Room volume estimation from diffuse field theory

Abstract

Among the parameters relevant in room acoustics, the room volume is one of the most important. The general course in room acoustics research is to use the room volume in the prediction of room acoustic parameters such as reverberation time or total relative sound pressure level. Contrary to this, it has been investigated to what extent the room volume can be retrieved from a measured room impulse response. The approach followed is based on room acoustic diffuse field theory and requires correctly measured room impulse responses with the initial time delay corresponding to the source to receiver distance. A total of ten rooms of varying size and acoustic characteristics have been included. The results in three rooms were unreliable, which was explained by the particular acoustic characteristics. In the remaining rooms the results were numerically useful and consistent between different positions within the same room (relative standard deviation around 20%). The influence of source and receiver directivity is also considered.