High Performance Active Noise Control System for Engine Noise in a Car Cabin

A very effective and practical technique for active control of engine noise in a car cabin has been developed. By utilizing the repetitiveness of the engine noise and introducing the idea of error scanning, a new control algorithm was developed that requires only 30-50% of the arithmetic operations of the filtered-x least mean square method. A system with only 3 microphones allocated on the basis of the spatial distribution of the noise is able to make the whole cabin space quiet. Experimental results show that a maximum noise attenuation of 8dB(A) has been achieved at each seat position.