Why is it better to make measurements in real rooms, than to model the room?

Prior to calculate the need for additional sound absorption using the products in acousticfacts.com you need to know the current acoustic status of the room. This can be done either by measure current reverberation time or to estimate it using calculations. Both possibilities are available in acousticfacts.com. Even though calculations seems give very accurate results, we must remember that calculation models are only bleak interpretations of the real world. Sound which is radiated into the room is reflected, scattered, absorbed and diffracted on all objects and surfaces in a very complex way. The complexity is actually so high that there is virtually no calculation model which can handle everything. But measurements do! In many cases it is much better to test different sound absorption treatments based on actual measurements. "Better" in this context should be interpreted as "closer to reality". The calculation model included on the acousticfacts.com website can take reverberation time measurements as a basis for any room. After that you can add products in exactly the same way as for a calculated room. The complexity of the calculation model is then reduced, since we only calculate the differences with and without absorption treatments. This leads to more accurate calculation results and hence more accurate predictions of real rooms. This in its turn builds reliability for all project partners.