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Embedded Reverberation-Time Measurement for Classroom and Office Acoustics: Block-Length and Precision Limits on ISO 3382 Compliance
Subject area: Science,Engineering and Technology · Area of research: Digital Signal Processing
Abstract
Reverberation time (T60) decides whether a classroom or open-plan office is usable for speech, yet certified analysers cost thousands of dollars, so most rooms are never measured. This paper models a complete exponential-sine-sweep (ESS) reverberation-time measurement chain on a TMS320C6748-class embedded processor and asks whether arithmetic limits (overlap-add block length, word length, filter realisation) can push the result outside tolerance. A Python simulation shows that overlap-add block length does not bias the result, because block-wise convolution is algebraically exact; the variable that matters is the length of impulse response the device retains. Fixed-point arithmetic with block-floating-point scaling stays within 0.3 % of a double-precision reference from 12 bits upward, and single-precision floating point is adequate unconditionally. The octave-band filter bank adds under about 1.5 % error for T60 ≥ 0.3 s. The expanded uncertainty is at most 1.9 % for all rooms tested. All results come from synthetic rooms and a flop-count cost model; validation on public databases and live rooms remains to be done.
Keywords
reverberation time; ISO 3382; exponential sine sweep; overlap-add; fixed-point arithmetic; block floating point; measurement uncertainty; TMS320C6748
References
[1] Purushothaman et al., IEEE/ACM Trans. Audio, Speech, Lang. Process., 2024.
[2] Ishikawa et al., IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas., 2024.
[3] Campo-Valera et al., IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas., 2026.
[4] Bilbao, IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas./Signal Process. Lett., 2022.
[5] Zhao et al., 2023.
[6] Hu et al., 2021.
[7] Xiang et al., IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas., 2024.
[8] ISO 3382 family of standards. Acoustics – Measurement of room acoustic parameters. Geneva: International Organization for Standardization.
How to cite this paper
@article{1724690,
author = {Ranveer Rathod, Yadnyesh Sable, Yash Patil, Dr. Reena Sonkusare, Dr. Kiran Talele},
title = {Embedded Reverberation-Time Measurement for Classroom and Office Acoustics: Block-Length and Precision Limits on ISO 3382 Compliance},
journal = {Iconic Research And Engineering Journals},
year = {2026},
volume = {10},
number = {5},
pages = {599-609},
issn = {2456-8880},
url = {https://www.irejournals.com/formatedpaper/1724690.pdf},
abstract = {Reverberation time (T60) decides whether a classroom or open-plan office is usable for speech, yet certified analysers cost thousands of dollars, so most rooms are never measured. This paper models a complete exponential-sine-sweep (ESS) reverberation-time measurement chain on a TMS320C6748-class embedded processor and asks whether arithmetic limits (overlap-add block length, word length, filter realisation) can push the result outside tolerance. A Python simulation shows that overlap-add block length does not bias the result, because block-wise convolution is algebraically exact; the variable that matters is the length of impulse response the device retains. Fixed-point arithmetic with block-floating-point scaling stays within 0.3 % of a double-precision reference from 12 bits upward, and single-precision floating point is adequate unconditionally. The octave-band filter bank adds under about 1.5 % error for T60 ≥ 0.3 s. The expanded uncertainty is at most 1.9 % for all rooms tested. All results come from synthetic rooms and a flop-count cost model; validation on public databases and live rooms remains to be done.},
keywords = {reverberation time; ISO 3382; exponential sine sweep; overlap-add; fixed-point arithmetic; block floating point; measurement uncertainty; TMS320C6748},
month = {November},
}