Mechanical engineering professor Sean Wu to discuss targeted noise control technology at NAE workshop

The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) announced that Sean Wu, Ph.D., distinguished professor of mechanical engineering at Wayne State University, will deliver a presentation on advances in noise control technology on Wednesday, Oct. 20.  The two-day virtual workshop will include leading scientists from around the world, including many of the more than 2,000 NAE members across engineering, business, academia and government.

“I am very honored to be invited to give a talk at this meeting because of several significant new technologies we have developed over the past three decades, especially the recent breakthrough on targeted noise control technology,” said Wu.

In the absence of knowing where and how to reduce noise, insulation materials and other vibration suppression techniques are applied globally, resulting in an increased overall weight and costs. Targeted noise control combines psycho-acoustics to mitigate noise with the application of vibration controls only where they are needed, to achieve maximum noise reduction without increasing the overall weight and cost of a product.

“The key to targeted noise control is to identify and suppress the most critical components of structural vibrations that are responsible for sound radiation,” said Wu.

Not all vibrations produce sound, Wu noted, and even less can radiate sound effectively. “Therefore, we only need to focus on this small portion of structural vibrations that are effective sound radiators, and leave the rest intact,” he said.

Targeted noise control has numerous applications, from aircraft cabin and automobile noise, to dishwashers and other everyday household appliances.

A renowned educator and entrepreneur, Wu is a fellow of both the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), has written over 70 refereed journal articles, holds 18 U.S. and international patents, and published the textbook The Helmholtz Equation Least Squares Method for Acoustic Radiation and Reconstruction. In 2018, Wu was recognized by ASME for his contributions to the fields of noise control and acoustics with the Per Bruel Gold Medal.