Schroeder diffusers revolutionised the design of scattering surfaces when they were invented in the 1970s. For the first time diffusers with defined acoustic performance could be easily designed. Since their inception, much has been learnt about the performance of the surfaces. Limitations of the original concepts have been studied, and solutions found to overcome many of these. This paper will review the development of this technology over the last three decades.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
VorländerM. (1995), International Round Robin on Room Acoustical Computer Simulations. proc. 15th ICA Norway. II. pp. 689–692.
2.
D'AntonioP., and CoxT.J. (2000), “Diffusor application in rooms”, Appl., Acoust., Vol. 60, pp. 113–143.
3.
MarshallA.H.HydeJ.R., and BarronM.F.E. (September 1982), “The acoustical design of Wellington Town Hall: Design development, implementation and modelling results”, Proc. Institute of Acoustics UK, Edinburgh.
4.
SchroederM.R. (1975), “Diffuse sound reflection by maximum-length sequences”, J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 57, No. 1, pp. 149–150.
5.
SchroederM.R. (1979), “Binaural dissimilarity and optimum ceilings for concert halls: More lateral sound diffusion”, J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 65, pp. 958–963.
6.
CoxT.J., and D'AntonioP., “Acoustic absorbers and diffusers: Theory, design and applications”, Spon Press. In preparation.
7.
D'AntonioP., and KonnertJ.H. (April 1984), “The Reflection Phase Grating Diffusor: Design Theory and Application”, J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 32, No. 4, pp. 228–238.
8.
CoxT.J., and LamY.W. (1994), “Prediction and evaluation of the scattering from quadratic residue diffusors,”J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 95, No. 1, pp. 297–305.
9.
TenkateW.R.T. (1995), “On the bandwidth of diffusors based upon the quadratic residue sequence,”J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 98, No. 5, pp. 2575–2579.
10.
CoxT.J. (1995), “Optimization of profiled diffusers,”J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 97, No. 5, pp. 2928–2941.
11.
HargreavesT.J.CoxT. J.LamY. W., and D'AntonioP (2000), “Surface diffusion coefficients for room acoustics: Free-field measures,”J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 108, No. 4, pp. 1710–1720.
12.
AES-4id-2001 (2001), “AES Information document for room acoustics and sound reinforcement systems – Characterization and measurement of surface scattering uniformity”, J. Audio. Eng. Soc., Vol. 49, No. 3, pp. 149–165.
13.
D'AntonioP., and KonnertJ. (1992), “The QRD diffractal: A new one- or two-dimensional fractal sound diffusor”, J. Audio. Eng. Soc., Vol. 40, No. 3, pp. 113–129.
14.
SchroederM.R. (1984), Number Theory in Science and Communication, Springer Series in Information Sciences, Vol. 7, Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
15.
SchroederM.R. (October 1980), “Toward Better Acoustics for Concert Halls”, Physics Today, pp. 24–30.
16.
FeldmanE. (1995), “A reflection grating that nullifies the specular reflection: A cone of silence”, J. Acoust. Soc. Am.Vol. 98, No. 1, pp. 623–634.
17.
CoxT.J., and D'AntonioP. (June 2000), Acoustic phase gratings for reduced specular reflection, Applied Acoustics, Vol. 60, No. 2, pp. 167–186.
18.
SchroederM.R. (1995), “Phase gratings with suppressed specular reflections,”Acustica, Vol. 81, pp. 364–369.
19.
AngusJ.A.S. (2000), “Diffuser design using Huffman sequences”, proc. IoA(UK), Vol. 22, No. 6, pp. 203–214.
20.
FanP., and DarnellM. (1996), “Sequence design for communications applications”, John Wiley and Sons.
21.
AngusJ.A.S. (1995), “Large area diffusors using modulated phase reflection gratings,”Proc. Audio. Eng. Soc. 98th Convention, preprint 3954 (D4).
22.
AngusJ.A.S. (1995), “Using modulated phase reflection gratings to achieve specific diffusion characteristics”, Proc. Audio. Eng. Soc., 99th Convention, preprint 4117.
23.
AngusJ.A.S., and McManmonC.I. (1996), “Orthogonal sequence modulated phase reflection gratings for wideband diffusion”, Proc. Audio. Eng. Soc. 100th Convention, preprint 4249.
24.
AngusJ.A.S., and SimpsonA. (1997), “Wideband two dimensional diffusers using orthogonal modulated sequences”, Proc. Audio. Eng. Soc. 103rd Convention, preprint 4640.
25.
AngusJ.A.S., and McManmonC.I. (1998), “Orthogonal sequence modulated phase reflection gratings for wide-band diffusion”, J. Audio. Eng. Soc., Vol. 46, No. 12, pp. 1109–1118.
26.
