Acoustic Zones for Aircraft Seat Rows.

Simon Berthilsson and Mikael Sternad , Uppsala University.

International Congress of Sound and Vibration, ICSV20 Bangkok, Thailand, July 2013.

Abstract:

Entertainment systems of aircraft today use simple headsets that are distributed to passengers before each flight, and later collected, cleaned and re-used. This procedure generates significant costs for the airlines. There is an interest in substituting the headsets by audio systems in seat headrests, comprising two loudspeakers plus optional microphones in each seat.

A problem with such a solution would be significant acoustic interference (cross hearing) between the seats. We theoretically and experimentally investigate methods for increasing the acoustic isolation of the head-centered acoustic zones at lower frequencies.

We present, evaluate and compare two active sound control methods designed for maximizing the acoustic separation of the zones within a row of seats in an aircraft. Both designs are based on the Multiple-input-multiple-output linear-quadratic optimal feedforward control framework.

Related publications:

AES Munich 2012 Acoustical Zone Reproduction for Car Interiors Using a MIMO Framework.