WHY ACOUSTIC MATTERS

The Impact of Reflected Sound on
Audio Clarity and Room Acoustics

The sound that you hear in any room is a combination of the direct sound that travels straight from your speakers to your ears, and the indirect reflected sound—the sound from your speakers that bounces off the walls, floor, ceiling, and furniture before it reaches your ears. Reflected sounds can be both good and bad. The good part is that they make music and movie dialogues sound much fuller and louder than they would otherwise. If you’ve ever played your speakers outside where there are no walls to add reflections, you’ve probably noticed that they don’t sound good—thin and dull, with very little bass. Reflected sound can add a pleasant spaciousness to your sound.

The bad part is that these same reflections can also distort sound in a room by making certain notes sound louder while canceling out others. The result may be midrange and treble that’s too bright and harsh or echo, or bass that’s muddy and boomy, with a muddy “one-note” quality that drowns out deep bass. Because these reflections arrive at your ears at different times than the sound from your speakers, the three-dimensional “soundstage” created by your speakers and the images of the instruments and singers may become vague or smeared.

Reflected sound is necessary for music and speech to sound natural, but too much can ruin clarity. You can control reflected sound either by absorbing or by diffusion (scattering).