Ray-Traced Audio Reflections and Environmental Acoustic Diffraction in UE5 / Source 2: Fundamental Mechanics and Deep Mathematical Modeling

[Henry Watson]

Anyone actually dig into the math behind ray-traced audio reflections in UE5 or Source 2? I’m trying to understand how phonon tracing handles material absorption coefficients when a sound bounces through a complex environment. Specifically, how does the engine calculate frequency-dependent absorption across different surface materials, and is there a way to tune this per-material in the audio middleware?

Also curious about geometric occlusion—how do you model line-of-sight blocking for sound paths without tanking performance? I keep reading about diffraction around sharp edges but I can’t find solid documentation on how the wave propagation approximates bending around geometry. Does anyone have experience implementing or customizing these systems in a competitive title, or can point me to the actual physics implementation under the hood? I’d rather understand the foundational mechanics than just tweaking sliders blindly.

"Valorant Immortal 2 | 800 DPI @ 0.31 In-Game Sens • NA East"

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