A diffusion equation model for investigations on acoustics in coupled-volume systems

Coupled-volume rooms remain as one of the most exciting and challenging research lines in room acoustics. Their benefits lie on their multiple-slope energy decay profiles, being of interest in many current concert halls. However, so far there is no consistent predictive model being able to help architects and acousticians in selecting appropriate design parameters. This work is devoted to studying effects of aperture-size and source/receiver positions on the energy decay characteristics. For this purpose, a diffusion equation model is used to model a coupled-volume system, providing an effective tool for analysis. The diffusion equation model is first validated by experimental investigations using scale models. Bayesian energy decay analysis is applied to the results of both the acoustical scale model and the diffusion-equation model to provide deeper insight in the energy decay characteristics and their dependence on the aperture sizes and the sound source/receiver positions.