ACTA ACUSTICA UNITED WITH ACUSTICA
Vol. 98 (2012)
of inspiration for students and researchers of the TU/e he tutored.
As a Full Professor in Architectural Acoustics, he devoted him-
self to the continuation of the field at the TU/e and to the coop-
eration between many institutes.
Renz van Luxemburg has contributed to four books in the
field of building acoustics. He was also frequently invited as a
speaker for conferences on the subject of room acoustics. He
was chairman of the Dutch Flemish Building Physics Associ-
ation (NVBV) from 1998 to 2004 and chairman of the Dutch
Standardization Committee (NEN) on sound insulation in build-
ings.
Many remember Renz as a warm, engaging and modest man
with passion for his profession and great attention to the peo-
Doctoral Thesis Abstracts
Makram Zebian: Calibration of Distortion Product Otoa-
coustic Emission Probes. Institut für Elektrische Messtech-
nik und Grundlagen der Elektrotechnik, Technische Uni-
versität Carolo-Wilhelmina zu Braunschweig. Supervisors:
Prof. Meinhard Schilling (TU Braunschweig), Prof. Thomas
Janssen (TU München), Dr. Thomas Fedtke (PTB Braun-
schweig), 27.02.2012. This thesis is published in Mensch
& Buch Verlag (April, 2012) ISBN: 978-3-86387-128-4.
makram.zebian@ptb.de
Distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE) provide an
objective and non-invasive examination of the cochlear function.
However, the reliability of DPOAE tests at high frequencies has
so far not been satisfactory due to stimulus calibration errors that
may lead to invalid test results. The main objectives of this the-
sis are: to quantify the errors related to the in-the-ear stimulus
calibration and characterisation of DPOAE probes; to search for
ways to compensate for the impact of these errors on the DPOAE
results; and to analyse the retrograde path taken by DPOAE sig-
nals. For this purpose, finite element models of both the DPOAE
probe and the ear canal were created, sound pressure measure-
ments on physical ear canal models were performed, and DPOAE
measurements on human test subjects were carried out. Standing
waves led to significant sound pressure variations along the ear
canal. This effect was counterbalanced by referring the stimulus
calibration to the eardrum position. Sufficiently accurate predic-
tions of the sound pressure were achieved up to 8 kHz by em-
ploying the one-dimensional transmission line theory and using
the acoustic length of the ear canal models for the transforma-
tion. The cross-sectional discontinuity at the interface between
the probe and the ear canal models induced a shift in the quarter-
wave frequency. The impact of this discontinuity was interpreted
as an “acoustic elongation” of the ear canal, which was substan-
tial mainly for models of larger diameters.
A combined stimulation of DPOAEs via air and bone conduction
was introduced. This stimulation resulted in detectable DPOAEs,
and allowed – through swapping the acoustic signal paths – the
identification of stimulus calibration errors. Moreover, the ref-
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Doctoral Thesis Abstracts
ple around him. His professional attitude and craftsmanship was
associated with an open and curious gaze, never afraid of chal-
lenges or the unknown. He was always willing to think and to
seek solutions outside the box; did not focus on limitations but al-
ways sought new possibilities. His colleagues in Eindhoven wish
that his dream of establishing a broad acoustic institute in Eind-
hoven will be realized. He will be sorely missed. We wish his
family and friends much strength in the mourning of this great
loss.
There is the possibility to write a message in the online condo-
lence register via http://www.levelacoustics.nl/renz/
DOI 10.3813/AAA.918549
erence hearing threshold levels associated with a commercial
DPOAE probe were determined, providing data for their stan-
dardisation. Further, the influence of the eartip impedance on the
retrograde DPOAE path was analysed by impedance-tube mea-
surements on specially designed foam specimens.
This thesis sheds light on the currently unsatisfactory calibra-
tion of DPOAE probes, and provides a thorough assessment of
the errors related to the source characterisation and the in-the-ear
calibration procedures. Furthermore, it opens up alternative ap-
proaches to DPOAE stimulation that may prove to be clinically
beneficial.
Davide Borelli: Analysis of sound propagation in lined ducts
and parallel baffle silencers (in Italian). Supervisor: Prof.
Ing. Corrado Schenone, Università degli Studi di Genova, Fac-
ulty of Engineering - Mechanical Engineering, Energy, Pro-
duction, Transport and Mathematical Models Department, Via
all’Opera Pia 15/A, 16145 Genova, Italy. 11 March 2011. da-
vide.borelli@unige.it
A test campaign was carried out, by means of an experimental
apparatus compliant with EN ISO 11691 and EN ISO 7235, with
the aim to determine the acoustical attenuation produced by sev-
eral lined ducts and parallel baffle silencers, varying both the ge-
ometry and the physical properties of the sound-absorbing mate-
rial.
