Sound Reproduction

CHAPTER 5

The Many Effects of Reflections

The next several chapters examine how sound propagates from a source to a listener in a reflective space and how those sounds are perceived when they arrive at the ears. We will find that technical measurements of the propagation path show enormous “flaws” that, over the years, made people believe that reflected sound is an “error” in need of immediate and expensive elimination. As discussed earlier, the development of porous absorbers in the 1930s led to a popular belief that acoustical room treatment begins with a large stack of fiberglass. In the author's opinion this approach has some value and should be applied to the interior of many popular restaurants within which conversation is all but impossible, ...