An Investigation of Automotive Seat Fabric Sound Absorption

To gain a better understanding of the acoustic impact automotive seats have in the passenger compartment of a vehicle, various seat cover materials were tested to determine their acoustic characteristics. Normal sound absorption, airflow permeability, mass, thickness, and perforation density were the characteristics of interest. The fabrics tested included leather/vinyl, knit fabrics woven and velour, and cloth fabrics with various lamination types. All of the materials were tested using the same polyurethane foam sample, taken from a current production seat, for comparison. The results show that fabrics with lower airflow resistivity and specific airflow resistance values have greater average absorption coefficients. The vinyl and leather fabrics without perforations have little to no absorption while those with perforations are better but are still generally out-performed by most cloth seat fabrics.