The question, that you asked, rises next problem: what does acoustic comfort mean? Do you mean noise free environment or absence of any acoustic signals? Or concert hall with good acoustic properties? If the last one, Ease could be good choice.
The second question: evaluate acoustic comfort for existing objects, or designed?
If you mean any existing building, measurements could be good starting point.
These are just a few quick thoughts on the question you asked.
I think that COMSOL may be advantageous in modeling environment acoustical phenomenon.
I am sorry R. TAlebitooti, but I don't think FEM calculations in COMSOL can help to calculate the acoustic criteria to evaluate acoustic comfort in rooms. Acoustic Criteria are based on parameters as Clarity (C50, or C80), Lateral Efficiency (LF) and other parameters that will be quite complex to evaluate in COMSOL. Clarity must be evaluated taking the average of the values calculated (or measured if the case) at f=500 and f=1000 (as described by the standard ISO 3382. Those frequencies are quite high to calculate a big concert hall using COMSOL.
Reham Abdelwahab: Particulartly I use ODEON. The latest versions includes the possibility to measure the room from the software and simulations and measurements can be easily compared inside the software. Therefore, if your concept "validation", means your intention to compare measurements with simulations, I would suggest ODEON.
Dear Mariano: I think the discussion high/low freq is out of the topic.t. I only pointed that 1000Hz is a high freq. to calculate a big hall using FEM. I think you agree with this, in view of your answer. So for that especific problem (acoustic comfort) I don't think COMSOL should be recommended.
I also agree that Acoustic Comfort is a topic that could be longly discussed but Reham is not questioning what acoustic comfort means. We should asume that he has clear his definition on acoustic comfort and he is only asking about a software to evaluate acoustic comfort. If he requires more especific information I think he will ask.
VA1 is another software can be mixed The FEM and BEM and also the SEA (high frequency Range). It might be useful In this area of investigation.
Dear Tabelitooti:
I do not know if you are familiar with the parameters used to evaluate acoustic comfort. Some of them are obtainted from the impulse response of the room. There is the possibility to use transient Statistical Energy Analisis to evaluate the decay of the energy, BUT, parameters as Lateral Eficiency takes into account the direction of arrival of the energy to the listener. I don't think it is I good idea to use SEA to evaluate parameters that depends on the direction of arrival, which is not an statistical concept!
Anyway, If you are experienced on obtaining such information using the software you mention, your coments are more than wellcome.
The acoustic comfort is also related to the level and structure of the background noise we are exposed to, either in closed or open spaces. Background noise can have an impact on our perception of "silence" (or sense of quietness) and also on the perception of the sounds we are interested in, e.g. voice or music. Room acoustics has of course a strong impact, in particular in the good perception of voice and music. Building acoustics has an impact on the background noise level in the room. In this context it is also important to point out the discomfort due to low frequency noise that is often under-estimated by using the "A" weighting curve.
Gianni Pavan
Returning to the original question, I do not think such software exists that is capable of evaluating acoustic comfort, regardless of the type of room and its function. Only after you have established the way the room will be used, and thus the (acoustical) goals and (edge) conditions, the choice of software as mentioned by several contributors is an item.
I never rely on the parameters computed by room acoustics software only, I prefer to go through the acoustical data measured from a space, either simulated or measured on-site, such as the use of room impulse response, and compute the parameters indicating the acoustical comfort utilizing mathematical tools. In this case, I can make sure my data analysis is using the correct mathematical expressions for certain parameter such as C50, T30, RASTI, etc. This is how I validate my acoustical comfort evaluation.
ok, I'll use odeon for room acoustic parameters but is there any method to use it for a free for few days ?
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