TITLE:
Evaluating Room Acoustics for Speech Intelligibility
AUTHORS:
Caitlin R. Kunchur
KEYWORDS:
Acoustics, Reverberation, Speech, Music, Communication
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Applied Sciences,
Vol.9 No.7,
July
30,
2019
ABSTRACT: Room acoustics play an important role in the intelligibility of speech.
The main aspect of acoustics that is usually studied is the duration of the
reverberation decay, since a long decay causes a blurring of phonemes. However,
other parameters of the acoustics such as the strength of the reverberation can
actually improve intelligibility. These factors do not receive the same
attention. In many common practical situations such as classrooms and
residential rooms, it would be of value to quantitatively study the acoustics
to optimize the room’s function, but this is not done routinely due to the
expected expense or difficulty involved.
This research explores inexpensive first-principle methods to
quantitatively measure three key parameters of a room’s acoustics: the
reverberation decay time RT60, the reverberant intensity IR, and the room’s total absorption A. The required equipment includes two laptops installed with
certain free softwares. Generation of the required noise signal and level
detection are carried out using the REW software, and long-duration recordings
are carried out using the Audacity software. The procedures are simple enough
to be performed without specialized training and do not require specialized equipment,
only commonly available household resources. This research also sheds light on
the fact that not all reverberation is bad and that strong but short-duration
reverberation can enhance communication. This information can be
expected to benefit schools and other venues where speech intelligibility is
vital.