12/31/2014

Tutorial:MeasuringReverberationTime|SolentAcoustics

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TUTORIALS

Tutorial:MeasuringReverberationTime
MARCH4,2014|LAWRENCEYULE|LEAVEACOMMENT
Thereverberationtimeofaroomhasadistincteffectonitssuitabilityfordifferenttasks,inthis
tutorialwewilllookatthedifferentmethodsofmeasuringreverberationtimeandwhatthe
resultscanshowus.
Thefirststepincarryingoutareverberationtimemeasurementischoosingthemethod.Thereare
anumberofdifferentmethodsavailabletoushoweversomewillrequirespecialistequipment
thattheaveragepersonwillnothaveaccessto(lookoutforfollowuptutorialsforthese!).The
simplestmethodinvolvescreatingandrecordinganimpulseresponse.
Animpulseresponseconsistsofasingle,impulsivesoundwithalargeamplitudesuchasaclap,
startingpistolorballoonburst.Forthistutorialwewilluseaballoonburstasitisthecheapest
andmosteasilyavailable.

Whenanimpulsivenoiseiscreatedbypoppingaballooninaspacesoundwillradiateoutomni1/4

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Tutorial:MeasuringReverberationTime|SolentAcoustics

Whenanimpulsivenoiseiscreatedbypoppingaballooninaspacesoundwillradiateoutomni
directionally,reflectingoffofthewalls,ceiling,floorandothersurfacesaroundtheroom.Asthe
soundgoesthroughanumberofdifferentreflectionsitdecaysinleveluntilisinaudible.Thetime
ittakesforthesoundtodecayawayiswhatwewillbemeasuring.Thestandardisedmeasurefor
thisisRT60,whichreferstothetimetakenforthesoundtodecayby60dB.
Equipmentrequiredforthismeasurement:
Balloons
Recordingequipment
Computer(PCorMac)

Method
First,setupyourrecordingequipmentsothatitisrecordingtoeither16or24bitWAV.Placeit
roughlyinthemiddleofyourroom,withyourgainlevelsetlowenoughtoavoidclippingwhen
theimpulseiscreated.Next,blowupafewballoons,theamountofairinsidetheballoonswill
haveanaffectonthefrequencycontentproducedwhenpopped,sovarythesizeofthemifyou
wanttocomparethedifferences.
Nowstartrecording,popaballoonwithapinfarenoughawayfromthemicrophonethatitwill
notcauseclipping.Nowallowtimeforthesoundtodecayinyourroomasthisiswhatyouare
tryingtomeasure!Afterafewseconds(unlessyouaresomewhereveryreverberant)stopthe
recording.Younowhaveanimpulseresponsefortheroom.Dothisafewtimestoallowfor
errorsorothermiscellaneousnoiseeffectingtheresult.
Nowthatyouhaveanimpulseresponse,transferthisfiletoyourcomputer(MacorWindows).
YouwillneedtouseafreepieceofsoftwarecalledRoomEQWizard
(http://www.hometheatershack.com/roomeq/).Beforeimporting,cutoffthesilenceatthe
beginningoftheimpulsefile(usingAudacity(http://audacity.sourceforge.net/)forexample).
Onceyouhaveexportedyoureditedimpulse,openupRoomEQWizardandgotoFile>Import
ImpulseResponse.YouwillnowneedtoclicktheRT60tabtoviewyourimpulse.
Towardsthebottomofthepageyouwillseesomecheckboxesnamed:
Topt

Thiswillgiveyoutheoptimalresult

EDT

EarlyDecayTime,thisreferstothetime
takenforthesoundtodecayby10dB

T20

Thisreferstothetimetakenforthesound
todecayby20dB

T30

Thisreferstothetimetakenforthesound
todecayby30dB

WithonlyToptselectedyouwillseeasinglelinerepresentingyourreverberationtime.TheXaxis2/4

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Tutorial:MeasuringReverberationTime|SolentAcoustics

WithonlyToptselectedyouwillseeasinglelinerepresentingyourreverberationtime.TheXaxis
representsfrequency,displayedlogarithmicallywhiletheYaxisrepresentstimeinseconds.
Clickingonthegraphwillshowyouabluecursorthatdisplaysthereverberationtimeatthat
particularfrequency.

(https://solentacoustics.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/rt60screencap.png)
MoreinformationonusingRoomEQWizardsRT60functioncanbefoundhere
(http://www.hometheatershack.com/roomeq/wizardhelpv5/help_en
GB/html/graphpanel.html#rt60group).

AnalysingResults
Nowthatyouhavesomeresultsyouneedtoknowwhattheyshow.Thefirstthingtonoteisthat
youdonothaveasingletimevalueforreverberationtime,thisisbecauseyourresultswillvary
withfrequency,generallydecayingfromalongertimeatlowfrequenciestoashortertimeathigh
frequencies.Youmaywishtousethetimegivenat500Hzasyoursinglevaluemeasurement.
Formostscenariosthebestreverberationtimesarethosethatvarylittlewithfrequency,especially
inanenvironmentwhereaudiomixingmighttakeplace.Itisnormalforthelowfrequenciesto
havealongerreverberationtimeasthesearethehardesttocontrol,buttheaimshouldbetolimit
thetimevariationinthemidandhighfrequencies.
Differentreverberationtimessuitdifferentapplications,forexample,atypicallivingroommay
haveanRTof0.5swhileanauditoriummaybecloserto2.0s.Arecordingstudiomaywishtobe
between0.2and0.5swhenrecordingspeech,butforclassicalmusicbecloserto0.8s.These
variationscanhelptoeitherachieveadrysignal(ashortreverberationtime)ortogivemusicand
speechwarmth(alongreverberationtime).

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Tutorial:MeasuringReverberationTime|SolentAcoustics

ControllingRTs
Havingmeasuredthereverberationofaspaceyoumaywishtomodifyittosuitaparticular
purpose,inordertodothisyouwillneedtochangehowabsorptivethesurfacesofyourroom
are.Toreducereverberationtime,hardreflectivesurfacesshouldbeavoided,thickcurtainsand
theadditionoffurniturecanmakeabigdifferenceatthelowestcosthowevertheymaynot
reducethereverberationtimeuniformlyacrossthefrequencyspectrum.Tobeableestimatethe
changesinRT60timeduetochangesinroomsurfaces,aSabineequationmaybeusedthattakes
intoconsiderationhowabsorptiveeachofthesurfacesoftheroomare.Thismaybecoveredin
anothertutorial.
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