Noise transmission through flat rectangular panels into a closed cavity

Five panels backed by a closed cavity were studied experimentally and analytically to determine the noise transmission characteristics of the coupled panel-cavity system. The closed cavity was studied both with and without fiber-glass lining to provide either an absorbent or a reverberant acoustic space. The effects on noise reduction of cavity absorption, measurement location within the cavity, panel mass, and panel stiffness were examined. Results indicated that both measurement location and absorption in the cavity have significant effects on the noise reduction. Increasing panel mass improves the noise reduction at almost all frequencies, and increasing panel stiffness improves nose reduction below the fundamental resonance frequency. A simple, one dimensional analytical model was developed which provided good agreement with the experimental results.