Reverberant

Reverberant describes a sound field or space in which sound energy continues to persist after the source has stopped, due to multiple reflections off surfaces such as walls, ceilings, and floors. In a reverberant environment, individual echoes blend into a continuous decay, creating a sense of spaciousness rather than discrete reflections.

In room acoustics, reverberation time (RT60) is the standard measure of how long it takes for sound to decay by 60 decibels. RT60 depends on room volume and total absorption, commonly expressed by the Sabine equation: RT60 ≈ 0.161 V / A, where V is the room volume in cubic meters and A is the total absorption in sabins. Surface materials, geometry, and diffusion influence absorption and scattering across frequencies. Early reflections arrive within tens of milliseconds and affect sound clarity, while late reverberation contributes to perceived space and smoothness of the sound.

Applications of reverberant environments include music venues, lecture halls, and acoustical research spaces. Architects and engineers tailor reverberation with materials, shapes, and diffusers to balance intelligibility with envelopment. Highly reverberant rooms can enhance musical warmth but may impair speech clarity; highly absorptive or well-diffused spaces often yield greater intelligibility at the expense of spaciousness.

In acoustics and audio engineering, reverberation is also simulated or measured using impulse responses. Reverberant chambers test devices under controlled, realistic acoustic conditions, while signal processing can synthesize reverberant effects for recordings and playback.