Philippe Herzog

Recent topics concerning the acoustics of fibrous and porous materials

Abstract Recent developments in the theory for acoustical properties of porous materials with rigid frames introduced two characteristic dimensions related to the high-frequency behaviour of the viscous forces and the thermal exchanges in addition to the classical parameters of porosity, flow resistivity and tortuosity. These characteristic dimensions are used with recent expressions of the effective mass and the compressibility of the air in porous materials to predict the surface impedance in the high-frequency range. Measurements of the surface impedance performed in a free field are used to evaluate the accuracy of the model. The same model is generalised in the context of the Biot theory to the case of elastic framed materials. The effect of the frame wave on the surface impedance of a layer of fibrous material, and on the transmission through a fibrous material bonded onto a plate is studied with this new model.

Application of acoustic radiation modes in the directivity control by a spherical loudspeaker array

This work concerns the theoretical analysis and synthesis of sound fields by a compact spherical loudspeaker array. Such an electroacoustic device consists of several transducers mounted on a sphere-like structure, which are driven independently in order to achieve non-uniform directivity patterns. The control strategy usually adopted is to provide the array with some preprogrammed basic directivities corresponding to spherical harmonic functions. Thus, an arbitrary radiation pattern can be approximately achieved by changing the gains associated with these basic directivities. Here, a different approach based on the acoustic radiation modes of the array is proposed. Unlike spherical harmonics, radiation modes constitute a finite set of vectors that spans a subspace on which any radiation pattern the array is able to reproduce can be projected. Furthermore, radiation modes radiate sound energy independently. Since the eigenvalue analysis that must be carried out in order to obtain the modes leads also to their radiation efficiencies, the low frequency constraint in the directivity synthesis by a spherical array is naturally evaluated. Finally, it is useless to drive inefficient radiation modes. Therefore, the radiation mode approach leads to a reduced number of active channels, and to minimum source voltages for a given target directivity pattern.

How minute sooglossid frogs hear without a middle ear.

Significance Gardiners Seychelle frog, one of the smallest terrestrial tetrapods, resolves an apparent paradox as these seemingly deaf frogs communicate effectively without a middle ear. Acoustic playback experiments conducted using conspecific calls in the natural habitat of the frogs provoked vocalizations of several males, suggesting that these frogs are indeed capable of hearing. This species thus uses extra-tympanic pathways for sound propagation to the inner ear. Our models show how bone conduction is enhanced by the resonating role of the mouth and may help these frogs hear. Acoustic communication is widespread in animals. According to the sensory drive hypothesis [Endler JA (1993) Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 340(1292):215–225], communication signals and perceptual systems have coevolved. A clear illustration of this is the evolution of the tetrapod middle ear, adapted to life on land. Here we report the discovery of a bone conduction–mediated stimulation of the ear by wave propagation in Sechellophryne gardineri, one of the world’s smallest terrestrial tetrapods, which lacks a middle ear yet produces acoustic signals. Based on X-ray synchrotron holotomography, we measured the biomechanical properties of the otic tissues and modeled the acoustic propagation. Our models show how bone conduction enhanced by the resonating role of the mouth allows these seemingly deaf frogs to communicate effectively without a middle ear.

Modeling of a corona discharge microphone

The acoustic pressure sensor described in this paper uses a small volume of ionized gas (plasma) as sensing element to receive energy from surrounding gas (air) set into oscillations by an acoustic disturbance. The generation of the ionized gas is performed by negative point-to-plane corona discharges. The passage of a pressure disturbance through this gas disturbs the flow of the charged particles between the electrodes, and provokes a current variation of the electrical system. This current variation is directly related to the acoustic pressure. An electroacoustic model of this plasma microphone is proposed. From the current–voltage relation associated with corona discharges, this model is based on the variations of the threshold voltage and the mobility of ions with pressure and temperature of the surrounding gas. An experimental setup is developed, it simultaneously allows one to compare the acoustic pressure deduced from the corona discharge sensor with that resulting from the two-microphone method in a standing wave tube. This paper also proposes a parametric study to quantify the influence of the electrical and geometrical parameters of the discharge on the sensitivity of the plasma microphone.

Evaluation of a method for the measurement of subwoofers in usual rooms

This paper evaluates the potential of the field separation method (FSM) for performing subwoofer measurements in a small test room with poor absorbing properties, as is commonly available. The FSM requires the knowledge of both acoustic pressure and velocity fields on a closed surface surrounding the tested source. Pressures and velocities, measured using a p-p probe on a half-sphere mesh, are collected under various conditions: in a room with variable reverberation time (6.4-0.6 s) and with four measurement half-sphere radii. The measured data are expanded on spherical harmonics, separating outward and inward propagation. The pressure field reflected by walls of the surrounding room is then subtracted from the measured field to estimate the pressure field that would have been radiated under free-field conditions. Theoretical frequency response of the subwoofer is computed using an analytical formulation derived from an extended Thiele and Small model of the membrane motion, coupled to a boundary element model for computing the radiated pressure while taking into account the actual subwoofer geometry. Measurement and simulation results show a good agreement. The effects of the measurement distance, the measurement point number, and the room reverberation time on the separation process are then discussed.

