The coherence of reverberant sound fields

A new method of measuring spatial correlation functions in reverberation rooms is presented. It is shown that the coherence functions determined with appropriate spectral resolution contain the same information as the corresponding correlation functions, and that measuring such coherence functions is a far more efficient way of obtaining this information.

The technique is then used to verify theoretical predictions of the spatial correlation between various components of the particle velocity in a diffuse sound field. Other possible applications of the technique are discussed and illustrated with experimental results obtained in an ordinary room.