Jet aircraft noise in and around airports is a major pain for persons living near these transportation hubs. The upshot is that complex sound abatement for take-off and landings are required, which often make aircraft interiors extremely loud.
In association with EADS North America, Georgia Tech Research Institute has embarked on a new approach to the physics of sound reduction. Engineers there are using “honeycomb-like structures that are composed of many tiny tubes or channels” to better control this irritating noise.
This approach, adds Jason Nadler, A GTRI research engineer, “dissipates acoustic waves by essentially wearing them out. It’s a phenomenological shift that is fundamentally different traditional techniques that absorb sound by using more frequency-dependent resonance.”
The result is a system that offers broadband acoustic absorption.