December 5-9, 2022

hosted by Dr. Peter D’Antonio, Director of Research at REDIAcoustics

Language: English

This presentation will discuss the growing application of wave based solutions, due to the increased processing power of desktop and distributed cloud cluster computing. The causes and mitigation of four types of potential acoustical distortion in small rooms, below and above 200 Hz, will be presented. Below 200 Hz, approaches to minimize modal effects and the speaker boundary interference response will be presented. We will discuss limitations of traditional dimensional ratio determinations, more accurate wave-based predictions, importance of speaker and listener locations and prediction and measurement of low frequency absorption devices. Above 200 Hz, comb filtering from strong specular reflections and poor diffusion are potential problems. We will describe the necessary ratio of surface width to incident wavelength for a specular reflection and its effect on comb filtering. A new full frequency Non-cuboid Iterative Room Optimizer called NIRO, will be briefly described which addresses all forms of acoustical distortion. Finally, a new wave-based BEM virtual goniometer will be described, which can simulate the diffusive performance of any topology from a 3D CAD file. This offers the acoustician the ability to evaluate surface topologies without the need for physical scale models that are of interest in a room design quickly and inexpensively.

December 5-9, 2022

hosted by Dr. Peter D’Antonio, Director of Research at REDIAcoustics

Language: English

The growing processing power of desktop and distributed cloud cluster computing is playing a larger role providing computational architectural acoustic solutions. This presentation will provide a status update on the Non-cuboid Iterative Room Optimization software called NIRO. It offers an iterative approach to full bandwidth optimization of critical listening rooms. The program uses a Finite Element Method (FEM), Image Source Model (ISM), and Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA) to simultaneously optimize the room geometry of any shaped room, including boundary admittances, for any number of listeners and loudspeakers. It minimizes the weighted sum of the modal response and speaker boundary interference response, the spatial uniformity around the mix position and reflections in the Reflection Free Zone (RFZ). With an optimal room setup, acoustical diffusors and absorbers with a specified resonant frequency, bandwidth, and efficiency are added to the model to optimize the acoustic properties. A combination of FEM, ISM, and an additional geometrical acoustics model is used to generate full bandwidth impulse responses. The RFZ, envelopment, reverberation time, low-frequency response, and temporal decay are optimized and evaluated. Following the addition of HRTFs, stereo auralization can be generated. Proof of performance and application examples will be presented.