Multichannel impulse responses for outdoor sound propagation

A new visualization method is introduced to present simulated and measured impulse responses for outdoor sound propagation. The method stems from seismic imaging technology and provides significantly improved insight in the complexity of outdoor sound. The proposed transmission images are multichannel and unambiguously show the characteristic multiarrival effect in outdoor sound measurements. Caustics and ground reflections are clearly visible and the related wavefront directions can be easily estimated. The new visualization method is explained and illustrated with a number of practical examples. In addition, it is shown that the method is very effective for comparing different numerical simulation techniques. The examples demonstrate that the images reveal the strong and weak points of different algorithms in a transparent and detailed way. Transmission images should thus play an important role in the refinement of numerical simulation methods for outdoor sound propagation.