Prediction of the sound diffracted around barriers in large rooms using an extension of Maekawa's approach

A computer program has been developed for the prediction of sound pressure levels in large, irregular rooms utilizing a geometric acoustics approach. Experiments indicated that the program gave good predictive accuracy when receiver positions were in the line of sight of the sound source. However, the accuracy was poor when the receiver was out of the line of sight. The present discussion reports on the further development of the program to include diffraction effects using an extension of Maekawa's approach for thin screens and right angle wedges. The program is capable of finding all valid diffracted rays which undergo three or fewer reflections before diffraction and three or fewer reflections after diffraction. Limited experimental work indicates good predictive accuracy.