August 2025

The Endless Mysteries Of Acoustics
Real-time simulation of acoustic environments now includes auralization.
Editorial By J. Martins

  I had great experiences at AXPONA and the High End Show in Munich this year. Both shows are extremely influential in projecting trends every year, revealing both the extreme high-end of audio designs for those that are aiming for the ultimate and the latest concepts for the more approachable home audio tiers of the market, which increasingly also include more high-quality lifestyle products. On top of the audio and design innovations that audioXpress reports, those trade shows reveal the overall directions for audio technology for the home market, showing how brands are revived and refreshed, and how technology creates new listening possibilities in the living room, for entertainment systems, and even whole home and multiroom approaches.

This is more noticeable at the European show, and needs to be reinforced in the expo area of AXPONA, creating a welcome and much-needed opportunity for more mainstream products and brands, many of whom have more products than those they are able to fit in a listening room. In both shows, the dominant approach to showcase the merits of such systems is focused on a listening room. But in each show, the available spaces are significantly different. The Chicago, IL, show takes place in a hotel, and demonstrations are conditioned by the small dimensions of hotel rooms. As for the High End show, which is moving to Vienna, Austria, next year, it takes place in a multi-use congress and convention center, where the smallest available rooms are designed for meetings, with larger windows, hardwood floors, and bare walls (brick and concrete, not gypsum board). At AXPONA, even the convention center rooms are carpeted and most walls are essentially made of movable panels.

Both manufacturers and product designers are very much aware of how very different conditions at each show will contribute to the impressions they will be able to generate. The interesting question—given that so many also tend to criticize the room conditions at either of the shows—is why do so few actually do something about the acoustics?

Over the years, many of these listening rooms have started to feature acoustic panels, mostly placed in direct collaboration with manufacturers (and sometimes consultants). Sometimes showing a degree of planning and attention. But in many cases we find diffusion and absorption panels randomly placed against the walls, and sometimes "moved out of the way." Even with the growing popularity of room correction solutions, very rarely do we see manufacturers mention its use, or showing room measurements, which should naturally be the starting point for any such demonstrations.

Every audio manufacturer understands and mentions the importance of room acoustics in the performance of their products, and yet, they fail to see acoustics as a product that they also need to sell. This is a world of contrast with what is happening in the commercial audio and residential integration world, where acoustical products are very much sold as part of a fully integrated solution, sometimes even involving architectural foundations. And also in contrast with what is happening in the professional audio and performance world, as illustrated in this issue of audioXpress, where the tools available for acoustic simulation and modeling are now breaking new ground in precision, with the ability to predict venue acoustics and sound system performance within a margin of 0.5dB. And where real-time simulation of acoustic environments now includes auralization—the process of simulating how audio will sound in a specific space before it's built. Using a simple laptop, we are now able to "listen" to a virtual room and adjust how a complex sound installation with many channels and speaker arrays will behave in terms of every possible assessment parameter. It is so precise that we are now able to use the same platforms to monitor, control, and optimize the actual installation in situ, under the current environmental conditions.

And yet, for some reason, no one seems to care to do at least something in a small hotel
room with a pair of speakers.

J. Martins
Editor-in-Chief

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