Acoustics

A numerically efficient technique is presented for computing the backscattered fields from two spherical targets embedded in an underwater sediment. The bottom is assumed to be a homogeneous liquid attenuating half-space. The transmitter/receiver is located in a homogeneous water half-space. The distances between the transmitter/receiver and objects of interest are supposed to be large compared to the acoustic wavelengths in water and seabed. In simulations, the spherical scatterers of the same radius are assumed to be acoustically rigid. The interactions between two spheres are not taken into account because of the strong attenuation in the bottom. The scattering from one sphere in a wide frequency range is determined using the Hackman and Sammelmann’s general approach. The arising scattering coefficients of the sphere are evaluated using the steepest descent method. The obtained asymptotic expressions for the scattering coefficients essentially allowed to decrease a number of summands in the formula for the form-function of the backscattered acoustic field. Full article

The frequency range of the leak noise in buried water pipes, measured using acoustic correlators, depends significantly on the type of pipe and its location as well as the type of sensors used. Having a rough idea of this frequency range can be beneficial for operators prior to conducting tests; however, there is currently no method of predicting it except through practical experience, and no model-based approach yet exists. This issue is addressed in the present paper by using a concise and relatively simple analytical model of the water-pipe–soil system combined with the sensors’ frequency response. The influence of the various physical parameters of the system, such as the pipe and soil properties and the sensor type, on the cross-power spectral density (CPSD) of leak noise signals and, furthermore, the frequency range are investigated. The main factors that affect the bandwidth are the distance between the sensors, wave speed of the predominantly fluid-borne wave in the pipe and the attenuation of this wave. It is shown that the external medium has a profound effect on the propagation and, in turn, on the bandwidth. The approach to predicting this bandwidth is validated using experimental data from three different test sites. Full article

In this paper, an experimental methodology to characterize the noise paths in a washing machine with a horizontal axis was developed. The noise paths considered in this research were the noise that escapes through holes, the non-resonant path through the panels, and the noise radiated by the panels of the cabinet. The characterization method was based on several sound intensity measurements on the outside panels of the washing machine. In addition to these measurements, characterization of the radiation factor was performed by applying a method that relates intensity and vibration measurements while the structure of the washing machine is excited using a shaker. Applying the methodology to a washing machine, the main transmission path of the noise along the frequency domain where this home appliance has its highest values was identified. This methodology can provide the manufacturer with a guide to improve the acoustic performance of washing machines by applying noise control solutions in the noise path depending on the frequency domain. Full article

In this paper, the dynamic response of a Euler–Bernoulli beam subjected to transverse harmonic forces is calculated. The method of separation of variables combined with the mode shape superposition method, which includes the determination of eigenvalues, is used to define the velocity field of the beam surface. The Rayleigh integral was used to calculate the sound radiation and the beam was placed in an infinite baffle. Additional actuators are introduced in order to minimize the sound radiation, or, more specifically, the total sound power level of the vibrating beam, and their optimal position and force amplitude are determined; the conclusions were drawn from the optimization results. This paper proposes a method for faster determination of the optimal actuator parameters in order to achieve the minimum total sound power level. The validity of the obtained results is demonstrated with examples, whose solutions are compared to the results in the published literature. Full article

Organisms use multi-modal, scale-dependent, sensory information to decipher their surroundings. This can include, for example, recognizing the presence of con- or heterospecifics, including a predatory threat, the presence and abundance of prey, or navigational cues to travel between breeding or feeding areas. Here we advocate for the use of the concept of active space to understand the extent to which an individual might be sending and receiving habitat information, describing this as the active component of their niche space. We present the use of active space as a means to understand ecological interactions, giving focus to those species whose active space is acoustically defined, in particular, cetacean species. We show how the application of estimates of active space, and changes in extent, can help better understand the potential disturbance effects of changes in the soundscape, and be a useful metric to estimate possible adverse effects even when stress responses, or behavioral or calling modifications are not obvious. Full article

Persistent low-frequency (<180 Hz) acoustic detection took place within the boundaries of Oak Ridge National Laboratory to monitor full power operations of the High Flux Isotope Reactor. Three acoustic sensors were installed at distances of 69, 101, and 914 m from the northeast corner of the cooling towers to monitor and assess four reactor power generation cycles. Features were extracted from power spectral density calculations where data were collected during reactor on and off operations. Diverse spectral features were present during full reactor power, including a 21.4 Hz fundamental frequency and ascending harmonics. Using bandpass filters, these related frequencies were isolated and summed, and the root mean square energy was calculated. The method of isolating and summing characteristic features provided a significant improvement in identifying acoustic behavior related to reactor power when the raw signals were obscured by noise. Full article

