The room acoustic rendering equation

An integral equation generalizing a variety of known geometrical room acoustics modeling algorithms is presented. The formulation of the room acoustic rendering equation is adopted from computer graphics. Based on the room acoustic rendering equation, an acoustic radiance transfer method, which can handle both diffuse and nondiffuse reflections, is derived. In a case study, the method is used to predict several acoustic parameters of a room model. The results are compared to measured data of the actual room and to the results given by other acoustics prediction software. It is concluded that the method can predict most acoustic parameters reliably and provides results as accurate as current commercial room acoustic prediction software. Although the presented acoustic radiance transfer method relies on geometrical acoustics, it can be extended to model diffraction and transmission through materials in future.