Visualization of sound propagation and scattering in rooms

This paper presents visualization of transient sound propagation in 2-dimensional room sound fields in which the typical shapes of concert halls are modeled by applying the finite difference time domain method. As a basic study on room acoustic design, sound propagation in rooms, scattering effect of acoustic diffusers and reflection characteristics of suspended panel arrays are investigated. Through the investigation, it has been confirmed that this kind of visualization technique is very effective to get intuitive comprehension of complex acoustic phenomena which occur in rooms. The technique can be useful tool for discussion on room and acoustic treatment between acoustic engineers and architects.