The control of decentralized velocity feedback on curved aircraft plates under turbulent boundary layer excitations is numerically investigated in this paper. Sixteen active control units are set on the plate to reduce the vibration and sound radiation of the plate. The computational results from the two methods are compared to verify the accuracy of the numerical model. The plate kinetic energy and the radiated sound power under turbulent boundary layer and control unit excitations are analyzed. The influences of control unit distribution, plate thickness and curvature on radiated sound are discussed. Unlike a flat plate, the control of the lower-order high radiation modes of a curved plate under TBL excitations is critical since these modes predominate the sound radiations. The control of these modes, however, is sensitive to the ratio of the stiffness associated with the membrane tensions to the stiffness associated with the bending forces. This ratio implies that the plate curvature and the thickness play an important role in the control effect. When the plate is thinner and the radius is smaller, the control is less effective. Full article

Rupestrian churches are spaces obtained from excavation of soft rocks that are frequently found in many Mediterranean countries. In the present paper the church dedicated to Saints Andrew and Procopius, located close to the city of Monopoli in Apulia (Italy) is studied. On-site acoustical measures were made, obtaining a detailed description of the acoustics in the current state pointing out, thanks to a combination of analysis techniques, the presence of significant modal behavior in the low frequencies, causing reverberation time to be about 2 s, four times longer than in the other bands, as well as being strongly dependent on source and receiver position (with variations of about 1 s when source is moved outside the chancel). However, as the church is characterized by significant degradation of surfaces and large amounts of debris cover the floor, the original acoustic conditions can be expected to somewhat differ. Acoustical modelling can be very helpful in grasping the original conditions, but given the small dimensions of the space, conventional geometrical acoustic prediction methods cannot be applied to simulate the low-frequency behavior. Thus, the present paper proposes an application of finite-difference-time-domain (FDTD) computation to simulate the low-frequency behavior and analyze a possible reconstruction of the original state. Results showed that a very good agreement was obtained between predictions and measurements, both in terms of resonance frequencies and reverberation times that differed by less than 5%. Modal response strongly affected the acoustical conditions also in the hypothetical reconstruction of the original state, although the sound field proved to be more uniform than in the current state. Full article

Accurate predictions of the wave-dominated region of an acoustic field in a room can be generated using wave-based computational methods. One such method is the finite element method (FEM). With presently available computing power and advanced numerical techniques, it is possible to obtain FEM predictions of sound fields in rooms with complicated geometries and complex boundary conditions in realistic time frames. The FEM has been continuously developed since its inception and attempts to provide solutions in real time using finite element-based methods are beginning to appear in the literature; these developments are especially interesting for auralization and virtual acoustics applications. To support these efforts, and provide a resource for neophytes, the use of the FEM for room acoustics is reviewed in this article. A history is presented alongside examples of the method’s derivation, implementation, and solutions. The current challenges and state-of-the-art are also presented, and it is found that the most recent contributions to the field make use of one or a mixture of the following: the finite element-based discontinuous Galerkin method, extended reaction boundary conditions written in the frequency domain but solved in the time domain, and the solution of large-scale models using parallel processing and graphics processing units. Full article

The study aims to diagnose the sound pressure levels inside incubators in a controlled environment under free-field conditions. The tests were carried out in a semi-anechoic room under the standard UNE-EN ISO 3745:2012/A1:2018 in three different operating states: off, on, and on with a temperature alarm triggered. Sound pressure levels were analyzed in three different models of incubators, both inside and outside. The main noise indices analyzed were the corrected equivalent continuous level (L_Keq) and the equivalent continuous level (Leq) in third-octave bands. The results obtained under normal operating conditions showed variations among the different incubators, with overall values between 48.8 and 56.3 dBA. The influence of the alarm considerably worsened these data. The values obtained showed that premature newborns are exposed to noise levels above international recommendations. All incubators tested showed the presence of tonal components, both outside and inside the incubator cabin, and, in some cases, low-frequency components, but no impulsivity components were observed in any case. Full article

