Reverberation is the collection of reflected sounds from the surfaces in an enclosure like an auditorium. It is a desirable property of auditoriums to the extent that it helps to overcome theinverse square law dropoff of sound intensity in the enclosure. However, if it is excessive, it makes the sounds run together with loss of articulation - the sound becomes muddy, garbled. To quantitatively characterize the reverberation, the paramater called the reverberation time is used.
| Reverberant sound is the collection of all the reflected sounds in an auditorium. |
ECHO is a reflection of sound, arriving at the listener some time after the direct sound. Typical examples are the echo produced by the bottom of a well, by a building, or by the walls of an enclosed room and an empty room. A true echo is a single reflection of the sound source.