Bayesian sampling with applications to energy decay analysis in acoustically coupled spaces

Bayesian inference comprises of parameter estimation and model selection/comparison. A common approach to solving both of these problems has been to use statistical sampling techniques that are inherently non-Bayesian. This paper presents new Bayesian sampling method that solves both problems by changing the focus of Bayesian inference to the model selection problem first. In the papers [N. Xiang and P. M. Goggins, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 110, 1415–1424 (2001); 113, 2685–2697 (2003)], the authors developed a model for the decay times and decay modes of acoustically coupled rooms in terms of measured Schroeder’s decay functions. This paper shows how the Bayesian sampling method can be used to evaluate the ‘‘Bayesian evidence’’ term used in model selection as well as determining the decay times along with error estimates.