Room acoustic simulations of multi-source environments

The application of room acoustic simulations to industrial halls with a large number of sound sources has been known for many years as an efficient means for noise control. However, the application of the auralisation tool to multi-source environments is rather new. The challenges and possibilities are discussed through a number of examples including a symphony orchestra in a concert hall, crowd sounds in a theatre, and the speech privacy in an open plan office. In order to make this technique a useful tool it is important that the quality and realism of the auralisation is very high, but also that the user interface allows a sufficient overview and control of the whole scenario. Good localisation is particularly important in multi-source environments. For some applications the use of headphones is not possible, so it is necessary that the auralisation can be presented through a surround loudspeaker system.