About reverberation and echo

Echo and reverberation (or reverb) refers to the effect of sounds reflected off solid objects, such as walls or ceilings in a theater or rocks in a valley. They are differentiated by the length of time between the initial sound and the reflected one.

REVERBRATION

 

 

 

• If this distance is short, such as in a room or theater, the sound will be reflected back to the source in less than one-tenth of a second. This effect is reverberation. Because there is such a small delay in the sound repetition, sometimes only a few milliseconds, reverberation is often perceived by a listener as adding fullness to the original sound.

  Reverberation will often be added to recorded music to better simulate the sound of a live performance, or to enhance the tone by making a thin sound fuller.

ECHO

Echo does not add to the original sound as reverberation does, but is perceived as a distinct repetition of the sound, usually slightly fainter than the original. The sound is weaker because of the energy lost as the sound waves travel the greater distance.