Use of Spherical Beam-Forming to Reduce the Development Time of Automotive Sound Package

A project is described where spherical beam-forming was used to perform real time evaluation and development of an automotive dash silencer assembly. By eliminating the iterative laboratory sound transmission loss testing, significant advantages were achieved in part development. These advantages include a reduction in development cost and time, reduced part cost, and lower part mass. Reducing the time to develop lighter and less expensive sound package parts was the most obvious benefit of the project, but the process also: 1) eliminated the time and cost to procure competitive parts; 2) allowed the evaluation of the parts in-vehicle rather than on a laboratory buck; and 3) reduced the time required with the development vehicle.