Another use of acoustical models is to study the behavior of sound in rooms using three-dimensional ray tracing. The model generates a series of rays from the sound sources. One can see how sound propagates in the room, reflecting off surfaces as it travels from source to receiver.

Here are rays illustrating sound waves moving through an auditorium. This illustration shows only the first several rays. After a very short time, the entire room is an impenetrable mess of sound rays. This technique is fascinating, but takes a lot of practice to make any sense of.