The Quiet Forefront

Abstract

This article highlights the acoustical analysis changes made by manufacturers in design cycle. Acoustical simulation is being pushed from experts to designers, following the trend for the last 15 or so years that saw other types of engineering applications like finite element analysis and computational fluid dynamics become integrated with computer-aided design packages used by mechanical engineers. With the advent of software packages that allow for design and for acoustical analysis in tandem, design engineers are increasingly running these analyses early in the development cycle and are making design changes to decrease noise and vibration issues they find. Experts suggest that with speaker sound quality and other pertinent information in hand, designers can actually design from the get-go with that information in mind, resulting in fewer design changes down the line. Though early acoustical simulation is still perhaps one of the consumer electronics’ industries best-kept secrets, that’s likely to change as word gets out about the many advantages of front-line simulation.