Looking for Acoustic Measurement Device

I know this isn't what your looking for, but the I-Phone has a App which analyzes the audio spectrum of the human hearing range (roughly 20-20k), and displays a graph of the sound across the spectrum. It works really well when setting EQ for live music.

Really?? Off topic? Hmm....

What I recommended is a very low cost solution ($20) to analyze sound. The solution is good enough for professional sound-people to use for the job. You can have real-time graphing of all frequencies in the ~20-20k range, or take snapshots, and save for future analysis. You might be quite surprised how accurate the app really is, And for a home-based user, I think It would work quite well.

I suppose its not a complicated computer setup, and might be much more limited than many other solutions, but it does work well for the average user.

Off topic? Pteh!

I with you. I think your post responds to the title, "Acoustic Measurement Device "

quite nicely.

Maybe it's just going around. There was another illogical OT just a short while ago next door.

You can buy software to analyze the sound, and software to play back sounds(frequency generator). I'd assume that you could figure a way to record to DVD and play back.

Remember, the quality of your data will depend on the sensitivity of the mic., among other things.

Also remember that sound waves propagate like waves on water, only sound radiates in all 360 degrees. This means that whenever that initial wave encounters a surface, the character of the wave is changed forever. Every reflection of the resulting WAVES will further alter the character of the sound. If you are in a room. you'll have to be as close to the source as possible.

Pros use sound intensity probes and many$ of spectrum analyzers to study sound.

Then there's psychoacoustics to deal with. That takes a $25,000.00US dummy with ears.

Have fun!

Just to introduce yourself to the wonderful world of home-brew acoustics, You might get yourself a quartz oscillator crystal. You can salvage them from crystal cans and attach them to various items under test with epoxy cement. You can also salvage the ceramic crystal from a Sonalert signalling device, or a commercial accelerometer and perform all kinds of neat experiments. After you get serious, you will need to determine what types of acoustic waves you plan to transmit and receive (shear or compression). At that point you may want to invest in a commercial transducer from an NDT company. Good luck and have fun.

Another inexpensive hardware+software solution is offered by Virtins. Look at their offerings at their site.

If you want plug and play use a DBX driverack

Have you caught the wind chime bug too?

I found a group for wind chime makers on Yahoo. There are several software packages out there to check frequency for tuning wind chimes. They might work for your testing needs. Some of the software is completely free older versions such as "Tune Lab 97" as well as free trial versions of newer stuff like "Tune Lab Pro". I have down loaded these but not tried either out yet. Life has gotten a little busy and there is not much time for hobbies right now. While looking for software I tried looking for piano and guitar tuning on the net. You might give that a try as well.

Define high frequency?

Your mic. and speakers should get you up to 20 KHz.

Spectrumlab is a really good free software tool for analysis.

Hi,

The objective is to test material acoustic parameters like impedance, velocity, .. etc.

So frequencies as high as 20 MHz or even higher.

Thanks,

Nabil

Hi,

Yes, I intend to use acoustic waves to interrogate material properties of various products (metals, ceramics, woods, etc.). You are right I should have used term ultrasonic.

Thanks,

Nabil

http://www.globalspec.com/SpecSearch/SupplierByNameSearch?query=Electro%20Rent%20Corporation%20

"GA" bwire ... had never heard of them before... thanks!

Further to my earlier post: if additional reading is desired, there's an AWFUL lot available on the web. Google ultrasonic testing (using a variety of additional words, including "tutorial") and you'll find weeks worth of reading.

For a good intro to Nondestructive Testing in general, open a free account and download this .pdf. (can you tell, simply by the lack of hyphenation, above, which side of "the pond" I'm on?)