Assessment of angular distribution of sound scattering in enclosures

This study proposes an approach for quantitatively assessing sound scattering degrees caused by objects within enclosures. It categorizes the high-frequency sound fields in rooms into two distinct components: (1) specular reflections arising from boundary surfaces, and (2) non-specular scattering contributed by objects (interiors). To achieve this, sound fields sampled on a sphere for two scenarios, with and without interiors, were decomposed into plane waves. The coherence between the impulse responses of these plane waves for these two scenarios is analyzed to obtain the proportion of specular and non-specular components within the room containing interiors. Derived from these coherence curves, the Equivalent Scattering Coefficients (ESCs) quantify the degree of scattering distributed across various directions, reflecting the interaction of sound waves with these interior elements. The extracted ESCs facilitate to quantification of the proportion of specular and non-specular components, which can be efficiently modeled separately and combined in a hybrid acoustic model, offering significant potential for sound field reconstruction.