Research is currently being completed at Empa on a world-first in the sound insulation of wooden buildings. Using a physical theory from the 1990s and the tools of digitization, a research team has developed new floor elements made of solid wood panels that have so-called acoustic black holes. The idea came from Stefan Schoenwald, head of Empa’s Building Acoustics laboratory in Dübendorf. He has encountered the theory of acoustic black holes several times at conferences and in scientific publications since it was first published in 1987. According to the Russian scientist M.A. Mironov from the Andreyev Acoustics Institute in Moscow, a parabolic recess in a material can absorb vibrations like sound and allow them to resonate—in other words, swallow them. Acoustic black holes have already been used in cars and airplanes, where their sound-reducing effect has indeed been confirmed.
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Source: Phys.org