NEWS Duke University Builds Acoustic Cloaking Device >>> ACOUSTICS
Research scientist Bogdan Popa worked on Steven Cummer’s team building the acoustic cloak
“The trick we’re performing is hiding an object
from sound waves,” said Steven Cummer, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Duke. “By placing this cloak around an object, the sound waves behave like there is nothing more than a flat surface in their path.” The technology revolves around the field of
ENGINEERSAT North Carolina’s Duke University have built the world’s first 3D acoustic cloaking device. Designed using perforated sheets of plastic the device re-routes sound waves to create the impression that both the cloak and anything beneath it are not there.
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‘metamaterials’ – the combination of natural materials in repeating patterns to achieve unnatural properties. The device looks like several plastic plates with a repeating pattern of holes stacked on top of one another in the form of a pyramid but has the ability to alter sound waves’ trajectories to match what they would look like if they had reflected off a flat surface. Because the sound is not reaching the surface
beneath, it is travelling a shorter distance and its speed must be slowed to compensate. The device works in all three dimensions, no matter which direction the sound is coming from or where the observer is located. While the technology was developed with support from the US Army and Navy, Cummer believes there are further applications for the cloak. “There’s also the design of auditoriums or concert halls – any space where you need to control the acoustics. If you had to put a beam somewhere for structural reasons that was going to mess up the sound, perhaps you could fix the acoustics by cloaking it.”
www.pratt.duke.edu
www.audiomedia.com
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