We are surrounded by sound – it is a major part of our daily lives and permeates every aspect of our everyday world. Communication devices, household appliances, production machinery, vehicles, aircraft, public address systems – all use sound to fulfil their primary function or emit sound as an unwanted side-effect, in other words, noise.
From design and development to manufacturing, operation and environmental compliance, measuring sound or noise levels has become a standard requirement. Be it audio quality assurance of hearing aids, mitigating sound effects in vehicles, eliminating risks by excessive exposure to noise at work, or fulfilling environmental directives, only reliable measurement and data analysis can help engineers and other responsible bodies to correctly evaluate sound parameters.
HBK has been at the forefront of research in this field for decades. Our in-depth knowledge of numerous applications has established our reputation as market leaders in measuring and analysing sound, and we have long been engaged in developing international standards. Whatever your application, our high-quality acoustic solutions make your testing procedures as easy, reliable, and as efficient as possible.
Acoustic engineering requires powerful tools covering the entire measurement chain. We offer a comprehensive toolbox – from microphones to data acquisition systems and software for analysis, storage and sharing. Post-processing options allow you to create an efficient, and streamlined workflow customized for your needs.
Acoustic performance has become increasingly important as consumers demand high quality audio in every situation, whether this concerns handsets, headsets, loudspeakers, hearing aids, microphones, or any other device reproducing music or transmitting speech Today, based on our accumulated knowledge and experience, we offer a variety of test systems, audio analyzers, and transducers for electroacoustic applications.
Noise Source Identification (NSI) techniques help to optimize the noise emissions of products and their components – on vehicles, aircraft, power tools, household goods, wind turbines and much more. Identifying the most important sub-sources of noise in terms of position, frequency content and sound power radiation helps decide where design changes can most effectively reduce overall noise radiation.
Noise in the environment comes from a variety of sources, such as industrial plants, road and rail traffic, construction work and aircraft. Add typical urban situations, such as sports events, outdoor concerts, leisure parks and residential and commercial neighbours, and you have many different sources of noise, each with different characteristics that pose specific problems for the professionals who assess them.
The increasing requirements for indoor and outdoor noise levels set by international standards and legislation mean that today’s manufacturers must be able to provide precise specifications for their products’ noise levels. For determining the noise emissions of products, sound power is the preferred quantity to investigate because it measures the absolute power of a noise source independently from its acoustic environment.
Road traffic and aircraft noise are among the most widespread environmental noise problems globally and closely linked to negative health effects. As a result, they are subject to stringent national and international regulations. Aircraft certified for airworthiness must also comply with increasingly high noise standard requirements to receive a noise certification. And for each category of ground vehicles, government agencies set pass-by noise emission limits – critical regulations that must be respected and are a requirement for all automotive OEMs as part of product certification.
With growing focus on noise control issues, the effect of materials in construction and as insulation makes a huge difference to the acoustic experience – the use of special materials can, for example, transform a space, keep vehicles within legal exterior noise limits, or create a noise-free environment. Acoustic material testing is the process for determining the acoustic characteristics of materials in terms of absorption, reflection, impedance, admittance and transmission loss, and is becoming increasingly relevant to engineers, designers and manufacturers from a broad range of industries.
Drives in electric cars pose special requirements for EoL systems. In the case of quiet electric cars, possible eDrive production inaccuracies can cause significant disturbing noise. The use of acoustic measurement technology thus increases production efficiency and manufacturing quality in the direction of zero errors.