ABSTRACT
Irregularities, often quite audible and unwanted in the bass range, that result when sounds reflected back and forth between the walls of a room interacting with each other and with the direct sounds from the speaker systems (or even musical instruments) that produced them to form alternate reinforcements (peaks) and nulls. The effect is dependent upon the size and shape of the room, and to some extent upon the location of the source. The structural integrity of the walls can also have an effect on the strength of the artifacts. Standing waves can be detrimental to sound reproduction at lower frequencies in small and/or badly proportioned rooms, where their effects are often extreme. In addition to the obvious axial modes that involve opposing walls, the phenomenon also involves tangential and oblique effects that are more difficult to calculate and are thought by some experts to be as negative in impact as the axial modes.
