1.

0 INTRODUCTION

The word Acoustics is generally derived from a Greek word meaning to hear, refers
to generation, detection, transmission, absorption and control of sounds.

1.1 SOUND
Sound Production and Transmission

o A sound is produced when a part of the atmosphere is compressed suddenly.

o Due to elasticity of air, the particles originally disturbed in turn disturb the
neighboring particles.

o Sound thus travels in the form of waves.

o Sound cannot travel in vacuum.

1.2 SOUND CHARACTERISTICS AND EFFECT ON HEARING

There are three characteristics of audible sound

 Pitch: The pitch of a sound is the frequency of its vibration .

 Loudness: It is the strength of the sensation received through ear.

 Tone quality: It is the characteristic of the sound which distinguishes it from another
sound of same loudness & pitch.

1.3 MEASUREMENT OF SOUND

Two different units for expressing the energy of sound is employed.

 The intensity of sound is expressed in decibel.

 Phon is the unit used for measuring the loudness sensation in the ear.

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2.0 SOUND AND VIBRATION CONTROL
 Acoustical Analysis

1. Determining the use of the structure-the subjective needs.

2. Establishing the desirable acoustical environment in each usable area.

3. Determining the noise and vibration sources.

4. Studying the location and orientation of the structure and its interior spaces with
regard to noise and noise sources.

 Acoustical Design:

1. Designing shapes, volumes, areas and surfaces to accomplish what the analysis
indicates.

2. Choosing materials, systems and constructions to achieve desired result.

3.0 REVERBERATION

Definition: The persistence of sound even after the source of sound is cutoff.

 The time for which sound persist even after the source is cutoff is called the time of
reverberation.
 Too long a reverberation time renders the sound energy, sustained over unduly long
time. It causes the over lapping of consecutive syllabus in speech or music.TABLE 1:
REVERBERATION TIME V/S ACOUSTICS

Reverberation time in Acoustics

seconds

0.50-1.50 Excellent

1.50-2.00 Good

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 2.00-3.00 Fairly Good

3.00-5.00 Bad

Above 5.00 Very Bad

4.0 TYPES OF SOUND ISLOATIONS

To keep airborne sound from passing through walls and floors, there are four main strategies.

 Add Mass.

 Decoupling.

 Absorption.

 Sealing.

4.1 BY ADDING MASS

The first principle of sound isolation is mass. Mass impedes the transmission of sound
in a simple way - it’s harder for the sound to shake a very heavy thing than a very light thing,
no different than saying it’s harder to push a shopping cart full of bricks than an empty cart.
However, to make large changes in performance you have to make very large changes in
mass. In theory doubling the mass of a panel without an air cavity will improve things by
6dB. Typically, on the common single wood stud wall, doubling the number of drywall layers
yields 4-5dB of improvement.

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 As this series of tests show, just adding layers of drywall to the common wood stud
wall or wood joist ceiling yields only a small benefit. To really improve your wall, you have
to not only add mass, but also improve some of the other 4 Principles.

Considering the fairly high cost of drywall installations, simply adding layers is
perhaps the least efficient way to improve sound isolation available to builders today.

4.2 DECOUPLING

One of the most familiar of the 5 basic Principles is mechanical decoupling. Sound
clips, resilient channel, staggered studs, double stud walls. All of these function by inhibiting
the movement of sound from one side of the wall to the other through mechanical paths (like
studs or joists). Instead, the vibration has to pass through the air cavity in the wall, where
some of it will be lost, and through the insulation/absorbing material, where (at some
frequencies) much of it will be lost.

What most people don’t understand about mechanical decoupling is that it is

frequency-dependent. When you decouple, for example, two pieces of drywall, you create a
resonance, and only well above that resonance does the decoupling help you – below about
1/2 of an octave above that resonance it actually makes things worse. Like this

De-coupling is a very powerful tool, but one must plan around this resonance and the
low-frequency performance problems it can cause.

4.3 SOUND ABSORPTION

 The best known acoustical materials are acoustical absorbents.

 These are light weight, porous, fuzzy types of boards, blankets and panels.

 When a sound wave strikes a surface, a part of its energy is absorbed by friction,part
of its energy is transmitted and the remaining part is reflected.

 Reverberation directly depends on the loss of energy of sound wave due to friction.
 The property of a surface by which sound energy is converted into another form of
energy is known as Absorption.

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  Absorption coefficient of a surface indicates the degree to which this surface affects
the absorption of sound.
 It is thus the ratio of energy absorbed by the area to the energy striking the area.

4.3.1 SABIN’S EQUATION

T = 0.16 v / A

T=reverberation time in seconds

V=volume in m3

A=total absorbing power in m2

Following points are to be noted.

 It should be economical in construction, maintenance, water proof and fire proof.

 In a hall treated with absorbent materials, speech can be heard clearly and music can
be fully enjoyed.

 All absorbent materials are found to be soft and porous.

 The absorbing capacity of the absorbent materials, depends on the thickness of the
material,its density and frequency of sound.

 Noise level of the room provided with absorbent materials is considerably reduced.

 Suspended absorbers in the form of inverted cones may be provided in the ceiling to
make the hall acoustically good.

 Great care should be taken while selecting the covering for an absorbent material.

 In a big hall, audience is a major absorbing factor. This is true in high frequency zone.
Hence, low frequency absorbent materials should be provided to achieve optimum
reverberation time over a wide range of frequency of sound.

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4.3.2 TYPES OF ABSORBENT MATERIAL

4.3.2.1 Hair felt:

 Prof. Sabin used this material in his experimental works.

