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A general mathematical formulation for the way sound attenuates as it moves through the air is captured in the inverse square law, which shows that sound decreases in intensity in proportion to the square of the distance from the source. The diminishing of sound intensity is called attenuation.
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Sound absorption is the conversion of sound’s energy into heat, thereby diminishing the intensity of the sound. In enclosed spaces, absorption plays an important role. In the real world, there are any number of things that can get in the way of sound, changing its direction, amplitude, and frequency components. Figure 4.13 Sound radiation from a loudspeaker, viewed from top 4.1.7.1 Absorption, Reflection, Refraction, and Diffraction You can see that there is some sound behind the loudspeaker, resulting from reflection and diffraction. However, because the loudspeaker partially blocks the sound from going behind itself, the sound is lower in amplitude there. The area in front of the loudspeaker might be considered a free field. In this figure, sound is radiating out from a loudspeaker, with the colors indicating highest to lowest intensity sound in the order red, orange, yellow, green, and blue. A free field is partially illustrated in Figure 4.18. Sound in a free field can be pictured as radiating out from a point source, diminishing in intensity as it gets farther from the source. A free field is an idealization of real world conditions that facilitates our analysis of how sound behaves. An environment with no physical influences to absorb, reflect, diffract, refract, reverberate, resonate, or diffuse sound is called a free field. Sometimes it’s convenient to simplify our understanding of sound by considering how it behaves when there is nothing in the environment to impede it.