How to Measure Reverberation

A reverberate is a reoccurring echo effect that occurs as sound bounces off surfaces. Reverberation is the act of this happening. Knowing how much reverberation is occurring in a given space is important, as it drastically affects acoustics. High reverberation means sounds linger for some time after being emitted. This is especially important in areas such as classrooms and concert halls, where a speaker or performer is trying to communicate to an audience. A high reverberation can cause excessive white noise. Reverberation can be calculated according to how fast sound stops carrying in a room.

Things You'll Need

  • Pencil
  • Calculator
  • Table of various material sound absorption coefficients
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Instructions

  1. Finding Reverberation Time

    • 1

      The equation for reverberation time is RT(60) = .05V/(SA). RT is the reverberation time it takes sound to decrease 60 decibels. Ideally, this should be around half a second. Enter the appropriate numbers into this equation.

    • 2

      V stands for total room volume. Measure the space and calculate its volume. For a square or rectangular space, this is length times width times height.

    • 3

      S stands for surface area. This is the area of each different type of surface in the room, such as concrete, wood or brick. Calculate the surface area for each of these surfaces.

    • 4

      A stands for absorption coefficient. This expresses how sound-absorbent each type of material you found the surface area for is. A list of absorption coefficients can be found at many different websites.

    • 5

      Multiply each surface area (S) by its absorption coefficient (A). Add these all together to find the total SA. Solve the equation.

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