Acoustic Wave Theory
Lesson 1, Page 3

Sonic Reflections

 

Sound waves can reflects off of hard surfaces like glass, concrete, metal, and hardwood the same way light reflects off of shiny surfaces. Soft surfaces like carpet, clothing, loose dirt, sand, straw absorb sound. Sound that travels a long distance before reflected is heard as an echoe, but sound that does not travel far before it is refected is not percieved as an echoe but rather an over kind of phase distortion, which sounds like a coloriztion of the original sound.