Contribution
Validation of a simplified higher-order diffraction model in urban environments
* Presenting author
Abstract:
Diffraction is a significant factor in urban sound propagation, especially when sound waves encounter buildings or other structures. For instance, sound may propagate from a street around a house into a garden. How to model these diffraction effects accurately is an important task in creating realistic auralizations of urban environments. This study investigates the accuracy of the image edge model, a geometrical acoustics approach that incorporates diffraction in predicting sound paths. The model’s simulation pipeline approximates higher-order diffraction as a series of single diffraction events, assuming large distances between the edges involved. The validity of this simplification in the context of urban sound propagation is examined through scale model measurements. The scaled scenarios were designed to resemble typical urban scenarios. The accuracy of the image edge model simulation pipeline’s predictions is evaluated and discussed by benchmarking with the experimental results from the scale models and other simulation approaches.