Reverberation Time in "Live" Rooms

In this expression, T is the reverberation time in seconds, V is the volume of the room in cubic feet, and α is the total absorbing power of the surfaces exposed to the sound waves.

To illustrate the use of this equation, a typical calculation will be made. Room dimensions and other factors are assumed. The coefficients are from Table I at 512 cycles. A person seated, plus uncovered portion of the seat, is estimated at 5.0 units absorption.

* For information on this subject and on other aspects of reverberation, the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America should be consulted. References 12 and 13 also are recommended,

As will be shown later, 1.47 seconds is a satisfactory reverberation time for a room of this size when occupied.