Outdoor sound reinforcement systems

High quality sound reproduction is very difficult to obtain under outdoor conditions. This is partly due to the high sound power levels necessary for reproduction at a suitable level at the location of the listeners, and partly due to the acoustic environment. The loudspeaker arrangements are basically located over an impedance surface without any acoustic support from wall reflections and room resonances. Under such circumstances it is very difficult to obtain a satisfactory frequency response and at the same time avoid echo effects due to multipath propagation.
An advanced computer model for sound radiation from horn-type outdoor sound reinforcement loudspeakers, developed and tested in an MSc project by Andreas P. Schuhmacher in 1996, has been further investigated and a manuscript has been accepted for publication in Applied Acoustics.