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3D modelling may help improve mobiles' sound

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Mobile phones may be designed with better sound consistency following work at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) where scientists are using 3D modelling to develop a new measurement standard.

The Acoustics Team at NPL and its National Freeform Centre created a 3D model of the ear to help redefine the standard for pinna simulators. A pinna is the outer part of the human ear that critically affects how one perceives sound and its location within a 3D field.

Models of the pinna are a crucial component in Head and Torso Simulators (HATS), which are mannequins with built-in calibrated ear simulators that replicate the acoustic properties of an average adult human head and torso. These simulators are used by manufacturers of a range of acoustic products, such as telephone handsets, headphones and hearing aids.

The pinna’s importance in these simulations means that it is defined for HATS by its own standard (IEC TR 60959:1990) to provide consistency across measurements.

Ian Butterworth from NPL said the problem is that the current standard defines the pinna through a series of 2D cross-sectional profiles and this has led to the manufacture of inconsistent models.

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