CAREER: Cochlear Analogues for Engineering Acoustics

工程声学的人工耳蜗模拟物人工耳蜗力学、工程声学和主动结构是正在进行的激烈而令人兴奋的研究领域。在这项研究计划中，这三个看似不同的领域被结合在一起。哺乳动物听觉的表现结合了非凡的瞬态捕捉和频率滤波，其动态范围可以包含至少一百万倍的能量变化。耳蜗的机械、流体动力学和电学功能在很大程度上负责这些规格，这些规格在人造机械系统中是无与伦比的。虽然目前对耳蜗功能的了解尚不完整，但本研究旨在利用这种工程声学进化设计的已知结构-功能关系。对于从静音到声音传感的应用，耳蜗模拟设计在提高频率选择性和灵敏度方面具有很大的潜力。其中一个应用集中在利用耳蜗的结构声过滤来衰减声音，即作为一种安静机制，来增加甚至取代广泛使用的消声器（如消声器）。研究了一种基于耳蜗的传声器和水听器传感器。对非定常流固耦合问题进行高级建模，以提供设计工具和理解现象。各种实现设计的液压和空气声系统建模，建立和测试。这一研究的成功将显著改变静音（如消声器）和换能器（如麦克风）行业。此外，更好地了解耳蜗类似物将有助于更好地了解听力过程本身。该拨款的教育部分旨在(1)将包括计算、分析和图形软件包在内的现代软件集成到课堂设置中；(2)通过向课堂引入案例研究来提高行业相关性，这些案例研究源于行业赞助的研究项目和行业贡献的案例研究。

Karl Grosh, University of Michigan9876130Cochlear Analogues for Engineering AcousticsCochlear mechanics, engineering acoustics and active structures are fields of research where intense and exciting work is underway. In this research proposal, the three seemingly disparate areas are brought together. The performance of mammalian hearing combines remarkable transient capture and frequency filtering, with a dynamic range that can encompass at least a million-fold change in energy. The mechanical, fluid dynamical and electrical functions of the cochlea are largely responsible for these specifications, specifications which are unparalleled in man-made mechanical systems. While the current state of understanding of the function of the cochlea is incomplete, this research seeks to take advantage of the known structure-function relations of this evolutionary design for engineering acoustics. For applications ranging from sound quieting to sound sensing, the cochlear analogue design holds great potential for improving frequency selectivity and sensitivity. One such application centers on utilizing the structural acoustic filtering of the cochlea for sound attenuation, i.e., as a quieting mechanism, to augment and even replace widely used silencers (such as mufflers). A cochlear-based microphone and hydrophone transducer is also studied. Advanced modeling of the unsteady fluid-structure interaction problem is undertaken to provide design tools and to understand phenomena. Various realizations of designs for hydraulic and air borne acoustic systems are modeled, built and tested. The success of this line of research will significantly change the sound quieting (e.g., muffler) and transducer (e.g., microphone) industries. In addition, better understanding of cochlear analogues will provide a better understanding of hearing processes themselves.The educational portion of this grant seeks to (1) integrate modern software including computational, analytic and graphical packages into the classroom setting and (2) increase industrial relevance by introducing case studies to classroom, stemming from both industry sponsored research projects and industry contributed case studies.