Final Thesis

Comparing inverse absorption coefficient methods to traditional reverberation chamber measurements

Master Thesis of Gomez, Lian

Absorption coefficients as a description of the boundary conditions for room acoustics simulations are usually very challenging to determine. A standardized method estimates the random incidence absorption coefficient of a material sample by placing the material in a reverberation chamber, conducting an acoustical measurement and comparing it to another measurement of the empty chamber. As this method has some drawbacks and limitations, a novel approach uses a room acoustics simulation and matches the input parameters until a match is found for a room acoustics measurement of the identical situation. In this work, both methods should be applied for at least two samples and their results should be analyzed and compared. Especially the problems of non-diffuse sound fields and non-linear decay curves should be investigated.