1

Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero July 2014, Caseros, Buenos Aires, Argentina



POLAR PATTERN MEASUREMENT OF ELECTROACOUSTIC
AND BIOMECHANICAL SOUND SOURCE

GONZALO BOTTO
1
, JOSE BUSSO
2
, DIEGO GUERRERO
3
, FRANCISCO TRICARICO
4


1
gonzal obot t o@gmai l . com
2
j ose. manuel . busso@gmai l . com
3
di egog995@gmai l . com
4
f _t r i car i co@hot mai l . com




1. INTRODUCTION

The polar pattern of a sound source is
described as its response in a given plane and
at a specified frequency. So this parameter not
only gives information about the angular
response but also of its spectral characteritics
and how its energy is radiated. The conditions
under which it should be measured are under
free-field or simulated free-field, and the
information is to be presented for several
angles througout the 360 encirclement around
the source.
Directivity D is defined as the
logarithmic difference between the effective
pressure p
0
obtained in a determinated angle of
incidence (generally the main acoustic
radiation axis) and the effective pressure p()
obtained in an angular position ,

D() =20 log (p()/p
0
) (1)

There is no international standard for
measuring the polar pattern, the only condition
is to maintain the same configuration during
the entire procedure.
The objective of this paper is to
describe the method used to measure the polar
pattern of an electroacustic and a
biomechanical sound source, and to present the
results obtained with their corresponding
analysis.

2. PROCEDURE

Since there is no standarized
procedure for this type of measurement, the
following method is considered the most
convenient in terms of the instrumentation and
location available.

2.1 Instrumentation

- Computer
- Spectra Plus Software
- M-Audio Fast Track Pro sound card
- Earthworks M50 measurement
microphone
- Turntable Outline
- Sound level meter type 1 Svantek 959
- Powered loudspeaker Dynaudio
BM6A
- Acoustic guitar
- Absorbent foam

2.2 Location

The room used for the measurement
had dimensions 10 x 9,5 x 2,8 mts. The
ceiling consisted in a double-layered
structure with floating panels. The four
panels above the source were removed in
order to avoid reflections from this surface.
In this way the distance from the source to
the reflecting surfaces resulted in: 4,25 mts
to lateral walls, 5 mts to front and rear
walls, and 2,8 mts to the ceiling. In order to
minimize the effect of the early reflections,
the measurement microphone was placed at
the floor, above an absorbent foam panel.
The direct path from the source to the
microphone was also covered with
absortion material.
The noise floor was measured with
the sound level meter before the polar
pattern measurement started. The condition
sought to obtain a valid result was that the
measured Leq level should be 10 dB above
the noise floor.
2


Figure 1: Noise floor and Leq level measurement

The reverberation time of the room
was also measured with a sine sweep signal.
This information was needed in order to know
if the first reflections would interfere with the
measured signals.

2.3 Loudspeaker

The loudspeaker was placed above
absorbent foam placed on the turntable. The
reference angle was 0 considering the
acoustic horizontal axis. The measurement
microphone was placed at 1,5mts from the
source, also covered with absorbent foam to
minimize the effect of undesired reflections.
A digitally generated white noise
signal was applied to the loudspeaker. It was
decided to use this type of signal because it
carries the same energy for all the frequencies.
The measurements were made with
steps of 4, from 0 to 180, since a
symmetrical response is assumed, resulting in
46 recorded audio files. The white noise signal
was applied during two seconds, three times at
each position. This was made to obtain the
standard deviation of the three measurements.

2.4 Acoustic guitar

The main difference that exists
between an electroacustic and a biomechanical
sound source is that in the second it is almost
impossible to reproduce the same signal twice.
The solution to this problem was to use a
constant reference signal in adidtion to the one
measured by the microphone. This reference
signal was taken from the line out of the
acoustic guitar. In this way it is possible to
compare later the measured signal with the
reference one, and check if there are any level
variations. The measurement microphone was
placed in the same position as the previous
measurement.


Figure 2: Acoustic guitar polar pattern measurement



Figure 3: Acoustic guitar polar pattern measurement

The sound pressure level generated by
the guitar was measured with the sound level
meter in order to have a register of the
difference between the noise floor and the
sound level measured.
In this case, the measurement was
made with a 5 step in the turntable. Since an
assymetrical response is expected, 72
measurements were made for each intensity
from 0 to 355.
Two intensities were used: a piano or
soft intensity, and a forte or strong intensity.
Again, three repetitions were made for each
angle.

2.5 Data processing

The sample rate used was 44.1 KHz
with a 16 bit resolution. These audio files were
processed using the Adobe Audition software,
with the Aurora Acoustical Parameters plug in.
A duration of 15 miliseconds was used for the
analysis since during that time it is supposed
that no reflections have arrived to the
microphone. The analysis consisted on
filtering the signal in octave band and
obtaining the rms level of each band. In the
case of the biomechanical sound source, data
was processed in thirds of octave bands.
3
In order to reference to 0 dB the level
obtained with the loudspeaker measurement in
the polar pattern graphic, the following
equation (1) was applied.
In the case of the acoustic guitar, the
reference level was substracted from the
measurement microphone level to obtain the
values of directivity for each band under study:

D() = () - (0) (2)

Where:

() =Measured() Reference() (3)

By doing this, the directivity at 0 is
referenced to 0 dB and the results are
independent from the variations the performer
may apply at playing the instrument.

3. RESULTS

The noise floor obtained was of 38
dBA, Leq measured for one minute. The
loudspeaker signal measured was of 83dBA
(more than 40 dB above the noise floor), and
the acoustic guitar level was in 72 dBA (34 dB
above the noise floor).
The results for the electroacoustic
sound sources polar pattern are shown in
figure 4.
The results for the biomechanical
sound source are shown in figures 5, 6 and 7.

4. CONCLUSIONS

The electroacoustic sound source
shows the expected results, with
omnidirectional response for low frequencies
(31.5 to 500 Hz) and cardiod response for high
frequencies (from 1 to 16KHz).
In terms of the acoustic guitar, the
polar pattern is not as clear as that of the
loudspeaker. Several factors may be the cause
of this: the main point of radiation is located in
different places for different frequencies, the
body of the performer may act as a diffuser
and/or absorber for certain frequencies, and the
excecution of the performer may have been
different for each angle.

5.REFERENCES
[1] Pueo B. O., Rom M. R.
Electroacstica Altavoces y Micrfonos.
First edition, pp. 51-73.Pearson. Madrid.
Espaa. 2003.
[2] Serway R. A., J ewett J . W., Fsica para
cienciase ingeniera. Volume I, pp 500-520.
CengageLearning. Mexico D. F. Mexico.
2008.
[3] Beranek L. L. Acstica. Spanish version,
pp.104-120. H.A.S.A. Buenos Aires.
Argentina. 1961.
[4] Oppenheim A. V., Willsky A. S., Hamid
NawabS. Seales y Sistemas Segunda
edicin. Secondedition. Pearson. Edo. de
Mxico. Mexico. 1998.










































4
Loudspeakers polar pattern in octave band



Figure 4: Loudspeaker polar pattern



Acoustic guitar polar patern in thirds of octave bands



Figure 5: Acoustic guitar polar pattern from31,5 to 200 Hz

5


Figure 6: Acoustic guitar polar pattern 250 to 1600 Hz



Figure 7: Acoustic guitar polar pattern from2K to 20KHz








6