How does room construction materials affect sound?
Unbeknownst to a majority, the materials used for constructing and decorating a room plays a pivotal role in controlling the level and quality of sound in the room.
Have you ever been to a public felicitation or any program where you had to perk your ears to understand what the speaker was saying because the sound was muffled and unclear? Or you went to watch a movie in a cinema hall and the sound system was killing your mood because of echoes? These are day to day examples of how inadequate or excessive use of acoustic materials with different properties affect the quality of the sound.
When sound incidents on a surface, a part of it is absorbed by the material and a part of it is reverberated off the surface. The reflected waves bounces off of other surfaces until it dies down. The amount of sound reflected or absorbed depends on the acoustical properties of the material. Different materials possess different acoustical properties. Some of the materials are good absorbers of sound and some others reflect sound. Materials that absorb sound causes the sound to come out as dull and dry whereas the materials that reflect sound makes it sound muddy, and blurry. The usage of materials in the right way will result in the good quality of sound. Let us consider an example and analyse how this works.
Wood as such is not a good absorption material and hence its sound insulation properties are not particularly good. Dense wood structures reflects sound. This property of wood can be a boon or curse depending on how we utilize it. A person unaware of this property of wood may end up using it in such a way that it causes unwanted reflections reducing the quality of the sound but by the one who understands, the reflection property of wood can be utilised in concert halls and musical instruments. By using multi-layered constructions or placing porous absorption materials behind a wooden board or panel in addition to an air gap, sufficient amount of insulation can be achieved in wooden buildings. This applies to every material. Materials like cushions and curtains absorb sound whereas reverberative materials like wood and glass reflect sound until it dies off. They should be used in a way that they absorb sounds to avoid echoes.
To put is simply, the type and amount of materials and even the positioning of them by an interior designer affects the quality of sound in a room. A skilled architect or interior designer will consider the acoustics of the building or room in mind while working. Accordingly, materials and furnitures will be selected for the construction suiting its purpose. On the other hand if you are moving to a new space and you want to alter the acoustics of the building, changes can be made accordingly with the help of an acoustic engineer.
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