Why does a whispering gallery work? Where should you place acoustic panels? Explore the wave physics of enclosed spaces through interactive simulations.
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Reverberation, reflection, absorption, and acoustic design — modelled
Room acoustics simulations model how sound energy propagates, reflects, and decays within enclosed spaces. Image-source method simulations place mirror-image sources at each specular reflection point and sum their contributions to compute the early-reflection pattern and initial-time-gap of a room impulse response. Finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations solve the wave equation on a 2D grid, showing diffraction around corners, standing-wave mode shapes, and the effect of absorbing panels.
Sabine reverberation calculators compute RT60 as a function of room volume and surface absorption coefficients, explaining why concert halls require 1.8–2.2 s while recording studios target 0.2–0.4 s. Acoustic-treatment placement optimisers visualise bass-mode pressure distributions and identify optimal absorption and diffusion positions. These tools are used by acoustic consultants, theatre designers, and recording studio builders to achieve target acoustic environments.
Each simulation in this category is built with accuracy and interactivity in mind. The underlying mathematical models are the same ones used in academic research and professional engineering — just made accessible through a web browser. Changing parameters in real time and observing the results is one of the most effective ways to build intuition for complex scientific and engineering concepts.
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