METRIC BASED DEVELOPMENT OF ACOUSTIC LENSES AND WAVEGUIDES

Abstract

There are many situations where it is desirable to be able to ef fectively sculpt sound waves or convert them from one shape to another. For example, professional audio line array loudspeakers of ten include waveguides intended to receive plane waves f rom one or more compression drivers at circular apertures and produce near plane waves at the waveguide mouth, which is of ten slot-like. The acoustical design of such wave shaping waveguides is complex. Achieving high ef f iciency and precise directivity control, while also minimizing acoustical resonance and response irregularity , is extremely challenging. But this complex design problem has considerable application in the audio industry , and many contrasting approaches are seen in dif ferent products1,2.