Search

Passive earplugs are used to prevent workers from noise-induced hearing loss. However, earplugs often induce an acoustic discomfort known as the occlusion effect. This phenomenon corresponds to an increased auditory perception of the bone-conducted part of physiological noises at low-frequency and is associated with the augmentation of the acoustic pressure in the occluded earcanal. In this work, we report a new concept of passive earplugs for mitigating the occlusion effect between 100 Hz and 1 kHz. The strategy consists in reducing the input impedance of the earplug seen from the earcanal by using quasi-perfect broadband absorbers derived from the field of meta-materials. The proposed “meta-earplug” is made of 4 critically coupled Helmholtz resonators arranged in parallel. Their geometry is optimized using an evolutionary algorithm associated with a theoretical model of the meta-earplug input impedance. The latter is validated against a finite-element approach and impedance sensor measurements. The meta-earplug is manufactured by 3D printing. Artificial test fixtures are used to assess the occlusion effect and the insertion loss. Results show that the meta-earplug induces an occlusion effect approximately 10 dB lower than foam and silicone earplugs while it provides an insertion loss similar to the silicone earplug up to 5 kHz.

The occlusion effect (OE) occurs when the earcanal becomes occluded by an in-ear device, sometimes leading to discomforts experienced by the users due to the augmented perception of physiological noises, or to a distorted perception of one's own voice. The OE can be assessed objectively by measuring the amplification of the low-frequency sound pressure level (SPL) in the earcanal using in-ear microphones. However, as revealed by methodological discrepancies found in past studies, the measurement of this objective occlusion effect (OEobj) is not standardized. With the goal of proposing a robust yet simple methodology adapted for field assessment, three experimental aspects are investigated: (i) stimulation source and the stimulus's characteristics to induce the phenomenon, (ii) measurement method of the SPL in earcanal, (iii) indicator to quantify the OEobj. To do so, OEobj is measured on human participants in laboratory conditions. Results obtained with a specific insert device suggest using the participant's own voice combined with simultaneous measurements of the SPLs based on the noise reduction method and using a single value indicator leads to a simple yet robust methodology to assess OEobj. Further research is necessary to validate the results with other devices and to generalize the methodology for field assessment.

Many workers are exposed daily to excessive noise levels. In order to reduce the noise exposure at the workstation, the main noise sources have to be detected. This task can be done with a microphone array and a source localization technique. Previous studies have shown promising results with time domain beamforming based on the generalized cross-correlation technique. The objective of this work is to propose an optimal spherical microphone array geometry dedicated to this technique. A cost function based on the symmetry of the aperture angle maps is proposed and is maximized using a Nonlinear Optimization by Mesh Adaptive Direct Search. Numerical results show that the optimized geometry improves the noise source map by reducing the side lobe amplitude without increasing the main lobe surface. Experimental measurements are carried out in a semi-anechoic chamber with prototyped spherical microphone arrays confirming that the optimized microphone array improves the quality of the noise source map.

The generalized cross correlation (GCC) is an efficient technique for performing acoustic imaging. However, it suffers from important limitations such as a large main lobe width for noise sources with low frequency content or a high amplitude of side lobes for noise sources with high frequencies. Prefiltering operation of the microphone signals by a weighting function can be used to improve the acoustic image. In this work, two weighting functions based on PHAse Transform (PHAT) improvements are used. The first adds an exponent to the PHAT expression (ρ-PHAT), while the second adds the minimum value of the coherence function to the denominator (ρ-PHAT-C). Numerical acoustic images obtained with the GCC and those weighting functions are compared and quantitatively assessed thanks to a metric based on a covariance ellipse, which surrounds either the main lobe or the side lobes. The weighting function ρ-PHAT-C provides the smallest surface ellipses especially when the arithmetic of the GCC is replaced by the geometric mean (GEO). Experimental measurements are carried out in a hemi-anechoic room and a reverberant chamber where two loudspeakers were set in front of microphone array. The acoustic images obtained confirm that the ρ-PHAT-C with the GEO outperforms the GCC, GCC-PHAT, and GCC ρ-PHAT.

This paper addresses source localization technique in time domain for broadband acoustic sources. The objective is to accurately and quickly detect the position and amplitude of noise sources in workplaces in order to propose adequate noise control options and prevent workers hearing loss or safety risk. First, the generalized cross correlation associated with a spherical microphone array is used to generate an initial noise source map. Then a linear inverse problem is defined to improve this initial map. Commonly, the linear inverse problem is solved with an l 2 -regularization. In this study, two sparsity constraints are used to solve the inverse problem, the orthogonal matching pursuit and the truncated Newton interior-point method. Synthetic data are used to highlight the performances of the technique. High resolution imaging is achieved for various acoustic sources configurations. Moreover, the amplitudes of the acoustic sources are correctly estimated. A comparison of computation times shows that the technique is compatible with quasi real-time generation of noise source maps. Finally, the technique is tested with real data.

Double hearing protectors (DHPs), earplugs and earmuffs worn in combination, may be needed in high level noise environments. The DHP sound attenuation is known to be less than the sum of each single protector attenuation. This effect, referred to as the DHP effect, is still not fully understood. A recent study has shown that it can be observed on an acoustic test fixture (ATF) and characterized by the decrease of the earplug noise reduction (NR) when the earmuff is added. In this paper, a measurement methodology is proposed to (i) identify the main sound paths related to the DHP effect on an ATF and (ii) explain the latter by the relative contributions of the air-borne and structure-borne transmissions in the system. The focus is put on the NR values of the earplug alone and in the DHP. Measurement results suggest that the DHP effect is related to the energy transmitted from the earcup, through the earmuff cushion and finally into the earcanal via the sound radiation of the earplug and/or earcanal lateral walls. This flanking structure-borne path is found to dominate over the “direct” air-borne path through the hearing protectors at frequencies above 300 Hz.

