Active sound transmission control of a double-panel module using decoupled analog feedback control: experimental results.

Low-frequency sound transmission through passive lightweight partitions often renders them ineffective as means of sound isolation. As a result, researchers have investigated actively controlled lightweight partitions in an effort to remedy this problem. One promising approach involves active segmented partitions (ASPs), in which partitions are segmented into several distinctly controlled modules. This paper provides an experimental analysis of a double-panel ASP module wherein the source- and transmitting-side panels are independently controlled by an analog feedback controller. Experimental results, including plant frequency response functions, acoustic coupling strengths, frequency response functions, and transmission losses (TLs) of single- and double-panel modules, are presented and compared to numerical predictions. Over the bandwidth of 20 Hz to 1 kHz, the average measured TL for an actively controlled single-panel module was 29 dB, compared to 14 dB for the passive case. The average measured TL over the same bandwidth for the actively controlled double-panel module was 57 dB, compared to 31 dB for the passive case.