Soundproof Walls

How does temperature change the acoustics in a room?

Hey all, I'm wondering just what the questions asks. In what ways do variances in temperatures change the sound acoustics in a room and why? For instance an empty ballroom as opposed to a ballroom with 1000 people in it? Thanks!

Public Comments

1. You can see from this reference that the speed of sound in a gas is directly proportional to the square root of the absolute temperature of the gas. That should tell you something. http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/sound/souspe3.html#c1
2. Edit For each 5F deg change in room temperature there will be slightly over a 0.6 % change in sonic velocity. That will have little effect in the acoustics of any normal room. The presence of the 1000 people will have much more of an effect on the acoustics than the relatively small changes in the room temperature. Here you are actually comparing the change in a bare , acoustically "hard" room with it becoming an occupied "soft" room. With any bare ballroom, sound has unobstructed paths, and an exposed floor surface for additional reflections and echos. The people and also furniture will act as baffles or muffling interferrences to break-up the sound patterns.