Sound propagation can be approximated statistically by tracing discrete rays
Evidence
Another commonly used numerical computational technique is the ray-tracing method. A large number of ‘sound rays’, analogous to light rays, are sent from the source in different directions. Each ray is traced through reflections from surfaces until the energy of the ray is below a certain threshold. The receiver can be modelled as a volume, such as a sphere or a cube, and each traced ray that hits it adds to the response record. The ray-tracing technique is statistical, but if the number of rays is sufficiently large and the receiver is small enough, the result may yield a good approximation of the room response. — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 302
Categorization
Category: Definitional Content
- DEFINE: Defines ray-tracing method and its statistical nature and accuracy tradeoffs.
- XREF: Parallels computer graphics ray-tracing; reader may connect acoustic ray-tracing to graphics GPU techniques.