Rsm adjustment in absorption coefficient determination of materials in room acoustics

Abstract

Theaters and auditoriums are one of the most important equipment in a city. The main parameter which determines the adaptation of theaters and halls to their intended activity is the reverberation time. It depends on the shape and size of the enclosure, the materials used in the construction of the enclosure and the way they are built. The absorption coefficient of the materials of a room will be needed either to design it or to analyze its behavior. The absorption coefficient of the materials in a theater or hall can be determined using the response surface methodology. Its application can be very adequate in such cases in which the functioning of more than one surface is unknown. This approach can be very inefficient when the unknown material has an extreme behavior (i.e.: very reflective or very absorbent). The reason is the limited range of the increment when coefficients are very small, as the generated response surface area may not contain the target (that would be the reverberation time). Extreme cases can be better handled with a new approach to assess the real behavior of these surfaces, and therefore of the room, in an effective manner. The adjustment performed will be illustrated through a case study in this paper.