Is there a mirror for sounds?

You answered your own question: Sound bounces off objects.

Different materials will reflect sound in different manners, much as light can reflect in a different manner off of different materials.

If you go into a good concert hall, you will see how sound engineering can manipulate how sound is spread.

Yes, this is what an echo is. Also it can be “mirrored” via an amplifier and repeater. There is also a device that will focus sound into a beam. I saw a demonstration and it was freaky. You could only hear once it hit an object and scatteted. It made it sound like you were hearing things that were not there. To this day it was the coolest thing I have ever seen heard.

If you want to experience a sound reflection/focusing, visit a whispering gallery.

Yes, but is any solid material just as sound reflective?

TED talk on focused sound

@Ltryptophan No, different materials reflect different sounds in different intensities. Just as a window is not as reflective as a polished mirror.

just as sound reflective…

…as a mirror, with a near-perfect image.

I think so. I’ve heard the whispering gallery at the US capitol building.

But sound disperses in all directions, so you need a curved reflector to bounce the energy back to one spot (your ear).

Britain had listening dishes on the coast to hear aircraft before radar was invented. I googled for pictures and found they were called acoustic mirrors

In some of our applications we have features on the walls to cancel sounds coming from sources and directions other than directly from our transducers. We figure the interface between any two dissimilar materials and or phase will reflect sound.

Now, thinking about my previous answer…

I can’t see why parabolic reflector would be necessary for sound, but a flat mirror works for light.

This is why I put my cheap speaker in a metal dish on it’s side.

Echoes? Audio recordings?

@zenvelo so which material bounces sound back best?

@Ltryptophan I am not an expert. My experience tells me harder surfaces reflect sound better, while softer material absorbs.

People use carpeting and draperies to dampen sound.

This picture of Davies Symphony Hall in Sa Francisco show thick plastic tuning boards used to reflect the orchestral sound to the audience.

Some basic stuff on the acoustics of Koerner Hall

http://www.rcmusic.ca/connecting/rcm-blog/five-reasons-koerner-hall-has-stunning-sound-0

reflecting/dispersing/absorbing

harder surfaces reflect sound better, while softer material absorbs.

It’s just like bouncing a ball.

If you throw a rubber ball at a blanket or a thin piece of plexiglass, the energy moves the blanket or plexi and the ball does not bounce back as well. Sound bounces the same.

If you throw three balls at a rough jagged rock, they bounce off in different directions. not all straight back at your. Sound bounces the same.

Isn’t physics grand!

Really. I kind of love it.