Some contributions of Murray Hodgson to room acoustics modeling

Abstract

This presentation focuses on some of the many contributions of Murray Hodgson (1952–2017) concerning room-acoustic modeling. The concepts of sound field diffuseness and diffuse reflections have always been of major interest for Murray, his studies associating most of the time numerical modeling and measurements on scale models or real-scale rooms. His most cited paper [JASA 89, 1990] proposes to include diffuse surface reflections in ray-tracing simulations, and is a milestone in room acoustics prediction as most standard room-acoustic prediction softwares now include surface diffusivity. Another extensively cited paper [App. Ac. 49, 1996] discusses the applicability of diffuse field theory according to room shape and to absorption distribution and magnitude. The conclusions of this study are still greatly useful to researchers, students, and practitioners. Another important focus of Murray’s research has been the acoustics of « fitted » rooms (i.e., rooms containing many obstacles such as industrial workrooms, classrooms…), and was the topic of many of his papers. This presentation will review some contributions of Murray on this research topic.