A "sabin" is a unit used to measure the sound absorption of a material or surface. It quantifies the effectiveness of a material in reducing sound reflections within a room or space. The sabin is named after Wallace Clement Sabine, an American physicist who made significant contributions to the study of architectural acoustics.
One sabin is equivalent to one square foot (approximately 0.0929 square meters) of perfectly sound-absorbing material. In other words, if a material has a sound absorption of 1 sabin per square foot, it means that it absorbs all sound energy that strikes it, and none is reflected.
Architects, acoustical engineers, and designers use the sabin as a measurement to assess and improve the acoustic properties of rooms, such as concert halls, theaters, recording studios, and offices. By selecting materials with known sound absorption coefficients and calculating the total sabin value for a space, they can optimize the acoustic environment to reduce unwanted echoes and noise.
A square meter (symbol: m²) is a unit of area in the International System of Units (SI), which is the metric system commonly used in many countries worldwide. It is defined as the area of a square with sides that each measure one meter in length.
To give you a visual sense of the size of a square meter, imagine a square that is one meter long on each side. It is equal to 10,000 square centimeters (cm²) or 0.0001 hectares (ha). In square feet, one square meter is approximately 10.7639 square feet (sq ft).
The square meter is the primary unit for measuring area in the metric system and is widely used in various scientific, engineering, and everyday applications for describing land area, room dimensions, and many other surface measurements.