TO APPROXIMATETY 7500 HZ. THE
CRITICAL RANGE OF SPEECH COMMUNICATION IS 300 TO 4000 HZ. OVERTONES OUTSIDE THESE FREQUENCIES GIVE
THE VOICE ITS CHARACTERISTICS SOUND AND SPECIFIC IDENTITY.

A SOUND COMPOSED ON ONLY ONE FREQUENCY IS A PURE TONE. MUSICAL SOUNDS ARE COMPOSED OF
A FUNDAMENTAL FREQUENCY AND INTEGRAL MULTIPLES OF THE FUNDAMENTAL FREQUENCY (HARMONICS).
MOST COMMON SOUNDS ARE COMPLEX COMBINATIONS OF FREQUENCIES. FREQUENCY IS A PHYSICAL
PHENOMENON. IT CAN BE MEASURED BY INSTRUMENTS, AND IT IS CLOSELY RELATED TO, BUT NOT THE SAME AS
PITCH A PSYCHOLOGICAL PHENOMENON. FREQUENCY IS USUALLY DESIGNATED BY A NUMBER FOLLOWED BY
CYCLES PER SECOND OR CPS.

MOST COMMON SOUNDS ARE COMPLEX COMBINATIONS OF FREQUENCIES. THE FIGURE BELOW SHOWS
EXAMPLES OF PURE TONES, MUSICAL NOTES, AND COMMON SOUNDS, SHOWING THE VARIATION OF SOUND
PRESSURE WITH TIME AND FREQUENCY.

THE FOLLOWING FIGURE SHOWS THE FREQUENCY RANGES OF SOME COMMON DEVICES AND
PHENOMENA. THE FREQUENCIES SHOWN IN THE FIGURE ALL STAND IN THE RATIO OF 2:1 TO EACH OTHER, THAT IS-
, 16:32:63:125:250 AND SO ON. BORROWING AGAIN FROM MUSICAL TERMINOLOGY, THEY ARE ONE OCTAVE APART.

FIGURE OF FREQUENCY RANGES OF COMMON INSTRUMENTS

CHAPTER 1: FUNDAMENTALS OF ARCHITECTURAL ACOUSTICS

WAVELENGTH

THE WAVELENGTH OF A SOUND MAY BE DEFINED AS THE DISTANCE BETWEEN SIMILAR POINTS ON
SUCCESSIVE WAVES OR THE DISTANCE THE SOUND TRAVELS IN ONE CYCLE OF VIBRATION, IS CALLED ITS
WAVELENGTH AND IS DENOTED BY THE GREEK LETTER LAMBDA.THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WAVELENGTH,
FREQUENCY, AND VELOCITY OF A SOUND IS EXPRESSED AS

LOW-FREQUENCY SOUNDS ARE CHARACTERIZED BY LONG WAVELENGTHS AND HIGH-FREQUENCY

SOUNDS BY SHORT WAVELENGTHS. SOUNDS WITH WAVELENGTHS RANGING FROM 1/2 INCH TO 50 FEET OR 1.25
CM TO 15.25 M CAN BE HEARD BY HUMANS. A SIMPLE NOMOGRAPH IS SHOWN IN THE FIGURE, WHICH PERMITS
RAPID DETERMINATION OF WAVELENGTH GIVEN FREQUENCY, AND VICE VERSA.

WAVEFORM

THE WAVE FORM OF SOUND WAVE DESCRIBES, BY MEANS OF A GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION, THE PRECISE
NATURE OF A COMPLETE TO AND-FRO OSCILLATION OF THE VIBRATING PARTICLES IN A SOUND FIELD. THUS BELOW
IS A GRAPH OF THE SIMPLE HARMONIC WAVE FORM OF THE SOUND GENERATED BY A GENTLY STRUCK TUNING
FORK, IT GIVES AS THE FUNCTION OF THE TIME THE INSTANTANEOUS DISPLACEMENT OF A TYPICAL VIBRATING
PARTICLE.

CHAPTER 1: FUNDAMENTALS OF ARCHITECTURAL ACOUSTICS

 EACH COMPLETE CYCLE IN THE SINE WAVE GRAPH CORRESPONDS TO A COMPLETE CYCLE OF THE TUNING
FORK OR OF THE SOUND WAVE IT GENERATES. ALTHOUGH THE DISPLACEMENTS ARE REPRESENTED AS TRANSVERSE
TO THE TIME AXIS, THE ACTUAL DISPLACEMENTS OF THE PARTICLES IN THE SOUND FIELD ARE PARALLEL TO THE
DIRECTION OF PROPAGATION OF THE SOUND WAVE, THAT IS, THE WAVE MOTION IS LONGITUDINAL.

