Speaker
Description
Air-filled balloons are commonly used for party celebrations and, in acoustics, as simple impulsive sources (when burst) to measure sound decay within a room. However, their potential application in other areas, particularly their contribution to sound absorption, has not been extensively investigated, as addressed in this paper. Acoustic measurements were carried out on air-inflated latex balloons with a diameter of 100 mm, arranged either as single or double layers; in the latter case, the external layer was left unsealed at the neck. Two measurement methods were compared: results obtained using an impedance tube and those measured within a reverberation chamber. The results show that the absorption coefficients obtained from the reverberation chamber are reasonably consistent, especially at high frequencies, whereas the absorption performance measured with the impedance tube is relatively limited. This research suggests that such configurations could be applied as rapid, low-cost mitigation measures in situations where acoustic correction is required.