Visualization of acoustic intensity vector fields using scanning measurement techniques

Sound propagation paths are not always well understood mainly because of the complex nature of the source or the environment. A direct method to capture the sound energy flow throughout a room is to measure the three-dimensional sound intensity distribution across space. In the past years, several studies have been carried out using step by step measurements with a three-dimensional intensity probe consisting of a sound pressure transducer and three orthogonal particle velocity sensors. The probe’s ability to measure even in highly reverberant environments and its small size are key features required for numerous applications. However, punctual measurements are time-consuming, especially when a large number of measurement positions are evaluated. The use of advanced scanning measurement techniques, such Scan & Paint, allows for the gathering of data across a time stationary sound field in a fast and efficient way, using a single sensor and webcam only. The acoustic signals are acquired manually by moving a probe across a measurement plane whilst filming the event with a camera. In the post-processing stage, the sensor position is extracted and then used for linking a segment of the signal acquired to a certain position of the space. In this manner, the overall measurement time is reduced from hours to minutes. In this paper, the acoustic intensity vector fields of several complex examples are investigated; revealing the acoustic energy flow of several vehicles, a loudspeaker in a room, and also the interaction between an absorbing sample and a reverberant sound field

A novel deconvolution beamforming algorithm for virtual phased arrays

Beamforming techniques using phased microphone arrays are one of the most common tools for localizing and quantifying noise sources. However, the use of such devices can result in a series of well-known disadvantages regarding, for instance, their very high cost or transducer mismatch. Virtual Phased Arrays (VPAs) have been proposed as an alternative solution to prevent these difficulties provided the sound field is time stationary. Several frequency domain beamforming techniques can be adapted to only use the relative phase between a fixed and a moving transducer. Therefore the results traditionally obtained using large arrays can be emulated by applying beamforming algorithms to data acquired from only two sensors. This paper presents a novel beamforming algorithm which uses a deconvolution approach to strongly reduce the presence of side lobes. A series of synthetic noise sources with negative source strength are introduced in order to maximize the dynamic range of the beamforming deconvolved map. This iterative sidelobe cleaner algorithm (ISCA) does not require the of use of the covariance matrix of the array, hence it can also be applied to a VPA. The performance of ISCA is compared throughout several simulations with conventional deconvolution algorithms such as DAMAS and NNLS. The results support the robustness and accuracy of the proposed approach, providing clear localization maps in all the conditions evaluated

Performance of P-P and P-U intensity probes using Scan & Paint

This paper aims to clarify the principal advantages and disadvantages of using sound intensity probes which implement different measurement principles: p-p probes versus p-u probes or Microflowns. A novel measurement technique based on scanning principles called “Scan & Paint” had been chosen to evaluate their performanc

Comparison of inverse methods and particle velocity based techniques for transfer path analysis

International audienceDirect sound field visualization is not always the best way to assess complex noise problems. Maps of sound pressure, particle velocity or intensity in the vicinity of a source might not be directly related to the pressure contribution for a given position. Transfer path analysis has been implemented for many years to evaluate this case scenario, which requires using information of the environment and the sound source. Inverse methods commonly require a detailed geometric description of the problem along with sound pressure measurements. On the other hand, particle velocity methods rely on measuring the reciprocal transfer path and the velocity close to the sources. This paper presents the theoretical bases of the two principles and compares the advantages and disadvantages of the two methods applied to real industrial applications