THE WAVE FORMS OF MUSICAL TONES ARE SOMEWHAT MORE COMPLICATED. HOWEVER, THEY DIFFER
MARKEDLY IN THEIR WAVE FORMS. ALTHOUGH NOT SIMPLE HARMONIC, THE WAVE FORMS FOR THESE TONES ARE
PERIODIC, THEY REPEAT AT DEFINITE INTERVALS. THEY ARE CALLED COMPLEX WAVES IN CONTRADISTINCTION TO
SIMPLE HARMONIC WAVES. THUS, A COMPLEX TONE OR ITS GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION AS A COMPLEX WAVE
FORM MAY BE REGARDED AS MADE UP OF A SERIES OS SIMPLE HARMONIC TONES OR WAVES. USUALLY THE
FREQUENCIES OF THESE COMPONENT SIMPLE HARMONIC TONES ARE INTEGRAL MULTIPLES OF THE FREQUENCY OF
THE FUNDAMENTAL COMPONENT, WHICH IS SOMETIMES REFERRED TO AS THE GRAVEST COMPONENT.

SOUND MAGNITUDE

WHEN WE SPEAK OF SOUND MAGNITUDE, WE THINK OF LOUDNESS. THE LEVEL OR QUANTITY OF SOUND
PRESSURE, SOUND PRESSURE LEVEL (SPL), SOUND INTENSITY, AND SOUND INTENSITY LEVEL (IL), ALL OF WHICH
ARE DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER, AND FROM SUBJECTIVE LOUDNESS. TO CLEARLY UNDERSTAND THESE
CONCEPTS, A COMPREHENSION OF HOW WE HEAR AND HOW SOUND IS PROPAGATED IN FREE SPACE IS NECESSARY.

SOUND PRESSURE

THE MOST ELEMENTARY TYPE OF VIBRATION WHICH HAS A SINGLE FREQUENCY CALLED SIMPLE
HARMONIC MOTION. IT IS THE FORM OF VIBRATION WHICH CHARACTERIZES A "PURE" TONE. THE FORM OF THIS
VIBRATION AND THE CORRESPONDING FORM OF THE PRESSURE VARIATION WHICH IS PROPAGATED OUTWARDLY
IN THE SURROUNDING MEDIUM AS A SOUND WAVE IS SHOWN IN THIS FIGURE.

THIS IS A SINE WAVE, A CURVE HAVING THIS SHAPE CAN BE OBTAINED BY PLOTTING, ON RECTANGULAR
COORDINATE PAPER, THE SINE OF AN ANGLE AGAINST THE ANGLE ITSELF. THUS A TONE PRODUCED BY A SIMPLE
HARMONIC SOUND SOURCE IS OFTEN CALLED A "PURE" TONE BECAUSE IT CONTAINS ONLY ONE FREQUENCY.

CHAPTER 1: FUNDAMENTALS OF ARCHITECTURAL ACOUSTICS

 THIS PARTICULAR SIMPLE HARMONIC TYPE OF WAVE MOTION IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE ALL SOUND
WAVES CAN BE SHOWN TO BE MADE UP OF A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT SIMPLE HARMONIC WAVES. THE TERM
SOUND PRESSURE IS GENERALLY USED TO DESIGNATE THE EFFECTIVE VALUE OF THE SOUND PRESSURE. THE
FOLLOWING FIGURE INDICATES THE PRESSURE DUE TO NOISE IN VARIOUS LOCATIONS; IT SHOWS THAT AT THE
THRESHOLD OF AUDIBILITY THE SOUND PRESSURE IS ON 0.0000000035 POUND PER SQUARE INCH.

ACOUSTICAL POWER

THE RATE OF EMISSION OF ACOUSTICAL ENERGY FROM MOST SOURCES OF SOUND, AND THE
CORRESPONDING PRESSURES IN THEIR RESULTING SOUND FIELDS, ARE VERY SMALL. FOR EXAMPLE, THE AVERAGE
ACOUSTICAL POWER RADIATED BY A PERSON SPEAKING IN AN AUDITORIUM IS OF THE ORDER OF 25 TO 50
MICROWATTS. IT WOULD REQUIRE, NO FEWER THAN 15, 000,000 SUCH SPEAKERS TO GENERATE A SINGLE
HORSEPOWER OF ACOUSTICAL ENERGY. THE RESULTING AVERAGE SOUND PRESSURE IN AN AUDITORIUM OFTEN
LESS THAN 0.1 DYNE PER SQUARE CENTIMETER. THE ACOUSTICAL POWER REQUIRED FOR GOOD HEARING
CONDITIONS FOR SPEECH THROUGHOUT AN AUDITORIUM, IS 10,000 MICROWATTS IN A ROOM HAVING A VOLUME
OF ABOUT 100,000 CUBIC FEET.

MOST MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS RADIATE A SOMEWHAT GREATER POWER THAN DOES THE AVERAGE
HUMAN VOICE. THE TABLE BELOW GIVES THE APPROXIMATE PEAK POWER FOR A NUMBER OF TYPICAL
INSTRUMENTS.

