Description of the Space

Bosbyshell Fountain is located in Bixby Plaza, the courtyard just outside Frary Dining Hall at Pomona College. The fountain was flowing at the time of recording, which is why the sound does not reach -60 dB.

Recording Setup 

The recording was done with the TASCAM DR-40 Sound Recorder placed on a nearby bench. The 18-inch balloon was popped approximately 5 feet away from the recorder and approximately 5 feet off the ground.

Reverberation time:

30 dB decay 0.6 seconds

40 dB decay: 0.8 seconds

Minimum: 0.9 seconds

Acoustic Description:

This is an open-air area with no walls. There are some trees, and most of the ground is paved, but some is earth. Consequently, the sound decayed quite quickly, but the background noise level was relatively high due to the sounds of the flowing fountain. The sound graph shows several echoes, most prominently (and audibly) at about 0.18 sec.

Posted by Hervé Iradukunda (PO) and Eli Fujita (PZ)