AngusJ.A.S. (2000), “Using grating modulation to achieve wideband large area diffusers”, Applied Acoustics, Vol. 60, No. 2, pp. 143–165.
27.
MandelbrotB.B. (1983), “The fractal geometry of nature”, Freeman, San Francisco.
28.
TeraiT. (1980), “On the Calculation of Fields Around Three-Dimensional Objects by Integral Equation Methods”, J. Sound. Vib., Vol. 69, pp. 71–100.
29.
JrvinenA.SaviojaL., and MelkasK. (1998), “Numerical simulations of the modified Schroeder diffuser structure”, J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 103, No. 5, pp. 3065.
30.
MechelF.P. (1995), “The wide-angle diffuser – A wide-angle absorber?”, Acustica, Vol. 81, pp. 379–401.
31.
HuneckeJ. (1997), “Sound scattering and sound absorption of surfaces made of microperforated strips” (in German), University of Stuttgart PhD Thesis.
32.
FujiwaraK.NakaiK., and ToriharaH. (2000), “Visualisation of the sound field around a Schroeder diffuser,”Appl. Acoust., Vol. 60, No. 2, pp. 225–236.
33.
WuT.CoxT. J., and LamY. W. (2001), “A profiled structure with improved low frequency absorption”, J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 110, pp. 3064–3070.
34.
CoxT.J.AvisM.R., and XiaoL. (2002), “The potential for room acoustic active diffusers,” to appear in Forum Acusticum, Sevilla.
35.
FujiwaraK., and MiyajimaT. (1992), “Absorption characteristics of a practically constructed Schroeder diffuser of quadratic-residue type”, Appl. Acoust., Vol. 35, pp. 149–152.
36.
CoxT.J., and D'AntonioP., “Absorption by Surface Diffusers”, proc. IoA (UK). to appear in Auditorium2002.
37.
KuttruffH. (1994), “Sound absorption by pseudostochastic diffusers (Schroeder diffusers)”, Appl. Acoust., Vol. 42, pp. 215–231.
38.
FujiwaraK., and MiyajimaT. (1995), “A study of the sound absorption of a quadratic-residue type diffuser”, Acustica, Vol. 81, pp. 370–378.
39.
WuT.CoxT.J., and LamY.W. (2000), “From a profiled diffuser to an optimised absorber”, J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 108, No. 2, pp. 643–650.
40.
ComminsD.E.AulettaN., and SunerB. (1988), “Diffusion and absorption of quadratic residue diffusers,”Proc. I.O.A., Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 223–232.
41.
CoxT.J., and LamY.W. (1994), “The performance of realisable quadratic residue diffusers (QRDs)”, Applied Acoustics, Vol. 41, No. 3, pp. 237–246.
42.
BerkhoutA.J.van Wulfften PaltheD.W., and de VriesD. (1979), “Theory of optimal plane diffusers”, J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 65, No. 5, pp. 1334–1336.
43.
SchroederM.R.GerlachR.E.SteingrubeA., and StrubeH.W. (1979), “Response to 'theory of optimal planar diffusers”, J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 65, No. 5, pp. 1336–1337.
44.
StrubeH.W. (1980), “Scattering of a plane wave by a Schroeder diffuser: A mode matching approach”, J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 67, No. 2, pp. 453–459.
45.
StrubeH.W. (1980), “Diffraction by a planar, local reacting, scattering surface,”J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 67, No. 2, pp. 460–469.
46.
StrubeH.W. (1981), “More on the diffraction theory of Schroeder diffusers”, J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 70, No. 2, pp. 633–635,.
47.
CoxT.J. (1994), Predicting the Scattering from Reflectors and Diffusers using 2D Boundary Element Methods, J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 96, No. 2, pp. 874–878.
48.
LamY.W. (1999), “A boundary integral formulation for the prediction of acoustic scattering from periodic structures”, J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 105, pp. 762–769.
49.
HargreavesT.J. (2000), “Acoustic diffusion and scattering coefficients for room surfaces”, Ph.D. Thesis University of Salford.
50.
de JonB.A., and van den BergP.M. (1980), “Theoretical design of optimum planar sound diffusers,”J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 68, No. 4, pp. 1154–1159.
51.
D'AntonioP. (1995), “Performance evaluation of optimized diffusors,”J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 97, No. 5, pp. 2937–2941.
52.
PressW.H., (1989), “Numerical recipes, the art of scientific computing”, Cambridge University Press, pp. 289–292.
53.
CiskowskiR.D., and BrebbiaC.A. (Editors) (1991), “Boundary element methods in acoustics”, Kluwer Academic Publishers.
54.
CoxT.J. (May 1996), “Designing Curved Diffusors for Performance Spaces”, J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 44, pp. 354–364.
