Document all your work in a post on the course website.
For this exercise, select two rooms and begin creating profiles for each of them. As you proceed, you’ll become familiar with the terminology used to describe the acoustic features of these spaces. Your ability to perceive sound nuances will be enhanced through attentive listening.
- Identify two rooms, spaces, public areas, scenarios, or any location, whether at your workplace, home, or outdoors, that you consider acoustically noteworthy.
- What’s the main purpose of these spaces?
- Describe what makes these spaces noteworthy in terms of acoustics. Is it the ambient sounds, how the room responds to the sounds you produce or the overall atmosphere that attracts your attention?
- Compile a list of specific acoustic events you can hear and specify their sources.
- Describe your personal interpretation of the spaces with your own vocabulary (daily language), and try to explain to a colleague how the places sound as accurately as possible.
- Which of the following adjectives apply to your spaces? – acoustic ‘slang’ terminology, as proposed by GPT3.5 (see handout pdf)
- Take some representative pictures of the spaces and describe their basic geometry.
- Record your own voice with the handheld recorder at different distances. Listen to the recordings and comment on the differences. Add the recordings to your online documentation.
A list of slang words used in room acoustics
- Dead: Refers to a room with very little reverb or echo, creating a muted and quiet sound.
- Live: Describes a space with much reverberation, making sounds echo and linger.
- Boomy: Used for rooms where low frequencies are overly pronounced, creating a muffled or heavy sound.
- Tinny: Indicates an environment where high frequencies dominate, resulting in a sharp and piercing sound.
- Boxy: Refers to spaces with a pronounced midrange frequency resonance, making the sound seem trapped within a box.
- Echoey: Describes a room with strong, clear echoes, often with a delay between the original sound and the echoes.
- Warm: Suggests a space with a pleasing balance of frequencies, typically with a gentle reverb that makes the sound feel cozy.
- Harsh: Used for rooms with excessive high-frequency reflections, causing sounds to be sharp and uncomfortable.
- Dull: Refers to a space with poor sound reflections, resulting in a lifeless and unexciting acoustic environment.
- Muddy: Describes a room where frequencies are muddled and unclear, often due to excessive midrange resonance.
- Crisp: Indicates a clear and distinct sound, typically with well-defined high frequencies.
- Sterile: Used for environments with almost no reverb, making the sound feel clinical and lifeless.
- Sizzly: Refers to an environment where high frequencies are exaggerated, creating a sharp, sizzling sound.
- Open: Describes a space with a natural and spacious acoustic quality, often associated with large, well-designed rooms.
- Reverb-y: Informal slang for a room with much reverb or reverberation.
- Dense: Suggests an environment where sound reflections are numerous and tightly packed, resulting in a complex sonic character.
- Lush: Indicates a rich and full sound, often associated with spaces with a pleasing balance of reflections.
- Cavernous: Used for very large spaces with pronounced echoes and reverberation, often resembling a cave-like acoustic quality.
- Resonant: Describes a room where certain frequencies resonate strongly, creating a pronounced emphasis on specific tones.
- Balanced: Refers to a room with an even distribution of frequencies, resulting in a well-rounded and natural sound.
Remember that slang words can vary regionally and may not be universally understood, so it’s essential to consider your audience when using them to describe acoustic properties. Additionally, these terms are often subjective and may be open to interpretation, so it’s a good idea to provide more specific technical descriptions when needed.
Further adjectives that might apply to the spaces:
- Loud
- Silent
- Reflective
- Discreet
- Diffuse
- Noisy
- Quiet
- Clear
Additional considerations:
- Clarity of speech: Speech can easily be understood or is unclear
- What are common ambient sounds?
- What are common foreground noises?
- What’s the purpose of the area?
- Sound isolation?
- Acoustic confidentiality?
Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeic adjectives are words that imitate or resemble the sound they describe. These adjectives can add vividness and sensory detail to your descriptions and writing, as they directly evoke the sounds they represent. Here’s a list of onomatopoeic adjectives:
- Buzzing: The sound of a continuous, low-pitched humming or vibrating noise.
- Hissing: The sound of a sharp, hissing noise, often associated with air escaping or a snake.
- Whirring: The sound of something rapidly spinning or rotating.
- Creaking: The sound of a slow, squeaking noise, often associated with old or wooden objects.
- Rustling: The sound of something moving or stirring with a gentle, soft noise, like leaves in the wind.
- Sizzling: The sound of something cooking or frying in hot oil, often accompanied by a crackling sound.
- Purring: The soft, rhythmic sound made by contented cats.
- Gurgling: The bubbling or gurgling sound of liquid flowing or being poured.
- Splashing: The sound of liquid hitting a surface, often accompanied by droplets scattering.
- Chirping: The high-pitched, repetitive sound made by small birds or insects.
- Beeping: The short, intermittent sound of an electronic device, like a beep from a computer.
- Ding-dong: The onomatopoeic sound of a doorbell or a ringing bell.
- Clanging: The loud, ringing sound of metal striking metal.
- Hoot: The onomatopoeic sound made by owls is often associated with a deep, resonant sound.
- Bang: The loud, sharp sound of an explosion or collision.
- Thump: The dull, heavy sound of something hitting a surface with force.
- Rattle: The sharp, clattering sound of objects shaking or vibrating.
- Swoosh: The sound of something moving quickly through the air, like a gust of wind.
- Slurp: The sound of someone loudly and messily drinking a liquid.
- Pop: The sound of something bursting or exploding, often associated with a small, sharp noise.
This and more material can be found in the handout’s pdf.
