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We are testing a new ultrasound product using a Texas Instruments PGA450 automotive transducer.

Three of us are sharing a lab and we need some kind of ultrasound-blocking partition walls around each product to prevent interference. Think cubicle walls that absorb ultrasound.

Air
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Doug Null
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1 Answers1

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Typical towels do a pretty good job of not echoing ultrasound around too much, and also attenuate ultrasound going thru them. Ordinary sheetrock walls are really bad because they are great mirrors for ultrasound.

There are special materials for absorbing sounds at various frequencies, but hanging a bunch of large beach towels from the ceiling around each work area will likely be cheaper and just as effective. Two or three towels an inch or so apart should help a lot. You will still either have to put sound absorbent material on the ceiling, or make sure the towels extend to the ceiling.

The remaining path will then be by bouncing off the floor. That's not so simple. Some "area rugs" should help, but some of them reflect ultrasound much better than others. Ideally you want something that has roughness extending over ½ wavelength or so, but that will be hard to find. Beach towels on the floor will work to attenuate ultrasound, but won't last long as they aren't designed to take that sort of abuse.

Air
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Olin Lathrop
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  • To add to Olin's excellent answer, a possible floor treatment to absorb ultrasound would be to put down a layer of memory foam on the floor and then sheets of perforated plastic (nylon) on top of the memory foam. Choose a perforation pattern that is 1/2 wavelength equivalent in "roughness" as Olin has stated. – William Hird Jan 04 '16 at 23:01
  • I forgot to mention that you may want to make this test room a "stocking feet only" room ! – William Hird Jan 05 '16 at 00:18
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    If you have the time, money, and inclination to make this test room a permanent testing area for ultrasound, I would first put down a layer of the memory foam on the floor and then put honeycomb panels down on top of the foam to "squish" the foam into the honeycomb cells and then put the perforated plastic sheets on top of the honeycomb so that you have a composite structure that you can walk on that will absorb the ultrasound. – William Hird Jan 05 '16 at 19:18