Effective conditions for the reflection of an acoustic wave by low-porosity perforated plates

International audienceThis paper describes an investigation of the acoustic properties of a low-porosity perforated plate in a compressible ideal inviscid fluid in the absence of mean flow. The study shows in particular how the reflection and transmission coefficients of an acoustic plane wave produced by such a device can be expressed in terms of the Rayleigh conductivity of an isolated perforation by extending the approach introduced for the case of thick plates by Leppington and Levine, \textit{Reflexion and transmission at a plane screen with periodically arranged circular or elliptical apertures}, J. Fluid Mech., 1973, p.109-127. Lower and upper bounds for the Rayleigh conductivity of a perforation in a thick plate are usually derived from intuitive approximations and by reasoning based on physical observation. The paper addresses a mathematical justification of these approaches, yielding accurate bounds for various geometries, untilted or tilted, with a conical shape or an elliptical section. Accurate estimates of the Rayleigh conductivity for a single perforation have a direct impact on the precision of models used for predicting the acoustic behavior of a perforated plate mainly on the basis of its reflection and transmission coefficients. It is shown in this paper how asymptotic expansions can be used to derive first and second-order accurate, albeit approximate expressions of these coefficients, as well as of the effective compliance of the perforated plate

The acoustical bright spot and mislocalization of tones by human listeners

Listeners attempted to localize 1500-Hz sine tones presented in free field from a loudspeaker array, spanning azimuths from 0° (straight ahead) to 90° (extreme right). During this task, the tone levels and phases were measured in the listeners’ ear canals. Because of the acoustical bright spot, measured interaural level differences (ILD) were non-monotonic functions of azimuth with a maximum near 55°. In a source-identification task, listeners’ localization decisions closely tracked the non-monotonic ILD, and thus became inaccurate at large azimuths. When listeners received training and feedback, their accuracy improved only slightly. In an azimuth-discrimination task, listeners decided whether a first sound was to the left or to the right of a second. The discrimination results also reflected the confusion caused by the non-monotonic ILD, and they could be predicted approximately by a listener’s identification results. When the sine tones were amplitude modulated or replaced by narrow bands of noise, interaural time difference (ITD) cues greatly reduced the confusion for most listeners, but not for all. Recognizing the important role of the bright spot requires a reevaluation of the transition between the low-frequency region for localization (mainly ITD) and the high-frequency region (mainly ILD)