On the use of a diffusion model for acoustically coupled rooms

A numerical model is proposed to predict the reverberant sound field in a system of two coupled volumes that are connected through an open aperture. The model is based on the numerical implementation of a diffusion model that has already been applied to predict the sound-energy distribution and the sound decay in single rooms. In comparison with the statistical theory, the proposed approach permits the prediction of the sound field by taking into account the sound source location and the receiver locations as well as the transition from one room to the other at the coupling aperture. Moreover, the diffusion model results match satisfactorily the experimental data in terms of sound-pressure level and reverberation times, both in the room containing the source and in the receiving room. Simulations with a ray-based model are also carried. out, leading to results similar to those of the diffusion model, but at a cost of larger computation times. (c) 2006 Acoustical Society of America.