Henri Boutin

Physical parameters of the violin bridge changed by active control

The physical parameters of a violin bridge have a significant influence on the tonal colouration of its sound. The resonance peaks of the bridge shape the response of the violin body. Reinicke and Cremer developed a simple bridge model that shows a typical broad frequency peak around 2.5kHz, because it incorporates the coupling to the violin body and the soundpost. By using the same model, Jim Woodhouse revealed the effect of some parameters of the bridge (mass, stiffness and foot spacing) on the instrument frequency response. Here the parameters of the violin resonance peaks are changed in real time, by applying an active control method. Such a technique, very useful in noise reduction, enabled to change separately the position and the shape of each peak of the bridge input admittance. On the bridge, 2 actuators and an accelerometer are placed at strategic positions in order to change the peak frequency and the damping factor values. The system behaviour is controlled by a Digital Signal Processor. Some sound results achieved with a real violin back up the theoretical equations.

Relationships between pressure, flow, lip motion, and upstream and downstream impedances for the trombone

This experimental study investigates ten subjects playing the trombone in the lower and mid-high range of the instrument, B♭2 to F4. Several techniques are combined to show the pressures and the impedance spectra upstream and downstream of the lips, the acoustic and total flows into the instrument, the component of the acoustic flow due to the sweeping motion of the lips, and high speed video images of the lip motion and aperture. The waveforms confirm that the inertance of the air in the channel between the lips is usually negligible. For lower notes, the flow caused by the sweeping motion of the lips contributes substantially to the total flow into the mouthpiece. The phase relations among the waveforms are qualitatively similar across the range studied, with no discontinuous behavior. The players normally played at frequencies about 1.1% above that of the impedance peak of the bore, but could play below as well as above this frequency and bend from above to below without discontinuity. The observed lip motion is consistent with two-degree-of-freedom models having varying effective lengths. These provide insight into why lips can auto-oscillate with an inertive or compliant load, or without a downstream resonator.

Modifying the Resonances of a Xylophone Bar Using Active Control

A simple active control method is described which extends the possibilities of a xylophone bar. It allows the performer to modify the vibration of its structure, unlike post-processing effects involving loudspeakers. These variations change the characteristics of the partials radiated by the bar. The xylophone bar, made of composite material, is equipped with two actuators and one sensor in PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride), the mass and stiffness of which do not modify the mechanical characteristics. A controller in a feedback loop is executed on a midrange digital signal processor. It is composed of a sum of second order band-pass filters. The selection of the controller coefficients relies on the measured transfer function between the input of the controller and the output of the sensor. First the active control method is designed to modify the resonance peaks of a simple model of a xylophone bar, whose transfer function is a superposition of three eigenmodes. Then it is applied to the real system. It is illustrated by increasing and reducing the amplitudes and/or frequencies of the first resonances, and by modifying the tuning of the xylophone bar.

Acoustic dissipation in wooden pipes of different species used in wind instrument making: An experimental study

In this study, the acoustic dissipation is investigated experimentally in wooden pipes of different species commonly used in woodwind instrument making: maple (Acer pseudoplatanus), pear wood (Pyrus communis L.), boxwood (Buxus sempervirens), and African Blackwood (Dalbergia melanoxylon). The pipes are parallel to the grain, except one which forms an angle of 60° with the fiber direction. An experimental method, involving input impedance measurements with several lengths of air column, is introduced to estimate the characteristic impedance and the attenuation factor in the pipes. Their comparison reveals significant differences of acoustic dissipation among the species considered. The attenuation factors are ranked in the following order from largest to smallest: maple, boxwood, pear wood, and African Blackwood. This order is the same before and after polishing the bore, which is an essential step in the making process of wind instrument. For maple, changing the pipe direction of 60° considerably increases the attenuation factor, compared to those of the other pipes, parallel to the grain. Further, polishing tends to reduce the acoustic dissipation in the wooden pipes, especially for the most porous species. As a result, the influence of polishing in the making procedure depends on the selected wood species.

Laryngeal flow due to longitudinal sweeping motion of the vocal folds and its contribution to auto-oscillation.

Analysis of published depth-kymography data [George, de Mul, Qiu, Rakhorst, and Schutte (2008). Phys. Med. Biol. 53, 2667-2675] shows that, for the subject studied, the flow due to the longitudinal sweeping motion of the vocal folds contributes several percent of a typical acoustic flow at the larynx. This sweeping flow is a maximum when the glottis is closed. This observation suggests that assumption of zero laryngeal flow during the closed phase as a criterion when determining parameters in inverse filtering should be used with caution. Further, these data suggest that the swinging motion contributes work to overcome mechanical losses and thus to assist auto-oscillation.

Producing undistorted acoustic sine waves.

A simple digital method is described that can produce an undistorted acoustic sine wave using an amplifier and loudspeaker having considerable intrinsic distortion, a common situation at low frequencies and high power. The method involves, first, using a pure sine wave as the input and measuring the distortion products. An iterative procedure then progressively adds harmonics with appropriate amplitude and phase to cancel any distortion products. The method is illustrated by producing a pure 52 Hz sine wave at 107 dB sound pressure level with harmonic distortion reduced over the audible range to >65 dB below the fundamental.