Visual speech recognition (VSR) is a method of reading speech by noticing the lip actions of the narrators. Visual speech significantly depends on the visual features derived from the image sequences. Visual speech recognition is a stimulating process that poses various challenging tasks to human machine-based procedures. VSR methods clarify the tasks by using machine learning. Visual speech helps people who are hearing impaired, laryngeal patients, and are in a noisy environment. In this research, authors developed our dataset for the Kannada Language. The dataset contained five words, which are Avanu, Bagge, Bari, Guruthu, Helida, and these words are randomly chosen. The average duration of each video is 1 s to 1.2 s. The machine learning method is used for feature extraction and classification. Here, authors applied VGG16 Convolution Neural Network for our custom dataset, and relu activation function is used to get an accuracy of 91.90% and the recommended system confirms the effectiveness of the system. The proposed output is compared with HCNN, ResNet-LSTM, Bi-LSTM, and GLCM-ANN, and evidenced the effectiveness of the recommended system. Full article

Ray tracing is a frequently used method for acoustic simulations, valued for its calculation speed and ease of use. Although it is fast, there are no fully ray tracing-based real-time simulation methods or engines. Under real-time restrictions, ray tracing simulations lose precision and the variance inherent in the random simulation method has too much impact on the outcome. In this paper, an algorithm called iterative ray tracing is presented that reduces the negative effects of real-time restrictions by iteratively improving the initial calculation and increasing the precision over time. In addition, new estimates of the expected value and variance of ray tracing simulations are presented and used to show the iteration steps in the new algorithm reduce variance, while maintaining the expected value. Simulations using iterative ray tracing are compared to measurements and simulations using the classical ray tracing method, and it is shown that iterative ray tracing can be used to improve precision over time. Although more testing is needed, iterative ray tracing can be used to extend most ray tracing algorithms, in order to decrease the adverse effects of real-time restrictions. Full article

In the last few years, archaeoacoustic studies of rock art sites and landscapes have undergone significant growth as a result of renewed interest in the intangible aspects of the archaeological record. This article focuses on the acoustic study carried out in the rock art complex of Bacinete, Cádiz (Spain). After describing the archaeological site and its importance, a representative set of monaural and spatial IRs gathered onsite is thoroughly analysed to explore the hypothesis that the sonic component of the site played an important role in how prehistoric people interacted with it. Additionally, we briefly discuss the challenges of analysing the acoustics of open-air spaces following the recommendations of the ISO 3382-1 guidelines, a standard developed not for open-air spaces, but for room acoustics. The results obtained confirm the favourable acoustic conditions of the Bacinete main shelter for speech transmission. The different subjective acoustic impressions obtained in a somewhat similar shelter located nearby, Bacinete III, are also explained, alluding to a lesser degree of intimacy felt in the latter. Full article

Resource-efficient buildings are one of the most important challenges of the construction industry, which could be achieved by limiting the extraction of natural resources and by replacing them with industrial residues. The present work proposes innovative panels made from textile wastes as an efficient solution for making the semi-open atrium in the Polytechnic University of Bari, acoustically suitable for use as an area of study. Several measurements were carried out in the atrium under empty and occupied conditions in order to characterize the sound field of the space (i.e., the reverberation time and the sound pressure level) and the actual sound sources (i.e., the sound power level of the students occupying the space). The on-site measurement results were useful to calibrate a geometrical acoustic model implemented in CATT-Acoustic software and used to predict the effect of the proposed treatments. About 700 m² of absorbent panels were distributed, leading to a predicted reduction in the reverberation time from 2.4 s to 1.4 s at 500 Hz, and consequently to an estimated 3 dB reduction in sound pressure level, resulting in a reduction in the background noise level due to speech. Furthermore, as a consequence of the “Lombard effect”, a decrease in the background noise level will likely reduce the sound power level of the speakers by 2 dB, with an expected overall reduction of 5 dB. Full article

The hybrid high overtone bulk acoustic wave resonators (HBARs) consisting of a piezoelectric film transducers and gallium gadolinium garnet substrates with yttrium iron garnet films (YIG-GGG-YIG) are used for experimental excitation and detection of acoustically driven spin waves (ADSWs). Two types of HBAR transducers made of Al-ZnO-Al films (differed through the electrodes’ geometry) were deposited onto YIG-GGG-YIG trilayers with different YIG film thicknesses and doping levels and served for excitation of multimode HBAR at gigahertz frequencies. ADSWs were detected by measuring the shifts of resonant HBAR modes in a tangential external magnetic field when the conditions for magnetoelastic resonance (MER) were satisfied. It was shown that the design of the transducer with a continuous bottom electrode provides all acoustical excitation of spin waves (pure ADSWs), suppressing the additional inductive magnetic dynamics excitation due to the electrodes’ geometry. The theoretical study of the HBAR spectrum in a magnetic field showed that the resonance harmonics in the MER region can either almost continuously transfer from one to another, or decay and form an evident magnetoelastic gap. In this case, the shift of resonant frequencies can achieve several intermodal distances. The results obtained are important for applications of HBAR-based devices in spintronics and magnonics. Full article

