Hi @Annie Luc,

This is a really great introductory article with some good category definitions. Two items I'd like to contribute to the conversation:

Since we're an international organization, terminology can be a bit difficult. I would say here in the US, "foam" isn't the proper term. If you're referencing dense absorptive materials, I'd recommend saying rigid board insulation, "rigid" can be defined as 6pcf, but that is just one of many densities we consider "rigid." Mineral wool as a generic product category is also a good term to use and avoids make and model conflicts.

In small office environments, diffusion can sometimes wreak havoc on acoustic echo cancellation for conference microphones. Slat diffusers as you reference with their grooves will absolutely break up an incident sound wave. However, while there is a reduction in overall energy, there is still a reflection that will bounce around in the room for a bit longer. If the user is looking to keep the room a bit more "live" than dampened, what works really well for diffusion of speech frequencies is a busy book shelf. I always recommend to clients that if they have an impressive book collection, display it. Because the unevenness of the shelves and the books will also break up incident sound waves within a limited frequency range.

Thanks a bunch for posting this article and bringing up this topic. It's a great idea to improve our acoustic work from home environments!

An important distinction is to note that while EASE base version provides information about acoustics, that data is estimated and the RT information can be largely inaccurate. EASE with Aura, is required to perform accurate wave based modeling. EASE standard is limited in its acoustic analysis performance.

For a few dollars more, check out the Airfly Pro. Having a small, pocket sized device that can be either a Bluetooth transmitter or receiver at the flick of a switch, has saved my bacon several times. I've used it live to get sources into my console at FoH, traveling in the car, and for presentations when my laptop sound card was acting up.

https://www.twelvesouth.com/products/airfly

I'm curious if you've found any SPL weightings that make everyone happy?

Line arrays are used quite regularly in halls designed (at least in part) for unamplified performances as they are very rider friendly and we can gain the benefits of an array. They can be a bit of a mixed blessing. The difficulty has been the extremely wide horizontal which up until recently was almost all line arrays. Too much sound was sprayed onto the side walls with a wide horizonal line array creating unwanted reflections and energy build up. In addition, the rear wall of the audience chamber and any large balcony faces create harsh reflections that are unwanted and send energy directly back to the stage (but late in time). With newer DSP software that allows for avoidance zones in coverage and tighter horizontal pattern control, the sound can be tailored well. Some halls still benefit from point source coverage, it depends on the shape of the audience chamber, depth, materials, etc.