Acoustics

For some reason I decided to take Science of Acoustics for one of my classes this year even though it’s not required for me and of course it hasn’t gone well. Our class started at about 24 students and now we are down to 2. I ran out of time to drop the class and now my only hope is to do well on my final exam. Because our class is so small now, our teacher is allowing us to take the test as a homework assignment. I understand most of the concepts but I definitely am not confident I would receive a passing grade. I can not find a site that has tutors specifically for this class. Has anyone studied acoustics before and is willing to look at some of the math problems for me? (I am willing to pay) ;-;

Hi I'm a recent graduate and was wondering how possible is it to transition to an acoustics career from a musical/audio background? I graduated a few months ago with a BA that covered basically everything audio/sound related and I loved the modules on psychoacoustics, sound theory, DSP etc.

I am a sound designer by trade but the job market is ridiculous at the moment, so I was thinking of returning to uni to study Acoustics. The entry requirements for postgrad degrees seem heavily geared towards engineering backgrounds (obviously) and I'm aware of the IOA diploma that most require as well.

My worry is that despite my background in audio/sound I will be missing fundamental knowledge that I would've gained doing an engineering degree for my bachelor's. I don't mind putting in extra work but basically is it even worth my while pursuing? Thanks

Hey all,

I am currently studying Audio Engineering but have an interest in acoustics. I am curious what some of you who work in the acoustics field do and what background you have (education or self taught?). I am curious what jobs are available to someone who doesn't necessarily have a degree in acoustics. Any help would be much appreciated.

I feel like this sub is 90% redditors asking for help on where to put acoustic panels or how to isolate sound in their house. As a practicing acoustic consultant and a Masters of Engineering in Acoustics student, I would love to see this sub blossom into a community that shares research, raises new questions, and encourages thoughtful discussion, rather than recycling the same questions over and over. Maybe we can pin some quality existing room acoustics and sound isolation threads in a FAQ to keep the new posts more unique instead of restating Acoustics 101 over and over.

Just my 2 cents. To attempt to lead by example, I am currently working on a environmental audio classification method using low-level features extracted from WAV files. My current step is to use fuzzy c-means clustering to predict the probability of classification for new WAV files.

EDIT:
I like the idea of using verified flair for actual acousticians in this sub.

I made a super simple animation to explain the principle of acoustical absorption of (mainly) high frequencies. Very curious for your feedback!

Hope it will help novices understand the basic principle without getting into too much detail.

Hey not sure if this is already well known or not, but I just discovered pyroomacoustics for simulating room acoustics. I am constructing a recording studio right now and I wanted to get an idea of what the acoustics would be like with my plan since the soffit mounted speakers won't be easily moved after construction. There is free browser based simulations out there but I found that they either were not informative enough for my needs (just showing simple room modes) or not customizable enough (only rectangular geometry). The professional software would meet my needs but is expensive. So, I found that pyroomacoustics was the right fit for me because it is powerful, flexible, and best of all - free!

You can use it to enter arbitrary dimensions to your room, enter the acoustic materials used (or use custom material properties), and specify the location of your source and microphone (or rather, the speakers and listening position). Then you can get the impulse response, RT60, and frequency response of the room. I know it's not going to be 100% accurate, but it at least helps for cases like mine where I have to plan ahead. I will definitely use REW in the future to measure and adjust in the finetuning stage, but this is a great start I think.

Helpful resources:
you can use this to get started, and adjust it to your rooms dimensions / properties.
instructions on how to use the Colab Project.

the documentation from the authors of pyroomacoustics.

Hey yall. I have a typical bedroom studio with minimal acoustic treatment. I've always believed that monitoring at low levels helps with resonance problems, reflections, etc...

My reasonig is that by putting less energy in the room Im not going to get the same level of resonances and reflections as I would normally - like the difference between whispering and conversation level speaking. Can anyone verify, debunk, or share useful information on this?

This is split from another topic to start discussion on how to prevent the same basic questions about room acoustics/panels appearing several times every day.

Maybe we should start a faq?

Yes we should. It's not even that much work to offer the basic vocabulary to beginners to search for the info they are trying to ask, but don't know what to include.

The problem is that most people don't bother reading those, even though just answering those questions in their head might already help solve the problem.

