We’re excited to share our latest work:
“Directional coherence loss coefficients for characterizing scattering distributions in enclosures” (JASA, Jan 2026), by Dingding Xie, Wouter Wittebol and Maarten Hornikx
In this paper, we introduce Directional Coherence Loss Coefficients (DCLCs), a new way to quantify how strongly directional sound field coherence is lost due to localized scattering inside rooms, from the receiver’s perspective.
🔍 Why this matters
Traditional scattering metrics are typically avaialble for a limited set of surface materials simulated or measured in lab conditions. However, real rooms often contain highly non-uniform scattering and elements not belonging to isolated materials as furniture and architectural features. These are not covered the existing datasets. DCLCs capture this directional and spatially dependent in-situ behaviour, bridging an important gap towards scattering coefficients for practical room acoustic modeling.
🧠 What we show
– Extraction of DCLCs from wave-based simulations and measurements using spherical microphone arrays
– Clear sensitivity to object distribution and receiver position
– A hybrid modeling framework where DCLCs control the transition between coherent (specular) and incoherent (scattered) sound components
– Validation using perceptually relevant metrics such as reverberation time, clarity, kurtosis, and spatial cross-correlation
🎧 Implications
-This approach supports more accurate directional room impulse responses, with strong potential for applications in:
– Room acoustic simulation and auralization
– Spatial audio and acoustic virtual reality
👉 The article is open access
Building Acoustics TU/e 