Archives of Acoustics

In this paper, the authors study the 3D propagation of sound waves between two closed spaces. The separation element between the two rooms is considered to include either a small opening or a homogeneous lightweight panel, coupling the two spaces. A numerical study of this configuration is performed, trying to understand the influence of the position and geometry of this opening in the sound pressure level reduction curve at low and midfrequencies. Additionally, the coupling effect between the two acoustic spaces is analyzed, in order to better understand its importance when determining the sound pressure level reduction. Different boundary conditions are ascribed to the walls of these rooms, simulating both the completely reflecting and partially absorbing surfaces.

The numerical modelling was performed using a multi-domain formulation of the Method of Fundamental Solutions (MFS). The system is composed of two coupled rooms, limited by rigid or by absorbing walls, and separated by a thin wall (tending to null thickness) with a small opening. An experimental validation of the proposed model is presented, comparing its results with those found experimentally for a reduced-scale model. It is important to note that, for such a configuration, a traditional single-domain approach using methods like the MFS or the BEM would lead to undetermined equation systems, and thus the proposed model makes use of a domain decomposition technique.

The 58th Open Seminar on Acoustics and 2nd Polish-German Structured Conference on Acoustics are organized by the Gda?sk Division of the Polish Acoustical Society, the latter jointly with the German Acoustical Society DEGA. These scientific events are going to be held in the Delfin Hotel in Jurata on Hel Peninsula on 13 - 16 September 2011.

The topics of the papers submitted to the 58th Open Seminar on Acoustics cover a large area of theoretical, technical and experimental research in the field of acoustics. The 2nd Polish-German Structured Conference on Acoustics will be held in the following sections: multi-modal and object-oriented approaches to audition, computational acoustics, active noise control, room and building acoustics, and seabed acoustics.

The paper presents an innovative approach for the index assessment of the acoustic properties of churches. A new formula for an approximate single number index to assess selected acoustic parameters of church interiors, such as reverberation time (RT), speech intelligibility index (RASTI) and music clarity index (C80), is presented in the paper. The formula is created by means of the Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) method. An innovative approach for calculating the weights of partial indices is shown by solving the problem of redundant information, i.e., the system of overdetermined linear equations, using a computed pseudoinverse matrix. The new procedures for calculating the values of three partial indices and the single number index to assess selected acoustic parameters are presented. The proposed method was verified by measurements in several selected churches.

There exist some possibilities for simultaneous delivery of laser radiation and ultrasounds of low frequency and high intensity: introducing ultrasound oscillations in the optical fiber by the rigid connection of the fiber to the vibrating element and non-contact influence of the ultrasonic wave on the laser beam. The article presents the results of Matlab simulations and experimental studies of influence of the ultrasonic wave on the laser beam. A role of the air gap, and its influence on laser-ultrasonic transmission in optical fiber was examined. Advantages and disadvantages of both solutions of interaction of ultrasonic and optical waves in, e.g., surgical applications are discussed.

This study is devoted to the instantaneous acoustic heating of a shear-thinning fluid. Apparent viscosity of a shear-thinning fluid depends on the shear rate. That feature distinguishes it from a viscous Newtonian fluid. The special linear combination of conservation equations in the differential form makes it possible to derive dynamic equations governing both the sound and non-wave entropy mode induced in the field of sound. These equations are valid in a weakly nonlinear flow of a shear-thinning fluid over an unbounded volume. They both are instantaneous, and do not require a periodic sound. An example of a sound waveform with a piecewise constant shear rate is considered as a source of acoustic heating.

Characterization of sound absorbing materials is essential to predict its acoustic behaviour. The most commonly used models to do so consider the flow resistivity, porosity, and average fibre diameter as parameters to determine the acoustic impedance and sound absorbing coefficient. Besides direct experimental techniques, numerical approaches appear to be an alternative to estimate the material's parameters. In this work an inverse numerical method to obtain some parameters of a fibrous material is presented. Using measurements of the normal incidence sound absorption coefficient and then using the model proposed by Voronina, subsequent application of basic minimization techniques allows one to obtain the porosity, average fibre diameter and density of a sound absorbing material. The numerical results agree fairly well with the experimental data.

