Technical Note: Prediction of the Characteristics of Complicated Sound Fields in Long Enclosures by a Beam-Tracing Method

The subject of this paper is the characterisation of the sound field in long enclosures. A beam-tracing computer model has been developed especially for the simulation of sound propagation throughout long enclosures. Surface diffusing reflection and air absorption are included in the model, which can predict the impulse response and acoustic indexes at arbitrary positions in the enclosure. This paper describes how the algorithm models the sound source, sound propagation and sound receiver. The algorithm was then tested in both common rooms and long enclosures by comparison of the measurement, theoretical calculation and prediction results. The characteristics of more complex sound fields in long enclosures, the prediction of reverberation time, early decay time and sound pressure level, etc, at individual points are discussed in terms of the algorithm. The results indicate that the primary characteristics of complicated sound fields in non-rectangular long enclosures are similar to those in rectangular ones.