AcSoft - Electroacoustic Testing

Electroacoustic Testing

Electroacoustic transducers find their way into all corners of our lives, including telephones, loudspeakers, hearing aids, car stereos, Walkmans, military headsets, microphones, and the list goes on.

In these days of high volume production and quality control, a test system is needed to provide the answers quickly and accurately.

Several test systems, such as the 2012 from B&K, have been developed to answer the needs of the R&D engineer, but incorporating the measurement technology into a system which can be used also on production has proved a difficult task.

This is where SoundCheck comes in. Developed by Steve Temme, erstwhile 2012 application engineer at B&K Denmark, and an ex-colleague, this software offers powerful measurement algorithms, and high throughput speed.

By listening to his customers (hence the name of the company Listen), Steve is now poised to become the de-facto standard in transducer testing. Already installed in several key customers in the UK, SoundCheck is now released in version 7.0, offering many new measurement features.

One sweep, many measurements

SoundCheck uses a standard PC as a platform, and the acquisition hardware can be a simple sound card, although we specify the system on a Digital Audio Labs CardDeluxe professional PCI card.

Interfacing measurement microphones is easy, thanks to the SoundConnect microphone power supply, which features flexible gain adjustment and powering for all standard microphones. You can even have a version with the big B&K connector, if you want to keep your existing preamplifiers.

The signal generator can be configured to provide any kind of test sweep, and some clever algorithms ensure that no spurious out-of-band components are generated.

From one sweep, many measurements are possible, such as frequency response, distortion, impedance, polarity, phase, rub & buzz, each with customised pass/fail indication.

Step by Step

Flexible test sequences can be built up, with operator instructions, and external interfaces to other devices, such as alarms, lights, and process control relays.

Above all, the system is fast – a typical test of all the parameters above will take only a few seconds, and background noise is rejected by using an DFT technique.

SoundCheck is also at home in the lab, where a toolbox of features, such as a spectrum analyser, are invaluable for transducer development.

You can try the system yourself by ordering a demo CD-ROM, or we’ll be quite happy to call in and discuss your specific needs