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The noise level in a room is determined by the noise source and by reflections off the walls, floor, and ceiling. Sometimes these reflections are desirable, for example, to achieve sufficient speech intelligibility over a greater distance, but sometimes they are undesirable because they create an annoyingly high noise level or disrupt privacy. Depending on the use of the room, advice is given on how to achieve suitable room acoustics for that room. This applies not only to offices and meeting rooms, for example, but also to shopping centers and atriums. In theaters and concert halls, acoustics are of primary importance; we refer to this as room acoustics. Specific room acoustic problems occur in open-plan offices and so-called innovative offices, where, on the one hand, sufficient sound reduction with distance is required and, on the other hand, the noise level must also be sufficiently high.
Calculating the behavior of sound is possible to a certain extent, but it has its limitations. Ray models do not take wave phenomena into account, and 3D wave models are not yet practical. One method for accurately predicting acoustics is scale model research. An existing or new situation is simulated on a scale, usually 1:10. The frequency at which measurements are taken is scaled accordingly, using the same scale factor. Peutz has been conducting acoustic research with scale models for decades and has improved this technique by using microphones and loudspeakers developed in-house. To achieve optimal stability in the impulse responses, the research is conducted in a special climate-controlled room in the Acoustics Laboratory in Mook.
Scale model research has been carried out on many halls, including the Royal Albert Hall in London, De Doelen in Rotterdam, Het Muziekgebouw aan het IJ, De Spiegel in Zwolle, the Nedpho-Koepel in Amsterdam, the Tonhalle in Düsseldorf, the Staatsoper in Berlin, the Oper Köln, and the new concert hall in the Kulturpalast Dresden.
