Impact of design variations of micro-perforated panels on psychoacoustic metrics of transmitted sound

Recent work reveals that sound travelling through metamaterials can lead to changes in sound perception [L. De Ryck et al, Proceedings of ISMA and USD, pp. 1147-1162 (2018)]. As a starting point unravelling the impact of intricate vibro-acoustic design on perception, this study investigates the relationship between the intrinsic physical properties of micro-perforated panels (MPP) and several psychoacoustic metrics (loudness, sharpness, prominence ratio, and speech intelligibility index) in sound transmission conditions. A Sobol global sensitivity analysis is performed to quantify the impact of variations in MPP design parameters—panel thickness, perforation rate, hole diameter, and air cavity depth between panels—on these sound quality metrics [I.M. Sobol, MATCOM, Vol. 55, pp. 271-280 (2001)]. The analysis is conducted using both broadband and narrowband noise stimuli. The data trends suggest that the psychoacoustic effects of MPP acoustic treatments exhibit a non-trivial dependence on specific parameters of the panel setup. This also provides a framework towards innovative material design, where desired psychoacoustic metrics can help guide the manufacturing of metamaterials in order to meet specific sound quality targets.