What is reverb. Effective fight against it

01 November 2018 14:45:57
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What is reverb

Reverberation is the process of reducing the intensity of sound when it is repeatedly reflected from surrounding surfaces. The main numerical characteristic of this process is the reverberation time, or how long it takes for us to stop hearing the echo. The reverberation time is the duration of the after-sound of the signal. In other words, this is the duration of the sound signal after turning off its source. The reverberation time depends on many factors: the size of the room, the materials of the room surfaces, the number of people in the room (people are the source of sound absorption), the presence and amount of furniture in the room, etc.

How to understand whether the reverberation time of a particular room or hall suits us? For this, the concept of the optimal reverberation time has been introduced, under which the sound qualities of the room will be optimal. Depending on the purpose of the room, the optimal reverberation time will be different: at low volumes for an announcer's studio, it should be about 0.4 seconds, for drama theaters - 0.7-0.8 seconds. How can you deal with reverberation? What to do if the echo interferes? More about this.

Methods for reducing reverberation, or how to remove echo

There are many different methods for dealing with excessive room reverberation. Arranging furniture, covering surfaces with various sound-absorbing materials, such as carpets, curtains, acoustic panels, acoustic foam rubber, etc., gives some effect.

Each material has its own absorption coefficient - a parameter that depends on frequency and characterizes the efficiency of sound signal absorption. It is often hardest to deal with increased reverberation at low frequencies, because the sound at high frequencies is better attenuated in space. To combat reverberation at low frequencies, gypsum sheathing boards are well suited - they absorb sound well at low frequencies, but hardly absorb sound at high frequencies, which also leads to acoustic defects in the room.

Carpets are more balanced in this regard. A carpet with a 1 cm pile, unlike gypsum sheathing sheets, absorbs less sound at low frequencies, but absorbs sound better at medium and high frequencies. Furniture is less effective at absorbing echoes and has an order of magnitude lower absorption coefficient than acoustic panels and carpets. The main effect of echo absorption is provided by various sound-absorbing materials attached to the surfaces of the room. The most effective are acoustic panels made of various kinds of materials. They serve as excellent sound absorbers and can be used in any room.

The most professional solution to echo problems are special acoustic panels of various shapes. For example - acoustic panels Tetras Acoustic or acoustic foam

Their advantages: