Final answer:
Room modes can cause constructive and destructive interference, leading to areas with varying sound levels in a room. Sound absorbers and diffusers are used to manage these effects by minimizing excessive loudness and scattering sound to create an even distribution.
Step-by-step explanation:
Yes, room modes do determine where we should place sound absorbers and diffusers. Room modes are the natural frequencies at which sound waves resonate in an enclosed space. They can create areas in a room where sound waves interfere with each other, leading to constructive interference and destructive interference. In areas of constructive interference, sound waves add up to create louder sound, and in areas of destructive interference, they cancel each other out, creating duller sound. To minimize these effects and improve acoustical quality, absorbers can be placed where the sound is excessively loud to reduce the reverberation, and diffusers can be placed where sound waves tend to concentrate, to scatter the sound waves and even out the sound energy distribution throughout the room.