Evaluation of a method for the measurement of subwoofers in usual rooms

This paper evaluates the potential of the field separation method (FSM) for performing subwoofer measurements in a small test room with poor absorbing properties, as is commonly available. The FSM requires the knowledge of both acoustic pressure and velocity fields on a closed surface surrounding the tested source. Pressures and velocities, measured using a p-p probe on a half-sphere mesh, are collected under various conditions: in a room with variable reverberation time (6.4–0.6 s) and with four measurement half-sphere radii. The measured data are expanded on spherical harmonics, separating outward and inward propagation. The pressure field reflected by walls of the surrounding room is then subtracted from the measured field to estimate the pressure field that would have been radiated under free-field conditions. Theoretical frequency response of the subwoofer is computed using an analytical formulation derived from an extended Thiele and Small model of the membrane motion, coupled to a boundary element model for computing the radiated pressure while taking into account the actual subwoofer geometry. Measurement and simulation results show a good agreement. The effects of the measurement distance, the measurement point number, and the room reverberation time on the separation process are then discussed.