New Materials and Techniques for Reduction of Noise and Vibrations

The approach we propose for active noise cancellation is exactly backwards from the conventional work in active noise reduction. Our innovation in active noise reduction is to attenuate all sounds passively using a new type of sound absorbing material configured into ear cups, and then to use a neural-net based active system to enhance the desired sounds and feed them to the user via a wireless audio link. The resulting system will be simple, low cost, small, light, reliable, flexible, and usable anywhere without wires. It will also be ready for direct commercialization by the end of SBIR funding. The same new material which we propose to use for passive noise reduction may also be usable for passive vibration attenuation. The material can be made to be soft and compliant as for example in cushions, or can be made sufficiently hard to be use to make structural elements such as the frame of seats or mounting brackets. The ability of the new material to provide passive shock and vibration attenuation has never been tested because the material is too new. During the subject SBIR funding we will evaluate the new material for padding on pilot seats, and as structural elements.