Microperforated polymer films can offer an effective solution when it is desired to design fiber-free sound absorption systems. The acoustic performance of the film is determined by hole size and shape, by the surface porosity, by the mass per unit area of the film, and by the depth of the backing air layer. Single sheets can provide good absorption over a one of two octave range, but if absorption over a broader range is desired, it is necessary to use multilayer treatments. Here the design of a multilayer sound absorption system is described, where the film is considered to have a finite mass per unit area and also to have conical perforations. It will be shown that it is possible to design compact absorbers that yield good performance over the whole speech interference range. In the course of the optimization it has been found that there is a tradeoff between cone angle and surface porosity. The design of lightweight, multilayer functional absorbers will also be described, and it will be shown, for example, that it is possible to design systems that simultaneously possess good sound absorption and barrier characteristics
