natural slap echo

[Ian Fritz]

OOOOPS! :-)
Right, of course. The dome can gather more of the sound than the ear can,
because of its size.

As a possibly interesting aside, there are lasers (ring lasers and microdisc
lasers) that operate in whispering gallery modes. The guy down the hall did
a lot of the theory.

  Ian


m. c. :
>>>
Can the echo be louder, if the mirror
reflects all the energy that is going up right into my ear, wheras
the direct sound wave is scattered 360 DEG?
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JH:
>>>
I think the most effective whisper gallery has an elliptic shape.
In that case, when both the speaker and the listener are ideally
located, the volume should actually be amplified. Why's that ?
Normally the listener will only get a fraction of the acoustic power
(the part that is directed to him), while in the ideal whisper chamber
a great portion of the power that was transmitted in *any* direction
is focussed on the listener.
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