This study investigates the possible errors related to Mandarin tone perception and production by German speakers. In a preliminary test, 23 German listeners should identify the tones of 186 monosyllables. Results show that exposure to Mandarin Chinese can help to discriminate lexical tones as highly expected. In the main experiment, 17 German subjects were asked to take part in a perception and production test. Stimulus of perception involves 48 monosyllables uttered by a standard professional Chinese speaker; acoustic measures were conducted to analyze the production of 72 monosyllables for each subject. It is found that German speakers have much smaller f0 range than Chinese native speakers. Findings can provide implications for cross language studies and teaching practices.

In slowly flaring horns the wave fronts can be considered approximately plane and the input impedance can be calculated with the transmission line method (short cones in series). In a rapidly flaring horn the kinetic energy of transverse flow adds to the local inertance, resulting in an effective increase in length when it is located in a pressure node. For low frequencies corrections are available. These fail at higher frequencies when cross-dimensions become comparable to the wavelength, causing resonances in the cross-direction. To investigate this, the pipe radiating in outer space is modelled with a finite difference method. The outer boundaries must be fully absorbing as the walls of an anechoic chamber. To achieve this, Berenger's perfectly matched layer technique is applied. Results are presented for conical horns, they are compared with earlier published investigations on flanges. The input impedance changes when the largest cross-dimension (outer diameter of flange or diameter of the horn end) becomes comparable to half a wavelength. This effect shifts the position of higher modes in the pipe, influencing the conditions for mode locking, important for ease of playing, dynamic range and sound quality.

The purpose of the paper is to outline a systematic and unified non-local treatment of mode conversion effects associated with an interface superlattice being a 2D pseudo-array composed of altered phase inclusions (exemplified by impurity clusters) and located at a solid-solid plane interface. It will be illustrated, in some detail, for the instructive case of a Stoneley type acoustic wave (SW), incident on a periodically nonhomogeneous portion of an interface and partly transformed into bulk modes propagating in one of the component solid. An analytical model scheme is constructed, using a variational method combined with the T matrix approach, appropriate for the 2D periodic array treated, and decaying into the depth of this solid for the structure in a way determined by the array geometry and element 3D profiles as well as the boundary conditions at the interface. An apodization (weighting) to reduce the side-lobes level is incorporated into the structure by appropriately varying lateral dimensions and the depth of particular scatterers.

Although the phenomenon of otoacoustic emission has been known for nearly 30 years, it has not been fully explained yet. One kind of otoacoustic emission is distortion product of the otoacoustic emission (DPOAE). New aspects of this phenomenon are constantly discovered and attempts are made to interpret correctly the obtained results. This paper discusses a new method of measuring DPOAE signals based on double phase-sensitive detection, which makes possible a real-time measurement of the DPOAE signal amplitude and phase. The method was applied for measurements of DPOAE signals in guinea pigs. Sample records are presented and the obtained results are discussed.

This paper proposes a speech enhancement method using the multi-scales and multi-thresholds of the auditory perception wavelet transform, which is suitable for a low SNR (signal to noise ratio) environment. This method achieves the goal of noise reduction according to the threshold processing of the human ear's auditory masking effect on the auditory perception wavelet transform parameters of a speech signal. At the same time, in order to prevent high frequency loss during the process of noise suppression, we first make a voicing decision based on the speech signals. Afterwards, we process the unvoiced sound segment and the voiced sound segment according to the different thresholds and different judgments. Lastly, we perform objective and subjective tests on the enhanced speech. The results show that, compared to other spectral subtractions, our method keeps the components of unvoiced sound intact, while it suppresses the residual noise and the background noise. Thus, the enhanced speech has better clarity and intelligibility.