Engineering

Noise Visualization

Proprietary microphone array system with 15 elements shown here to do 2D noise mapping of industrial machinery

A steered microphone array using beamforming refers to a geometric array of microphones, fixed in the environment and located at some distance from the talker whose signals are processed to generate an effective microphone signal equivalent to a highly directional microphone.

One main obstacle of the technique is the cost of microphone elements, and the second one is the amount of channel a data acquisition system can take in at a time. The more the microphone, the better the spatial and frequency resolution, and the higher signal-to-noise ratio. To get more frequency resolution, you will place the microphones closer together. Thanks to the advancement of data acquisition and microphone technology, now we can actually construct microphone array with a reasonable price and high resolution.

The application of this technique includes, but is not limited to:

  • Sound source active tracking
  • Loudspeaker design validation
  • Musical Instruments design validation
  • Virtual reality NVH debugging
  • Structural-Acoustical coupling Verification
  • Non-contact Defect detection
  • 2-Dimensional Acoustical Signature

We have staff with extensive NVH, Sound Quality training, and Shainin problem solving qualifications. INCE (Institute of Noise Control Engineering) has recently awarded us with INCE Member status.

For more information on our core NVH capabilities, please contact:

Percy F. Wang, Ph.D., INCE
Manager- Noise & Vibration Group
205-978-8630
nv@sri.org

Tony A. Casey
Test Engineer - Noise & Vibration Group
205-978-8630
nv@sri.org