This paper compares different approaches to model the vibroacoustic behavior of earmuffs at low frequency and investigates their accuracy by comparison with objective insertion loss measurements recently carried out by Boyer et al. [(2014). Appl. Acoust. 83, 76-85]. Two models based on the finite element (FE) method where the cushion is either modeled as a spring foundation (SF) or as an equivalent solid (ES), and the well-known lumped parameters model (LPM) are investigated. Modeling results show that: (i) all modeling strategies are in good agreement with measurements, providing that the characterization of the cushion equivalent mechanical properties are performed with great care and as close as possible to in situ loading, boundary, and environmental conditions and that the frequency dependence of the mechanical properties is taken into account, (ii) the LPM is the most simple modeling strategy, but the air volume enclosed by the earmuff must be correctly estimated, which is not as straightforward as it may seem, (iii) similar results are obtained with the SF and the ES FE-models of the cushion, but the SF should be preferred to predict the earmuff acoustic response at low frequency since it requires less parameters and a less complex characterization procedure.

Passive and active in-ear devices (IED) occluding the ear canal are commonly used to (i) protect people from high noise levels (earplugs), (ii) assist people suffering from hearing impairment (hearing aids) or (iii) help people in listening from their sound systems (earbuds). However, the usability and/or efficiency of IEDs can be greatly affected by several discomfort components (physical, acoustical and functional). The mechanical pressure exerted by the IED onto the ear canal walls is greatly suspected to affect the aforementioned comfort components. This physical characteristic is closely related to the displacement field induced by the IED insertion, which has to be known for a better understanding of perceived discomfort. Thus, this paper proposes to validate a method based on medical images to estimate the displacement field of the ear canal walls due to the insertion of an IED. The approach is validated on a human-like artificial ear with canal geometry deformed using two custom molded IEDs with controlled shapes. These geometries are obtained using computed tomography imaging and the displacement field is computed using a registration method. The errors due to the ear canal segmentation and to the registration steps are small enough to compute a relevant estimation of the expected displacement field. Results show that the amplitude of the displacement and its location into the ear canal can be evaluated with an accuracy of ± 0.2 mm and ± 0.4 mm respectively. Preliminary results on images with a degraded resolution indicate that the proposed approach used to assess the displacement field of the ear canal walls using computed tomography images could be applied on magnetic resonance images, which is a preferred method to image human subject ear canals for future investigations.

International audience; Millions of workers are exposed to excessive noise levels each day. Acoustic solutions have to be developed to protect workers from hearing loss. The first step of an acoustic diagnosis is the source localization which can be performed with a microphone array. Spherical microphone arrays can be used to detect the acoustic source positions in a workplace. In this study, a spherical microphone array, with polyhedral discretization, is proposed and compared with a spherical array with a slightly different geometry. The generalized cross-correlation technique is used to detect the source positions. Moreover, two criteria are introduced to improve the noise source map. The first is based on the geometric properties of the microphone array and the scan zone whereas the second is based on the energy of the spatial likelihood function. Numerical data are used to provide a systematic comparison of both geometries and criteria. Finally, experiments in a reverberant room reveal that the polyhedral microphone array associated with both criteria provide the best noise source map.

Microphone array techniques are an efficient tool to detect acoustic source positions. The delay and sum beamforming is the standard method. In the time domain, the generalized cross-correlation can be used to compute the noise source map. This technique is based on the arithmetic mean of the spatial likelihood functions. In this study, the classical arithmetic mean is replaced by the more standard generalized mean. The noise source maps provide by the arithmetic, geometric and harmonic means are compared in the case of numerical and experimental data obtained in a reverberant room. The geometric and harmonic means provide the best noise source maps with no side lobes and a better source level estimation.

International audience; This paper investigates the feasibility to use an electrodynamic loudspeaker to determine viscoelastic properties of sound absorbing materials in the audible frequency range. The loudspeaker compresses the porous sample in a cavity and a measurement of its electrical impedance allows to determine the mechanical impedance of the sample: no additional sensors are required. Viscoelastic properties of the material are then estimated by inverting a 1D Biot model. The method is applied to two sound absorbing materials (glass wool and polymer foam). Results are in good agreement with classical compression quasistatic method.

Broadband noise absorption, including low frequencies, may be obtained by a hybrid passive-active two-layer system. A porous layer in front of an air layer provides passive absorption, at medium and high frequencies. Active control of the input impedance of the two-layer system yields absorption at low frequencies. The active control system can implement either pressure-release or impedance-matching conditions. A simple analytical model based upon plane waves propagating in a tube permits the comparison of both control strategies. The results of this simple model show that the pressure-release condition affords higher absorption than the impedance-matching condition for some combinations of geometrical and material parameters. Experimental results corroborate the good performance of the pressure-release condition under the prescribed geometrical setup.

Microphone array techniques are an efficient tool to detect acoustic source positions. The standard technique is the delay and sum beamforming. In the time domain, the generalized cross correlation of the microphone signals is used to compute the Spatial Likelihood Functions (SLF) of all microphone pairs and the noise source map is provided by the arithmetic mean of these functions. To improve the former noise source map, which means narrowing the main lobe and removing side and spurious lobes, several techniques have been developed in the past. In this work, the performances of three of these techniques (in terms of source position detection, amplitude estimation and computation time) are compared in the case of both synthetic and real data: (1) energetic and geometric criteria are applied in order to remove the SLF with useless information, (2) the arithmetic mean is replaced by the generalized mean and (3) linear inverse problem is solved with sparsity constraint. In the case of real data, the source t...