Review of the role of uncertainties in room acoustics

Abstract

While many aspects of room acoustics such as material characterization, acoustic propagation and room interaction, and perception have long been, and continue to be, active areas of room acoustics research, the study of uncertainty in room acoustics has been very limited. Uncertainty pervades the room acoustic problem: there is uncertainty in measurement and characterization of materials, uncertainty in the models used for propagation and room interaction, uncertainty in the measurement of sound within rooms, and uncertainty in perception. Only recently are the standard methods of uncertainty assessment being systematically employed within room acoustics. This paper explains the need for systematic study of uncertainty in room acoustic predictions and review some of the most recent research related to characterizing uncertainty in room acoustics.