Semi-anechoic room

Named "Marin Mersenne" after a monk, philosopher, mathematician, scientist and music theorist, who was the first to measure the speed of sound in the air around 1630, this facility located on the site of Nantes contributes to the development of scientific knowledge on sound propagation in the environment.

 

Technical specifications

The semi-anechoic room is almost 8 m wide, 12 m long and 5 m high. The cut-off frequency (ISO 3745) is 100 Hz and the background noise level is lower than 17.5 dB(A) in operation.

It includes a multi-channel measuring system, associated with an automatic system for shifting a measurement microphone.

A nearby room over 250 m3 is available for installing and preparing the experiments.

   

 

Experiments

The semi-anechoic room offers the opportunity to study many acoustical emission and propagation phenomena, related to the issue of environmental noise. As an example, this facility has been used in the following experiments :

  • study of sound propagation in streets, using city scale models;
  • development and calibration of surface acoustic impedance measurement systems;
  • study and development of noise reduction devices on building facades;
  • study of sound reflection by urban facades;
  • characterization of sound emission of noise sources.

It also hosts the test rig for the study of tyre-road contact.

 

Download the presentation leaflet [in French, .pdf]

Contact : Judicaël Picaut

Application : Noise mapping with a city scale model   (in French)