A system for evaluating a characteristic of a portion of a building space, comprising: a plurality of speakers; a plurality of microphones; a plurality of pairs, wherein each pair comprises at least one of the plurality of microphones and at least one of the plurality of speakers, wherein each pair forms one of a plurality of audio multipath transmission channels, and wherein at least one of the plurality of pairs is associated with at least one of one or more detection areas within the portion of the building space; a controller communicatively coupled to each of the plurality of speakers and to each of the plurality of microphones, configured to: select one or more of the one or more detection areas; activate one or more of the plurality of microphones to capture one or more audio samples, wherein each of the activated microphones corresponds to at least one of the pairs associated with one or more of the selected detection areas; select one or more of the plurality of speakers based on a baseline channel response matrix and the activated microphones, the baseline channel response matrix representing an audio transmission channel between the one or more of the plurality of microphones and the one or more of the plurality of speakers of the portion of the building space; transmit a command signal to each of the selected speakers, wherein the selected speakers are configured to generate a plurality of audio signals based on the command signal; determine a characteristic channel response matrix based on the audio samples and the audio signals; and evaluate the characteristic of the portion of the building space based on the characteristic channel response matrix and the baseline channel response matrix. a plurality of speakers; a plurality of microphones; a plurality of pairs, wherein each pair comprises at least one of the plurality of microphones and at least one of the plurality of speakers, wherein each pair forms one of a plurality of audio multipath transmission channels, and wherein at least one of the plurality of pairs is associated with at least one of one or more detection areas within the portion of the building space; a controller communicatively coupled to each of the plurality of speakers and to each of the plurality of microphones, configured to: select one or more of the one or more detection areas; activate one or more of the plurality of microphones to capture one or more audio samples, wherein each of the activated microphones corresponds to at least one of the pairs associated with one or more of the selected detection areas; select one or more of the plurality of speakers based on a baseline channel response matrix and the activated microphones, the baseline channel response matrix representing an audio transmission channel between the one or more of the plurality of microphones and the one or more of the plurality of speakers of the portion of the building space; transmit a command signal to each of the selected speakers, wherein the selected speakers are configured to generate a plurality of audio signals based on the command signal; determine a characteristic channel response matrix based on the audio samples and the audio signals; and evaluate the characteristic of the portion of the building space based on the characteristic channel response matrix and the baseline channel response matrix. select one or more of the plurality of speakers based on a baseline channel response matrix and the activated microphones, the baseline channel response matrix representing an audio transmission channel between the one or more of the plurality of microphones and the one or more of the plurality of speakers of the portion of the building space; transmit a command signal to each of the selected speakers, wherein the selected speakers are configured to generate a plurality of audio signals based on the command signal; determine a characteristic channel response matrix based on the audio samples and the audio signals; and evaluate the characteristic of the portion of the building space based on the characteristic channel response matrix and the baseline channel response matrix.