Designing a stackable diffusor/absorber tailored to a violin and cello practice room

Abstract

As distinct from a much larger concert hall, the typical practice room directs added acoustic emphasis to small room challenges such as room resonances and unwanted reflections. Although rich reverberation is not easily achieved in a small space, the proposed diffusor/absorber seeks to make practice more acoustically comfortable and rewarding. The treatment is designed to attenuate the spectral portion of the violin and cello sound that engages the room resonances. When musicians play violin and cello, omni-directional low frequencies are primarily produced in lower elevation of the room, while more directional higher frequencies of interest to the performer are directed more to upper area. This diffusor/absorber is designed to provide more absorption for bottom area and more diffusion for upper area. In this configuration, the diffusor/absorber gives comfortable acoustical conditions for musicians to practice. Based on sound propagation characteristics [J. Meyer, “The sound of the orchestra,” J. Audio Eng. Soc. 41(4) (1993)] and formant information of violin and cello [M. Nam and K. Lee, “Analyzing string instrument formant,” in Proceeding of Acoustical Society of Korea Conference (2011)], this design proposes a moveable acoustic panel-box suitable for a typical musician's home practice room and a small sized recording studio.