Sound Blocking Using Acoustic Metamaterial Scaling

Abstract

In this study, we use 1:1, 1:2, and 1:4 scale zig-zag shape acoustic metamaterial structure to achieve broad and effective sound blocking at the subwavelength scale. The SPL(Sound Pressure Level) results show that the SPL loss of the scaled metamaterial slab in series is a superposition of individual SPL losses. Also, we show that the metamaterial tailors the material properties to achieve high impedance and high refractive index using effective medium theory. Our results show that broad and effective sound blocking is possible at the subwavelength scale just by scaling acoustic metamaterial.