Simulating Sound Fields in Rooms with Arbitrary Geometries Using the Diffraction-Enhanced Image Source Method

The image source method (ISM) is often relied upon to simulate room acoustical fields due to its computational efficiency. While it is common to find implementations of the ISM for shoebox-shaped rooms, the ISM can be used to simulate more general room shapes. However, including the directivities of sources and receivers has not been well resolved for arbitrary room geometry in the literature. In this work, we extend the diffraction-enhanced image source method, which uses spherical harmonic descriptions to include directional sources and receivers, to arbitrary room geometries. The proposed extension is evaluated using finite element method simulations for different room configurations and is shown to capture many of the relevant features of the room transfer functions. In addition, discrepancies in the evaluation results indicate possible missing acoustic effects that are difficult to capture with ISM-based methods and need to be addressed.