Numerical Analysis of the Acoustical Quality of a Multi-Purpose Hall

In this paper, the acoustical features are described of a multi-purpose auditorium of the Free University of Brussels which were investigated both with field measurements and computer simulation. The convergence of the algorithm of the simulation package RAYNOISE was investigated as a function of the influence on the calculated results of the choice of the number of rays and the reflection order. By comparing the numerical and experimental values of the sound pressure level and early decay time, it is demonstrated that sufficiently accurate acoustical models can be developed. Based on these models, acoustical quantities such as the early energy fraction, sound pressure level, early decay time and early lateral energy fraction were calculated and employed to evaluate the acoustical quality of this multi-purpose hall.