Reverberation

Reverberation is the persistence of sound after its source stops, caused by reflections in an enclosed space or by an artificial audio effect.

Sound reflection: Sound reflection occurs when sound waves encounter a boundary and return into the surrounding medium. Reflections from walls, ceilings, and objects overlap to sustain sound after the source stops.
Architectural acoustics: Architectural acoustics concerns the design and evaluation of sound in buildings. It uses reverberation control to make rooms suitable for speech, music, or other activities.
Echo: An echo is a reflected sound heard as a distinct repetition of the original sound. A discrete echo is perceptible as a separate repeat; reverberation blends many reflections into a decay.
Speech intelligibility: Speech intelligibility is the degree to which spoken words can be correctly understood. Long reverberation smears speech sounds over time and can make words harder to distinguish.
Room acoustics: Room acoustics studies how sound behaves within enclosed or partly enclosed spaces. The room’s shape, surfaces, and contents determine how reflections build reverberation.
Acoustic treatment: Acoustic treatment uses materials and structures to alter sound reflection, absorption, or diffusion in a space. Treatments adjust a room’s reverberation without changing its overall use.
Flutter echo: Flutter echo is a rapid series of distinct reflections between nearby parallel surfaces. It is a recognizable reflection pattern that can occur alongside a room’s broader reverberation.
Clarity (acoustics): Acoustic clarity describes the balance of early sound energy against later reverberant energy. Reverberation time and reflection timing help determine whether musical details remain distinct.
Reverberation time: Reverberation time is the time required for sound level in a space to decay by a specified amount after the source stops. It quantifies how long a space sustains sound.
Sound diffusion: Sound diffusion is the scattering of reflected sound across directions and time. Diffusers reshape reflections while retaining more acoustic energy than absorbers.

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