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Acoustics research group

The Acoustics research group in the School of Applied Sciences trains graduate and postgraduate students in acoustics, undertakes acoustical research and conducts commercial acoustics measurements for external clients.

Facilities

• A large reverberation chamber, which in accordance with Australian Standards is suitable for the measurement of sound absorption coefficient, equivalent sound absorption area and sound power level.
• A sound insulation suite, which satisfies the appropriate Australian Standard for precision measurements of sound insulation and hence the weighted sound reduction index (R_w) of building partitions.
• Impedance tubes for measurement of normal incidence sound absorption coefficient and acoustic impedance.
• A flow resistance apparatus for measurement of specific flow resistance.

The acoustics laboratory is accredited by the National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) Australia for various acoustic measurements, and these facilities are frequently in use on behalf of clients.

People

The acoustics group currently comprises three people:

Professor John Davy – an adjunct professor of acoustics who has conducted research in building acoustics for more than thirty five years. Professor Davy is also a Principal Research Scientist at CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering.

Mr Peter Dale – a professional officer with training as an electronic engineer and over twenty years experience of noise measurement, of which ten years were spent with the Environment Protection Authority, Victoria.

Mr John Watson – a technical officer and a demonstrator who is an audio engineer and a graduate of the Physics discipline with a Master of Applied Science in acoustics.

Research

• The directivity of sound insulation.
• The directivity of the radiation of sound from the opening at the end of a duct.
• The diffuse field sound insulation of single and double leaf walls.
• The radiation impedance of panels and openings excited by sound incident from the other side.
• The behaviour of sound fields in rooms.
• Microphone turbulence screens.
• The regulation of sound insulation.
• The active sound insulation of windows.

Completed Master of Applied Science degrees

• Vladimir Pavasovic (2005) "The radiation of sound from surfaces at grazing angles of incidence".
• John L. Watson (2006) "An investigation into the identification of objective parameters correlating with subjective functional performance of critical listening rooms".

Recent journal publications

• Davy, J.L. (2010). The improvement of a simple theoretical model for the prediction of the sound insulation of double leaf walls. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 127(2):841:849.
• Davy, J.L. (2009). Predicting the sound insulation of single leaf walls – extension of Cremer's model. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 126(4), 1871-1877.
• Davy, J.L. (2009). The variance of the discrete frequency transmission function of a reverberant room. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 126(3):1199-1206.
• Davy, J.L. (2009). The forced radiation efficiency of finite size flat panels which are excited by incident sound. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 126(2):694-702.
• Davy, J.L. (2009). The directivity of the sound radiation from panels and openings. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 125(6):3795-3805.
• Davy, J.L. (2009). Predicting the sound insulation of walls. Journal of Building Acoustics 16(1):1-20.
• Davy, J.L. (2007). The modal and flow velocity corrections of microphone turbulence screens. Journal of Sound and Vibration 306(1-2):172-191.

Undergraduate student research projects

• In 2008, two third year major project students worked on programming the Labview Sound Analysis software package to measure reverberation time using the sound card in computer, one third year major project student worked on the spatial variability of reverberant sound fields, and another third year major project student worked on the use of complex propagation constants to predict the sound absorption of combinations of porous materials.
• In 2006, four Honours students worked respectively on the directivity of sound insulation, the measurement of sound insulation using smaller than normal size specimens, the spatial variability of reverberant sound fields, and the use of loudness to rate sound insulation.
• In 2005, an Honours student worked on the transmission of vibration at a T-junction of building panels. Three third year major project students worked respectively on the limitations of using the Labview Sound Analysis software package and a sound card when making acoustical measurements, a two microphone impedance tube, and the calibration of microphones. Two other third year major project students studied the possible use of acoustics to assist the scoring in Tai Kwon Doo.
• In 2004, three major third year projects were conducted on the prediction of muffler attenuation, a two microphone impedance tube and the calibration of microphones.
• In 2003, an Honours student and two third year students worked on the measurement of vibration with lasers, and two third year students worked on the control of a real time acoustic analyser from Microsoft Windows for the measurement of reverberation time, and anomalous low frequency sound absorption in reverberation rooms, respectively.
• In 2002, an Honours student worked on the qualification of reverberation rooms for the measurement of pure tone sound power level.
• In 2000, 2001 and 2002, the Acoustics group had two or three third year students whose major projects were related to the investigation of the differences in the sound absorption coefficients of ceiling tiles when measured in different laboratories.
• Each year, at least two third students do their industrial experience project in the acoustics area.

For more information, please email Professor John Davy.