Loudspeaker Designer Work Pro Valencia, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain
In 2010, as a result of personal experience in concerts and festivals, the question arose as to wether the audience that crowds in front of the subwoofers produces a barrier effect for the very low frequencies. Being aware of the difficulty of conducting an accurate field study it was thought of using simulations; first with the FDTD method (Finite Difference-Time Domain) and then with the finite element simulation software COMSOL, both made by professors and students of the Polytechnic University of Gandia, belonging to the Polytechnic University of Valencia. The aim of this study and the simulations is to find indications that in certain circumstances this phenomenon, which began to be called "Barrier Effect", occurs. It is not sought to quantify it precisely since the possible situations and conditions are infinite. The aim is to prove that the phenomenon occurs.