Improvement of sound insulation performance of double-panel structures by using damping materials

Double-panel structures have issues with sound insulation at low and mid-frequencies due to mass-air-mass resonance. Various approaches have been proposed to solve this problem and to achieve higher transmission loss. The traditional approach is ?lling cavities with porous material. Another method is the application of microperforated panel (MPP) which is widely accepted as next-generation sound absorption materials. However, the sound insulation performance of double-panel structures connected by connectors made of viscoelastic materials has not been circumstantially investigated. Therefore, an analytical model is proposed for the theoretical study of the improvement in the sound insulation performance achieved by equipping such a structure with damping materials. The effect of connectors on the sound insulation performance of double structures is investigated by considering the relation of the location, numbers, and properties of connectors with the vibrational mode of the panel. Our results indicate that the effect of mass-air-mass resonance on the sound insulation performance can be suppressed by appropriately selecting these connector parameters.