Report of the meeting of the SC-04-08 Working Group on Measurement and Equalization of sound systems in rooms, held online, 2022-10-12

Chair Peter Mapp convened the meeting.

In attendance were Richard Cabot, David Prince, Peter Mapp, Bruce Olson, Neil Shaw, Eddy Brixen, Kurt Graffy, John Woodgate, Brian Vessa, Scott Dorsey.

The formal notice on patent policy was read.

Minutes of previous meeting online, 2022-05-04 were reviewed with the group.

Projects assigned to this group but not mentioned here had no action requested or required - see www.aes.org/standards/meetings/project-status.cfm for details.

Development projects

AES-X218: Measurement and calibration of sound systems in rooms.
Summary of action Points

1. Noise measurement document – any updates / revisions needed ? - ALL
2. RT measurement Document to be available in draft form by end of year – PM / DP
3. Frequency response measurement – (scanning) – initial draft or text sections end of year – J-LO
4. Number of measurement locations for measurements – (STI in particular) – initial summary - end of year – EB

X218 is to be a survey procedure dealing with the following parameters and providing a standardised measurement procedures and presentation of the data:

• Background (ambient) noise level
• RT
• System Frequency Response – RTA/steady state response. IR method(s) to follow but complex as time windowing etc need to be agreed
• Nominal Intelligibility – as indicated by STI
• System coverage – as indicated by STI values and associated SPLs and related frequency response

Once up and running, the document may expand to ‘certification’ requirements. Initially to be limited to ‘normal’, enclosed rooms and venues eg auditoria / arenas up to 10,000 seats size. Procedures may be adopted for other specific spaces if shown to be applicable eg. Sports stadiums or Cinema. The objective is to provide a general overview / characterisation of a room & sound system performance and highlight any prominent issues of concern. It is hoped that the frequency response procedures will lay the foundations for X219

AES-X219: Method of measurement for frequency and impulse response of sound systems in auditoria
Project remains postponed until there is some output of X218

Liaisons

No news.

New Projects

No new projects were proposed.

New Business

A follow up meeting will be held before the next convention meeting, probably February or March 2023, to review progress

The next meeting will be held online in May 2023, scheduled in conjunction with the AES 154th Convention.