A second experimental campaign was carried on, by means of
a standing wave tube, to study the effects of confinement on the
acoustical properties of porous sound-absorbing materials. The
data obtained showed consistency with the data found in the lit-
erature, i.e. that over a specific percentage open area of the perfo-
rated facing, equal to about 20%, the facing itself is “transparent”
to the sound and has the only behaviour of a mere support of the
sound absorbing material.
This information has been useful in order to avoid the modelling
of the perforated facings in the comparative study developed to
analyze the behaviour of a finite element model versus two of
Upcoming Events
the most widely used theoretical methods to estimate the noise
attenuation in lined ducts, from Sabine and Kurze.
A commercial silencer (FCR series SQ-A model 110-600) of
known performance was tested in the above mentioned test fa-
cility and later modelled by means of FEM and Sabine’s and
Kurze’s theories for a frequency range from 125 Hz to 8000 Hz:
the numerical approach has been found to be the best choice to
tackle the problem of the study of sound propagation in rectan-
gular ducts, compared to the high cost of field surveys and ex-
periments or to the poor and nowadays inadequate accuracy of
existing analytical methods.
Juan Miguel Navarro Ruiz: Discrete-Time Modelling of Dif-
fusion Processes for Room Acoustics Simulation and Analy-
sis. Place. E. T. S. Ingeniería de Telecomunicación, Universidad
Politécnica de Valencia, Spain. Supervisors: José Escolano Car-
rasco, José Javier López Monfort. 31 de Enero de 2012.
Sound propagation in an enclosed space is a complex phe-
nomenon that depends on the geometrical properties of the room
and the absorption features of the boundary’s surface materials.
The sound field’s behaviour in rooms can be modelled using dif-
ferent theories, depending on the approach applied for describing
the sound wave propagation.
This thesis focuses on room acoustics modelling in enclosed
spaces using energy diffusion processes. In this work, how the
diffusion equation theoretical model can simulate the sound field
distribution in complex spaces is investigated.
The acoustic diffusion equation model has been actively studied
in recent years, since it provides high efficiency and flexibility
to the simulations of different types of enclosures; however, only
Upcoming Events
August 19–22, 2012
Inter-Noise 2012 New York City, USA
http://www.internoise2012.com
September 12–15, 2012
Congress of Alps-Adria Acoustics Petrčane, Zadar, Croatia
http://www.akustika.hr/had/kongres
September 17–19, 2012
International Conference on Noise and Vibration Engineering
Leuwen, Belgiium http://www.isma-isaac.be/conf
ACTA ACUSTICA UNITED WITH ACUSTICA
Vol. 98 (2012)
a few research studies have been performed to deeply investi-
gate the accuracy, advantages and limitations of this alternative
method.
A systematic derivation of the acoustic diffusion equation
method is developed, to establish the basis and assumptions of
the model and to link it with the geometrical acoustics tech-
niques. This also allows a proper description of its theoretical
advantages and limitations.
This thesis is also devoted to the numerical implementation is-
sues concerning the acoustic diffusion equation model. In this
work, the sound field is modelled by means of finite-difference
schemes. The results of this study provide practical and simple
solutions by showing a low computational requirements in both
time and memory consumption.
Finally, an evaluation of the acoustic diffusion equation model
is carried out in order to study its performance for acoustic pre-
dictions in rooms. Special attention is paid to both temporal and
spatial assumptions of the model.
In these simulations, different scenarios and configurations are
used to compare predicted values with measurement results and
predictions from other well-established geometrical acoustics
methods.
In general, the results show that the acoustic diffusion equation
model can be used to predict room-acoustics time criteria, such as
reverberation time, with accuracy. A deeper analysis reinforces
the theoretical limitation that the diffusion equation is mainly
valid for predicting the late part of the room impulse response.
Moreover, it is observed that the spatial dependence of the pre-
dicted parameters with the diffusion equation is partially mod-
elled, presenting low variability between several receiver posi-
tions within the room, as expected according to the theoretical
assumptions.
June 2–7, 2013
ICA, International Conference on Acoustica Montreal. Canada
http://www.ica2013montreal.org
September 15–18, 2013
Internoise 2013 Innsbruck, Austria
http://www.internoise2013.com
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