Reverberation

sound · acoustics · echo · spaces

Sound keeps bouncing. When you make a noise, the sound waves hit walls, furniture, and other objects in a room, bouncing back and forth between them like a pinball machine made of sound.

Reflections build and fade. All those bouncing reflections pile up on top of each other, making the sound seem longer and fuller, then gradually get quieter as the surfaces absorb the sound energy.

Notice it in bathrooms. You probably hear reverberation in the shower or a tiled bathroom, where your voice sounds louder and echoes way longer than it does in a carpeted bedroom.

Stuff in a room matters. Furniture, curtains, people, and even the air itself absorb sound and slow down reverberation, which is why an empty room sounds so echoey but a full room sounds duller.

Time keeps it alive. Even after you stop singing or speaking, the sound doesn't disappear instantly because all those reflections are still bouncing around and gradually fading to silence.