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Equivalent Acoustic Distance

In certain acoustic environments with no electroacoustic system present there exists a maximum path length between the acoustic source (talker) and the receiver (listener) beyond which meaningful communication and intelligibility suffers. When, for various reasons, listeners must hear at distances much greater than the maximum path length, it becomes necessary to use electroacoustic systems. The goal of such a system is to provide at some distance much greater than the maximum path length described the equivalent acoustic environment present at the maximum path length distance. That is to say, the electroacoustic system must provide the loudness, tonal balance, and clarity present at the maximum path length when no electroacoustic system is in use. The role of the signal-to-noise ratio, direct to reverberant sound, time delay of reflected sound, acoustic gain, and basic sound system configurations in establishing usable equivalent acoustic distance (EAD) in real-life sound systems will be discussed. A new all-inclusive sound sysem acoustic gain formula will be introduced as well as modifications to existing widely used critical distance formulas.

Author: Davis, Don
Affiliation: Synergetic Audio Concepts, Tustin, CA
JAES Volume 21 Issue 8 pp. 646-649; October 1973 Import into BibTeX

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