Particle

A Physics-based acoustic and cinema design platform

Particle is a web-based design studio for AV integrators, home theater designers and acoustic consultants. It models a room, its sources and its seats, then answers design questions with results that carry their engine version, an uncertainty band, and the standard or paper each figure came from. When the physics cannot support an answer, Particle says so instead of guessing.

How it thinks

Every number ships with provenance and uncertainty. Bare figures are prohibited. Refusal is a first-class result: every engine declares the conditions under which it will not answer, and returns a composed explanation rather than a plausible-looking wrong number. The right physics runs in the right band, with wave-based methods below the Schroeder frequency and statistical and geometric methods above it.

What it does today

Low frequency and subwoofers. Analytical modal solver for rectangular rooms and a finite-difference time-domain solver for polygon and L-shaped rooms. Multi-subwoofer placement optimizer built on the Welti and Devantier seat-to-seat variance method, with null-first screening because peaks can be equalized and nulls cannot. Measured-data placement ranking from real transfer functions. Per-sub gain, delay and EQ derivation. Boundary interference prediction at every source.

Sound isolation. Stud-coupled double-leaf transmission loss validated against 108 measured NRC wall specimens, with a mean residual of 0.37 dB. Mass law, coincidence, composite walls with doors and windows, STC and Rw ratings, EN 12354 flanking paths, and a tested-assembly library.

Absorption and treatment. Octave-band RT60, porous and air-gap absorber modeling, an inverse treatment designer for porous stacks, Helmholtz and membrane absorbers, and number-theoretic diffuser design.

Room acoustics. Image-source and hybrid ray-traced reflections, ISO 3382 parameters, speech transmission index, background noise ratings to ANSI S12.2, auralization and binaural rendering from measured head-related responses.

Cinema geometry. Immersive speaker layout with CEDIA RP22 checks and installer cut sheets, HAA sweet triangle and LCR solve, seating riser and sightline solve, screen viewing and projector throw, and per-channel headroom and alignment.

Building acoustics. Impact sound, HVAC noise into NC ratings, open-plan speech privacy to ISO 22955, and environmental noise.

Validation

Every module sits on a nine-rung validation ladder, from interface defined to approved for construction, and no module claims a higher rung than its evidence supports. Promotion requires a landed validation report. In the course of building it, Particle has caught a factor-of-four error in its own radiation efficiency model, two documented errors in the CEB23-A standard, a defect in the Home Acoustics Alliance's calculator, and a missing constant in an EN 12354 transcription.

In development

Real-room measured validation of the placement optimizer. A second-generation wave solver targeting 2 percent frequency accuracy. A general-spaces workflow with room-type targets, Room EQ Wizard ingest, and treatment prescription. Building-acoustics engines awaiting their source standards. A full interface and rendering overhaul. And a longer arc into lighting, circadian, indoor environmental quality, thermal comfort and digital twins.

Built on 47 engine capabilities, 14 project workspaces, and standards including ANSI/ASA S12.2, CEDIA/CTA-RP22, ISO 3382, ISO 717, EN 12354, ASHRAE, and NRC IR-761.