Time domain modelling of room acoustics

Yiu Wai Lam , Jonathan Hargreaves

Time domain modelling offers many advantages for room acoustics investigations. It directly generates the room’s impulse response which is an important piece of information for acoustic quality assessment. It is efficient for broadband calculations over a short time duration. The most common room acoustics modelling method is currently based on geometrical room acoustics in the time domain. It is efficient and provides practical approximations. However, its accuracy is ultimately limited by its approximation of wave behaviours. Wave based models, which are more accurate but expensive, have been gaining interests due to more efficient numerical schemes. One example is the finite difference time domain method. This paper gives some examples of developments in this method for room acoustics. Another example is the time domain boundary element method. Although it is harder to implement, it has an advantage that a change in source or room does not require complete recalculation of the interaction matrix. This is useful for time variant simulation or auralisation. Here we also introduces the concept of ‘wave matching’, and see if it has the potential to be developed into a new, efficient time domain wave based modelling method.

Mots clés: Time Domain; Room Acoustics; Modelling

Domaines: Acoustique [physics.class-ph]

Yiu Wai Lam, Jonathan Hargreaves. Time domain modelling of room acoustics. Acoustics 2012, Apr 2012, Nantes, France. ⟨hal-00811383⟩