Speaker
Description
Conventional acoustic material design typically optimizes for physical parameters such as absorption coefficients or transmission loss, which do not always correlate with human perception of sound quality. This research proposes an alternative design methodology consisting of identifying material designs which satisfy a set of target psychoacoustic metrics, and is here applied to micro-perforated panel (MPP) designs for sound absorption. that starts with target psychoacoustic metrics and identifies compatible micro-perforated panels (MPPs) designs for sound absorption applications. To enable this inverse design, global sensitivity analysis is used to quantify the relationship between MPP design parameters (perforation diameter, perforation rate, cavity depth, and panel thickness) and the resulting psychoacoustic metrics (loudness, sharpness, and tonality), from a series of noise stimuli according to ISO, ECMA, and DIN standards. A backward search is then proposed, incorporating just noticeable differences on the target psychoacoustic metrics, resulting in manufacturing tolerances on the design parameters. Optimized MPP designs based on psychoacoustic targets were manufactured and experimentally validated in an impedance tube setup following ISO and ASTM standards. Reflection coefficients were measured and converted to impulse responses for convolution with sound stimuli, enabling calculation of the above-mentioned metrics to verify the psychoacoustic optimization approach.