The dictionary defines acoustical as ” of or relating to sound, the sense of hearing, or the science of sound.” Lets look at each one of these phrases.
Defining acoustical as “of or relating to sound” starts the process. We try to design our environments that we live and work in with our relationship to sound in mind. Sometimes our sound “relatives” are hard to relate to and we have to absorb some of their excesses with sound absorption technology. Sometimes, we have to diffuse their energy by seperating and spreading their energy out many directions, so there is less energy to deal with in certain room areas. This technique can also work with human relatives.
Defining acoustical as “the sense of sound”, hopefully, refers to our actual human sense of hearing. Binaural hearing is our chosen methodology for capturing sound energy and processing it into our brains. Our brains then apply localization and pressure filters to help our brain understand the sound energy and where it is coming from. The sound localization filter is also attached to the eyes. Hearing and seeing are tied together, probably for survival purposes.
Defining acoustical as “the science of sound” is probably the most accurate of all the dictionary definitions. The science of acoustics explains why sound acts the way it does, and how our brains interpret it. Defining how sound acts the way it does is one thing; explaining how the brain interprets the data is very complicated and has its own diciplinary name. It is called the science of psychoacoustics.