The generation of a virtual, personal, auditory space to obtain a high-quality sound experience when using headphones is of great significance. Normally this experience is improved using personalized head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) that depend on a large degree of personal anthropometric information on pinnae. Most of the studies focus their personal auditory optimization analysis on the study of amplitude versus frequency on HRTFs, mainly in the search for significant elevation cues of frequency maps. Therefore, knowing the HRTFs of each individual is of considerable help to improve sound quality. The following work proposes a methodology to model HRTFs according to the individual structure of pinnae using multilayer perceptron and linear regression techniques. It is proposed to generate several models that allow knowing HRTFs amplitude for each frequency based on the personal anthropometric data on pinnae, the azimuth angle, and the elevation of the sound source, thus predicting frequency magnitudes. Experiments show that the prediction of new personal HRTF generates low errors, thus this model can be applied to new heads with different pinnae characteristics with high confidence. Improving the results obtained with the standard KEMAR pinna, usually used in cases where there is a lack of information. Full article

(1) Background: To assess and compare speech intelligibility with conventional and universal musician-specific hearing protection devices (HPD); (2) Methods: The sample comprised 15 normal-hearing musicians of both sexes who had been professionals for more than 5 years. They underwent thorough audiological assessment and free-field audiometry to measure the attenuation levels of three HPD models (musician-specific, silicone, and foam devices). The sentence recognition thresholds in quiet (SRTQ) and noise (SRTN) were assessed with the Lists of Sentences in Portuguese. User satisfaction with musician HPD was assessed after 2 months; (3) Results: Conventional HPD had higher pure-tone mean attenuation levels than musician HPD. No statistically significant differences were found in SRTQ and SRTN between the three HPD types. However, the musician HPD had higher mean signal-to-noise ratios and percentages of correct words from sentences presented in noise than the other HPD. The answers also indicated a positive trend toward satisfaction with the musician-specific HPD; (4) Conclusions: Despite the lack of significant differences in speech intelligibility while wearing the three HPD models in either quiet or noise, the musician-specific HPD provided greater musical sound quality. This reinforces the possibility of an effective and adequate use of protection to preserve musicians’ hearing. Full article

Noise exposure may cause auditory and extra-auditory effects. School teachers and students are exposed to high noise levels which have an impact on perceptual-cognitive and neurobehavioral aspects. The latter influence teaching conditions and student school performance. A Protocol was defined and parameters to be investigated were identified for acoustic characterization of unoccupied and occupied school environments, assessment of users by means of questionnaires completed by teachers and students, and vocal effort evaluation. Classrooms, laboratories, auditoriums, gymnasiums, common areas, canteens and outdoor areas were analysed in terms of acoustic features and identification of the origin of noise. The Protocol was tested in three kindergartens, three primary schools and three secondary schools placed in Rome, Florence and Perugia. Results of nine case studies are presented, including comparisons of objective and subjective investigations. Generally, the acoustic performances of the spaces under investigation do not meet the requirements of current Italian legislation. In particular, student activity determines high noise levels in laboratories, gymnasiums, and canteens. Students notice that noise mainly causes loss of concentration, fatigue, boredom, and headache. The outcomes of this research will be the starting point to define strategies and solutions for noise control and mitigation in schools and to draft guidelines for the acoustical school design. Full article

This paper presents an acoustic reconstruction of the UK House of Commons between c. 1820 and 1834. Focusing on a historically important site where political decisions were debated over the centuries, we aim to simulate and present the intangible principles of the acoustic properties and sounds heard within the space. The acoustic model was created based on available historical evidence with the aid of commercial acoustic simulation software. We discuss the decisions made for this reconstruction based on further experimentation with the acoustic characteristics of the constituent materials and settings of the available software. An additional comparison of the achieved acoustic results with spaces of similar historical importance and layout is presented, as a calibration of the model with in situ measurements was not possible in this case study. The values of T30, EDT, C50 and Ts are presented, while auralization examples are also available for a subjective evaluation of the results. Full article