 The average value of coefficient of absorption of 25mm thick hairfelt is 0.60.

4.3.2.2 Acoustic Plaster:

 This is a fibrous plaster.

 It includes granulated insulation material mixed with cement.

 For a thickness of 20mm acoustic plaster possess an absorbent coefficient of 0.30 at

500cycles per second

FIG 4.3(a): Acoustic Plaster

4.3.2.3Acoustical Tiles:

 The absorption of the sound is uniform from tile to tile.

 They can be fixed easily and most suitable for small area.

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 FIG 4.3(b): Acoustical Tiles

4.3.2.4 Perforated Plywood:

 This material can be used by forming composite panels with minerals wool and
cement asbestos or with mineral wool and hardboard.

 It is generally suspended from trusses.

 The average value of coefficient of absorption for the former composite panel is 0.95
and the latter is about 0.20.

FIG 4.3(c): Perforated Plywood

4.3.2.5 Quilts and Mats:

 These are prepared from mineral wool and glass wool.

 They are fixed in the form of acoustical blankets.

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  The absorption coefficient of such mats depends on the thickness, density and
frequency of sound.

4.4 ACOUSTICAL SEALENT

Acoustical sealant is a type of sealing agent that is used to help minimize the entry or
exit of sound from an interior space. Sealants of this type are often used to fill in small spaces
along the floor and ceiling lines of walls, areas around ductwork for heating and cooling
systems, and open spaces around utility and electrical boxes. An acoustic sealant may be used
in just about any setting, from a residence to a factory.

5.0 ACOUSTICS OF AUDITORIUM

FIG 5.0: Our college Auditorium

The sound which is produced, should be evenly spread over the whole area covered
by the audience.

The initial sound should be clear and distinct to avoid the possibility of disordered
speech.

 For the hall to be used for the music, the initial sound should reach the audience with
the same intensity.

 All undesired sound should be reduced.

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5.1 Factors to be considered in the design of auditorium.

1. Volume: The hall should have enough volume, keeping in view the intensities of
sounds likely to be developed in the hall.

 For halls to be used only for music,the volume should be large.

2. Shape: It involves the geometrical aspects of the hall.

 The paths followed by reflected sound waves are traced and concentrations of sound
waves,if any are noted.

 Concave walls tend to concentrate sound waves and hence not good for acoustic
purposes.

 Plain walls are better.

 Convex walls are excellent and are used to reduce the echoes to the minimum extent.

3. Sound Absorption:

 Adequate absorbing surfaces should be provided in the room to control reverberation.

 Careful study of the hall should be made before suggesting the type of absorbent
material and its location in the hall.

5.2 Defects and their remedies.

5.2.1Reverberation:

 This is the most common defect in many auditoriums.

 The sound once created prolongs for a longer duration resulting in confusion with the
sound created.

 The remedy of this defect is to correct the time of reverberation by suitably installing
absorbing materials

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5.2.2 Formation of echoes:

 When the reflecting surfaces are situated at a distance greater than 15m.

 This defect can be removed by selecting proper shape and by providing rough and
porous interior surfaces to disperse the energy of echoes.

5.2.3 Sound Foci:

 In concave reflecting interior surfaces,certain spots are formed where reflected sound
waves meet and create the sound of large intensity.

 This can be eliminated by avoiding curvilinear interiors by providing absorbent

materials on focusing areas.

5.2.4 Dead spots:

 Due to high concentration of reflected sound at sound foci,there is deficiency of the

reflected sound at some other points.

 The sound level at the dead spots is generally inadequate for satisfactory hearing.

 By the installation of suitable diffuses to have even distribution of sound.

5.2.5 Loudness:

 Due to lack of reflecting surfaces near the source of sound and excessive absorption
of sound.

 Can be corrected by arranging hard reflecting surfaces near the source of sound and
adjusting the absorption of the hall to provide optimum time of reverberation.

5.2.6 Exterior Noise:

 It is due to the poor insulation and hence noise enters through loose doors and
windows.

 Remedy is to provide suitable insulation to the various components of the auditorium.

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6.0 ACOUSTICS OF STUDIOS

Fig 6: Trillium studio

Following are the points for its efficient working:

 Noise level in the studio should be brought down to 20-30 db.

 The echoes should be completely eliminated.

 The finish on the outside surfaces of the building should be of sound reflecting
material.

 Partition wall and exterior walls of the studio should be sufficiently rigid to
resist vibrations and to prevent resonance.

 Provision of windows should be minimum to prevent the transfer of noise.

 Air conditioning machinery and other equipments should be suitably insulated

so that vibrations are not carried to the working chambers.

 If more than one studio in the building,it is preferable to locate all of them on
the same floor.

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  Heavy curtains may be used with advantage to control the time of
reverberation in the studio.

7.0 CONCLUSION:

 It is going to be a long time before anyone invents a way to transfer an

electronic or digital signal straight into the brain, by passing the ear.

 Until then, at some stage sound must pass through the air.

 Architects and engineers have a responsibility to design functional and safe

environments.

 Acoustics is important from open offices to worship centers.

 In order to effectively address these issues acoustics should be considered in
the design phase.

8.0 REFERENCES:

 Journal : “The Journel of vibration and acoustics” by Noel C Perkins

 Text Book: “Advance building construction” by Rangawala
 Text Book: “Noise Pollution and Control” by S.P.Singal
 URL: www.aco.co.in/aco.html
 URL: www.smokefreecolorado.com/noisepollution-causes-and-effects
 URL: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noise pollution

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