Bass reflex ports produce noise at high sound-pressure levels due to turbulence and vortex shedding. Flared ports can reduce port noise compared to straight ports, but the optimal flare rate in ports has remained an unsolved problem. This work demonstrates that there is in fact an optimal amount of flare, and it proposes a design method based on acoustic Finite Element simulations to efficiently predict the optimal flare rate for given port dimensions. Optimality of the flare rate is confirmed with noise and compression measurements as well as double-blind listening tests. At onset of unwanted port noise, optimally flared ports can be played 1 to 3 dB louder than slightly under-flared or over-flared ports, and 10 to 16 dB louder than straight ports.

Authors: Bezzola, Andri; Devantier, Allan; McMullin, Elisabeth
Affiliation: Samsung Research America, Valencia, CA USA
AES Convention: 147 (October 2019) Paper Number: 10311
Publication Date: October 8, 2019
Subject: Product Development

Download Now (1.8 MB)

This paper is Open Access which means you can download it for free.

No AES members have commented on this paper yet.

Subscribe to this discussion

To be notified of new comments on this paper you can subscribe to this RSS feed. Forum users should login to see additional options.

Start a discussion!

If you would like to start a discussion about this paper and are an AES member then you can login here:
Username:
Password:

If you are not yet an AES member and have something important to say about this paper then we urge you to join the AES today and make your voice heard. You can join online today by clicking here.