Modeling plasma loudspeakers

This paper deals with the acoustic modeling and measurement of a needle-to-grid plasma loudspeaker using a negative Corona discharge. In the first part, we summarize the model described in previous papers, where the electrode gap is divided into a charged particle production region near the needle and a drift region which occupies most of the inter-electrode gap. In each region, interactions between charged and neutral particles in the ionized gas lead to a perturbation of the surrounding air, and thus generate an acoustic field. In each region, viewed as a separate acoustic source, an acoustical model requiring only a few parameters is proposed. In the second part of the paper, an experimental setup is presented for measuring acoustic pressures and directivities. This setup was developed and used to study the evolution of the parameters with physical properties, such as the geometrical and electrical configuration and the needle material. In the last part of this paper, a study on the electroacoustic efficiency of the plasma loudspeaker is described, and differences with respect to the design parameters are analyzed. Although this work is mainly aimed at understanding transduction phenomena, it may be found useful for the development of an audio loudspeaker.

High speed sound sources localization using bilinear time-frequency transformation

Abstract This paper proposes a new method to locate high speed moving sound sources based on a bilinear time-frequency transformation. A microphone array, used as a directional sensor, is optimised in order to focus on the linear part of the frequency modulation due to the Doppler effect. Simulations are carried out to quantify the accuracy of the localizations. A comparison is made with the currently used dedopplerization method. Finally, both methods have been tested on acoustic sources of a high speed train (TGV) in normal operating conditions.

Experimental study of a smart foam sound absorber

This article presents the experimental implementation and results of a hybrid passive/active absorber (smart foam) made up from the combination of a passive absorbent (foam) and a curved polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) film actuator bonded to the rear surface of the foam. Various smart foam prototypes were built and tested in active absorption experiments conducted in an impedance tube under plane wave propagation condition at frequencies between 100 and 1500 Hz. Three control cases were tested. The first case used a fixed controller derived in the frequency domain from estimations of the primary disturbance at a directive microphone position in the tube and the transfer function between the control PVDF and the directive microphone. The two other cases used an adaptive time-domain feedforward controller to absorb either a single-frequency incident wave or a broadband incident wave. The non-linearity of the smart foams and the causality constraint were identified to be important factors influencing active control performance. The effectiveness of the various smart foam prototypes is discussed in terms of the active and passive absorption coefficients as well as the control voltage of the PVDF actuator normalized by the incident sound pressure.

Comparative measurements of loudspeakers in a listening situation

Comparison of loudspeakers is a major concern during design or product selection. There are several standards for the measurement of loudspeaker characteristics, but none of them provides hints for a rigorous comparison between devices. In this study, different ways of evaluating acoustical dissimilarity between loudspeakers were compared. Several methods of signal analysis were used, and for each method a metric evaluating the dissimilarity between two signals was defined. The correlation between the different dissimilarity evaluations over a significant panel of loudspeakers led to identified classes of measurements. A specific aspect of this work is that measurements were performed in a standard listening environment, rather than in an anechoic or reverberant one. It allowed the use of the recorded signals for a simple listening test, providing a perceptual metric which was compared to the acoustical ones. It also allowed the introduction of auditory models in the computation of some acoustical metrics, so defining a new class of measurements which gave results close to the perceptual ones.

Theoretical and experimental analysis of the electromechanical behavior of a compact spherical loudspeaker array for directivity control

Sound directivity control is made possible by a compact array of independent loudspeakers operating at the same frequency range. The drivers are usually distributed over a sphere-like frame according to a Platonic solid geometry to obtain a highly symmetrical configuration. The radiation pattern of spherical loudspeaker arrays has been predicted from the surface velocity pattern by approximating the drivers membranes as rigid vibrating spherical caps, although a rigorous assessment of this model has not been provided so far. Many aspects concerning compact array electromechanics remain unclear, such as the effects on the acoustical performance of the drivers interaction inside the array cavity, or the fact that voltages rather than velocities are controlled in practice. This work presents a detailed investigation of the electromechanical behavior of spherical loudspeaker arrays. Simulation results are shown to agree with laser vibrometer measurements and experimental sound power data obtained for a 12-driver spherical array prototype at low frequencies, whereas the non-rigid body motion and the first cavity eigenfrequency yield a discrepancy between theoretical and experimental results at high frequencies. Finally, although the internal acoustic coupling affects the drivers vibration in the low-frequency range, it does not play an important role on the radiated sound power.