What is Acoustics?

Sound insulation and sound quality. What is the difference?

Sound Insulation

Sound can be suppressed from traveling through space using barriers.
This will create soundproof environments.

Quality - Optimizing Sound

Sound in an environment is a result of bouncing reflections. The way sound interacts with the room can be shaped to give the listener a better perception of the sound. This is sound quality.

Science or aesthetics, why should we choose?

Let's start from the very beginning.
The sound starts at the source. A source generates vibrations that disturb the air particles. This is what we consider a sound particle. These particles disturb the surrounding particles and create an expanding wave pattern.
What is a cycle?
Explanation of particle motion
The sound particles vibrate back and forth in response to the stimulation. This 4-step movement is called a cycle. The traditional model is based on the trigonometric circle with key points at 0, 90, 180, 270 degrees. This is the basis of the audio phase, which we will cover later.
Cycles for waves
Understanding sound waves
Particle motion can be easily demonstrated through a wave diagram, which is universally known as a way to represent sound waves and frequency.
Multiple cycles
Sound frequency
The number of cycles per second is measured in hertz (Hz). The more cycles per second, the higher the frequency. The human hearing range is between 20 Hz and 20 KHz.
Sound waves
Sound like multiple particles
The pattern of disturbance created by the movement of energy through a medium (such as gases, liquids and solids) is known as a sound wave. The wave carries the sound through a medium, usually in all directions and less intense as it moves away from the source.

Artnovion | Mini Masterclass Audio Acoustics, it's (almost) all about the bass

How sound behaves in space.

Our perception of sound is the result of the interaction between several sound waves that reflect on our surroundings and the interaction between the sound waves themselves.

When we hear a sound in a room, the first wave that reaches you is the direct wave. As the name suggests, this wave has not interacted with space since it comes directly from the emission source. Then you hear the first reflections, which usually only reflect once. We call this a first-order reflection. Then we perceive other reflections that are the result of numerous reflections from multiple surfaces. These reflections can be 2nd, 3rd or 4th order depending on the damping materials of the room.

The speed of sound in air is 344 m/s. The reflected waves travel a longer path and take longer to reach the listener. This can create an echo effect where we perceive two different sounds due to a time difference of more than 80 ms.

Reverberation time is our indicator of sound cancellation in the room. By definition, it is the time required for sound energy to decrease by 60 dB.

The acoustic quality of a room depends on various factors: It can be related to the homogeneity and non-homogeneity of the sound field and the amount of energy in spacemet. These factors are designed in accordance with the purpose of the room.

At Artnovion we have many ways to improve the acoustics. Absorption, where we remove energy from space and reduce or eliminate reflections, or through diffusion, where we spread incoming waves and distribute their energy over a larger area.