Is electrical engineering's "Smith Chart" relevant to sound waves?

[xanalog]

I hope you do not mind a few facts and clarifications from someone who teaches the Smith chart in electromagnetics (EM) and RF courses and whose research includes microwave acoustics. (By the way, we introduce the Smith chart in our first EM course for sophomores, so it is not particularly difficult to learn.) I am sure many contributors here are already familiar with these concepts, but readers may become confused by some of the parallel discussions and conclusions in this thread.

Before I begin, let me emphasize that I am not suggesting the Smith chart can be used to solve room acoustics problems. My goal is simply to clarify some fundamental concepts for those following the discussion. For example, the suggestion that the Smith chart is a tool only RF engineers can use is incorrect. Moreover, the original poster has raised several valid ideas that are worth exploring and should not be dismissed out of hand.

Thank you for the refresher tut.
Lot of us rolled our eyes, when we attended such EM courses, wondering if any real-life applications.
I did not have to stare (w/o eye-rolls) at a real network-analyzer (HP-8753) until few years after graduation.
In 1985, an HP-8753 VNA was a cool $40k:

In 2026, this LiteVNA and the RF Demo kit would now cost under $200.
Go ahead, roll your eyes!