Generalized reverberation theory in diffuse sound fields: Introducing mean residual free path for macroscopic and microscopic unification

Abstract

Sabine's foundational theory established the cornerstone of modern architectural acoustics. However, it fails to predict zero reverberation time in perfectly absorptive rooms. Eyring subsequently addressed this issue by proposing a new formula, which Knudsen later extended to incorporate air absorption. Nevertheless, Eyring's underlying approach contains fundamental theoretical contradictions. To resolve these flaws, the author previously introduced macroscopic and microscopic models for a revised reverberation theory; however, their mathematical unification, rigorous derivation from differential equations, and the mechanism behind Eyring's underestimation remained unclarified. This paper presents a comprehensive generalization and mathematical foundation of the revised theory. The macroscopic model is derived directly from fundamental energy differential equations, incorporating air absorption and a generalized mean residual free path. By reformulating the microscopic model as a sequential convolution process, its fundamental consistency with the macroscopic model is mathematically demonstrated. Crucially, it is shown that Eyring's underestimation can be interpreted as stemming universally from the structural omission of temporal variance expansion (σ_{n}^{2}=nσ^{2}) inherent to multiple reflections, regardless of the assumed probability distribution. Finally, ray-tracing simulations validate the scale-invariant accuracy of the proposed theory. Ultimately, this mathematically consistent framework establishes the theoretical limit for future generalized theories in non-diffuse sound fields.