Modeling and experimental verification on directivity of an electret cell array loudspeaker

Abstract

We propose a model to give us a method to investigate the characteristic three-dimensional directivity in an arbitrarily configured flexible electret-based loudspeaker. In recent years, novel electret loudspeakers have attracted much interest due to their being lightweight, paper thin, and possessing excellent mid- to high-frequency responses. Increasing or decreasing the directivity of an electret loudspeaker makes it excellent for adoption to many applications, especially for directing sound to a particular area or specific audio location. Herein, we detail a novel electret loudspeaker that possesses various directivities and is based on various structures of spacers instead of having to use multichannel amplifiers and a complicated digital control system. In order to study the directivity of an electret loudspeaker based on an array structure which can be adopted for various applications, the horizontal and vertical polar directivity characteristics as a function of frequency were simulated by a finite-element analysis model. To validate the finite-element analysis model, the beam pattern of the electret loudspeaker was measured in an anechoic room. Both the simulated and experimental results are detailed in this article to validate the various assertions related to the directivity of electret cell-based smart speakers.