I've been thinking of writing a "How to ask for help" post which can be modified to different beginner level technical problems, because this is widely recurring problem especially in Reddit but also on several forums. Inspiration came from this post linked below.

Quote from

Many newcomers neglect to supply the information asked for in this document. Therefore, we have decided not to answer ANYONE who doesn't comply. This is not arrogance on our part, it's based on TIME - it takes us much longer to help someone who doesn't even bother to read and study the links mentioned here and to follow these simple instructions. We simply do not HAVE that much time (never did). We are all unpaid volunteers here, doing this because we want to help. So we have no choice but to only help those who pay attention and show that they really do want help. We will only help members who put in the effort to read and comply with these rules.

The FAQ doesn't need to be as blunt, but the point should be clear enough that even younger non-native English speakers understand what is required. People like me want to help and I enjoy solving technical problems, because there is always a possibility to educate myself in the process. The problem solving itself has started to turn into a recurring problem.

So, what questions and required info we should include to get started?

Hello everybody!

I am writing something called diploma project (a project student writes in the last year of HS in Sweden) and investigating whether the size of the room is the only factor that matters for sound reflections.

The template that I have to use for this project is similiar to the template of a laboratory report. Right now, I am trying to write the theory/the background, but I got stuck. I don't know what to write there.

So far, I have written about sound and its propagation, sound waves (longitudinal and transverse waves), acoustics (what it is), reverberation and echo. What shall I also write about?

For more context, here is how I will do the experiments:
I am going to play a sound file with three different tones (kickdrum, snare and hihat) in six different places (a lift and a bathroom, a livingroom and a classroom, a cinema and a sports hall) and record it, then I am going to analyze it to determine if the size of the room is the only thing that matters.

Thanks in advance!

Looking to further my understanding about acoustics from an engineering, physics, and perceptual understanding. What books made you think about acoustics differently?

Hello all! I’m a college student currently working on a mechanical engineering degree and have taken an interest in wanting to learn about the field of acoustic engineering. I was wanting to ask for any recommendations on books for learning the basics of acoustics. I have acquired an interest in radar systems , sonar systems and the science of sound, but do not know where to begin.

 I believe a while back someone asked this question but I did not save the post so apologies for that. 

 Any info or recommendations on where to get started is greatly appreciated. Thank you all for your time and help!

Hi i’m rising senior in high school and I have been considering the field of acoustics as a career path. This decision spurred from my love of music but also my love of math. I’ve always loved the live performance scene and have been fascinated with the performing arts ever since i could remember. However, I didn’t think being the one of the performers was my calling or was it feasible. I’ve also found myself to be math/science aligned and genuinely enjoy expanding my knowledge on those subjects. i’ve taken advanced level math (most recent being AP calculus) and have always loved the challenge math gives. I plan on taking AP physics this year to see how I fair with complex topics. With these two conflicting interests in mind, i found out about the study of acoustics, which honestly sounded absolutely fascinating. Is there any resources that can be recommended on what job options look like in this field and how to go about getting there? I keep getting vague advice on suggested majors in college. I think I would like to know more about architectural acoustics, but honestly have not solidified my decision. Any advice or guidance is appreciated since I have not heard of this field until this year through personal research :)

I'm toying with the idea (no pun intended) of creating a squeak toy for my dog that resonates at a frequency above the range of human hearing. For a target f0 of 23,000Hz, I did f = c/4L for a Helmholtz resonator where f = 23,000Hz and c = 344 m/s. I got a L for a tube of 0.004m. Is this drastically oversimplified? I'm tripping up on two things:

1. that a squeak toy is open and one end and closed at the other but really the resonating tube is open at both ends, so should I use f = c/2L instead?

2. The effect of pressure on velocity in a squeak toy, in which air rushes out of the squeak toy through the resonating tube. Does that mean c = 344m/s no longer applies?

As someone who is always curious about finding out more levels of recording that may a little less intuitive, what are the things learned that made you stop and think, "huh, well that's cool."

I'm a graduate student studying marine biology, and need a quick and dirty introduction to acoustics in the environment. Anyone have a good idea where I can start?

I’m learning 3D modeling and I want to learn more about the acoustic design of wind instruments so that I can design new ones. I’ve read Bart Hopkin’s Musical Instrument Design, and now I’m looking for a deeper dive. Any pointers appreciated!