Mr. Schmitt Recognized in Acoustical Society of America
Andrew Schmitt, CTS, was recognized in the Acoustical Society of America for 2013 Fall meeting in San Francisco, CA. The conference lasted from December 2nd to the 6th. The paper that was accepted to present was based on his Master’s thesis work in the Architectural Acoustics graduate program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. The research was done on micro-perforated panel (MPP) absorbers, which are an emerging technology in the world of acoustics as an efficient sound absorber. His research looked at how the parameters of each panel – such as thickness, perforation ratio, perforation diameter, and air space depth – affect the absorption characteristics of the absorber. This is important because designing panels for a custom absorption profile can be hard to do. If there was an efficient way to do it, the panels would be easier to develop commercially for solutions to different noise environments. The panels can be especially useful due to their potential ability to be cleaned. As a result they may be able to be used in hospital or factory settings or in areas where an architect or interior designer wants a lot of natural lighting. This is because the panels can be made from clear foil or acrylic, which still allows light in through glass or windows, and is more aesthetically pleasing than foam absorbers. More testing can be done to assess the cleaning capabilities.
At the conference Andrew presented my thesis work, described what MPPs are and how they work, talked about the testing results he had, and the potential of MPP’s in the acoustic world. Feel free to take a look at the article yourself!