Retroreflective room acoustics: Possible treatments, their effects, and potential benefits

Abstract

Introducing retroreflection into rooms can change the distribution of reflected energy, concentrating early reflections on the source. But what is a retroreflective room, and how could it be implemented? This paper introduces concepts including retroreflective arrays andretroreflective focusing, which achieve much more than the trivial case of a rectangular room. Examples are developed via finite-differencetime-domain simulation. Treatment strategies include making use of the room corners and edges as focusing retroreflectors, retroreflective ceiling treatments, and using local retroreflective treatments such as desk reflectors. The acoustic features of the retroreflective rooms are compared with design targets of open-plan offices, classrooms and restaurants, to illustrate potential benefits of retroreflective treatment of rooms for speech.