Development of impedance tube to measure sound absorption coefficient

Abstract

An acoustic property of textile material can be measured using an impedance tube, is the most popular technique to measure normal sound absorption and transmission loss. This method consuming less time and a very small sample is required to assess the acoustic properties of the materials. Unfortunately, the cost of the impedance tube and software used for measurement is very high. This paper gives information about how to develop a cost-effective impedance tube suitable for researchers. The design, development, and fabrication of the impedance tube suitable for different frequencies with technical details are present here. Information related to some software which can be used to measure sound absorption coefficient also provided. To validate the testing results obtained from custom-build impedance tube, same samples were tested on commercially available impedance tube at PSG College, Coimbatore. It was observed that both the instruments provide almost same results, no statistically significant difference found in results. Base on the results design of customized impedance tube recommends to student and researcher interested in measuring acoustic properties of textile material.