SOUND INTENSITY

THE SOUND INTENSITY IN A SPECIFIED DIRECTION AT A POINT IN A SOUND FIELD IS DEFINED AS THE RATE
OF FLOW OF SOUND ENERGY THROUGH A UNIT AREA AT THAT POINT, THE UNIT AREA BEING PERPENDICULAR TO
THE SPECIFIED DIRECTION. SOUND INTENSITY IS USUALLY EXPRESSED IN WATTS PER SQUARE CENTIMETER.

CHAPTER 1: FUNDAMENTALS OF ARCHITECTURAL ACOUSTICS

 THE SOUND INTENSITY AT ANY DISTANCE FROM THE SOURCE IS EXPRESSED ALSO AS,

THE FORMULA FOR THE CLASSIC INVERSE SQUARE LAW, STATING THAT INTENSITY IS INVERSELY
PROPORTIONAL TO DISTANCE FROM THE SOURCE.

ANOTHER FIGURE BELOW SHOW GRAPHICALLY HOW A SOUND PULSE IS ATTENUATED IN STRENGTH BUT
NOT IN WAVE FORM AS IT TRAVELS OUTWARD FROM THE SOURCE BY ACTION OF DISTANCE.

THE MINIMUM SOUND POWER INTENSITY THAT A NORMAL EAR CAN DETECT IS, 10-16 W/. THE MAXIMUM
SOUND INTENSITY THAT THE EAR CAN ACCEPT WITHOUT DAMAGE IS APPROXIMATELY 10-3 W/CM, THIS GIVES A
RANGE OF 1013 OR 10 MILLION.

THE TABLE BELOW GIVES THE READER AN IDEA OF THE PHYSICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THESE NUMBERS. THE
HUMAN EAR RESPONDS LOGARITHMITICALLY, NOT ARITHMETICALLY TO SOUND PRESSURE AND INTENSITY, THAT IS
DOUBLING THE INTENSITY OF A SOUND DOES NOT DOUBLE ITS LOUDNESS THE CHANGE IS BARELY PERCEPTIBLE.

CHAPTER 1: FUNDAMENTALS OF ARCHITECTURAL ACOUSTICS

 TO SOLVE THESE PROBLEMS IT WOULD BE MUCH MORE CONVENIENT IF WE WERE TO CONSTRUCT A SCALE
THAT:

A. STARTED AT ZERO FOR THE MINIMUM SOUND (INTENSITY OR PRESSURE) THAT WE COULD HEAR.
B. USED WHOLE NUMBERS RATHER THAN NEGATIVE POWERS OF 10.
C. HAD SOME FIXED RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AN ARITHMETIC DIFFERENCE AND A LOUDNESS CHANGE, SAY
10 UNITS EQUALS A DOUBLING OR (HALVING) OF LOUDNESS. THUS, ON SUCH A SCALE, THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN 20 AND 30, AND 60 AND 70, WOULD ALWAYS BE A DOUBLING OF LOUDNESS.

INTENSITY LEVEL (IL) AND THE DECIBEL (DB)

THE WORD "LEVEL" INDICATES A QUANTITY RELATIVE TO A BASE QUANTITY. INTENSITY LEVEL IS THE RATIO
BETWEEN A GIVEN INTENSITY AND A BASE INTENSITY. IF WE EXPRESS INTENSITY LEVEL AS

THE QUANTITY INTENSITY LEVEL (IL), IS DIMENSIONLESS, SINCE IT INDICATES SIMPLY A RATIO BETWEEN
TWO NUMBERS. IT IS MEASURED IN DECIBLES (DB) FOR CONVENIENCE IN EXPRESSING THE LARGE NUMBERS
INVOLVED. THE PREVIOUS TABLE ABOVE SHOW THE GREAT CONVENIENCE OF USING THE LOGARITHMIC DECIBEL
SCALE AS COMPARED TO EITHER DECIMAL NOTATION OR EXPONENTIAL NOTATION.

THE EAR RESPONDS TO SOUND PRESSURE, NOT INTENSITY. SOUND PRESSURE LEVEL (SPL) IS EQUAL
NUMERICALLY TO INTENSITY LEVEL, SO THAT THE FOREGOING EXAMPLES AND MANIPULATIONS OF INTENSITY LEVEL
ARE EQUALLY APPLICABLE TO SOUND PRESSURE LEVEL. THE COMBINED EFFECT OF TWO SOUNDS DEPENDS UPON
THEIR FREQUENCY CONTENT. IN ARCHITECTURAL ACOUSTICS WORK, SUCH AN ASSUMPTION IS GENERALLY VALID.

CHAPTER 1: FUNDAMENTALS OF ARCHITECTURAL ACOUSTICS