Multiple aperture diffraction device

摘要

A horn assembly for high frequency acoustic speakers. In an array of speakers, a spacing between adjacent speakers needs to be less than the wavelength of sound being emitted in order to combine effectively. For high frequency sound, a relatively small wavelength imposes a limitation on such a spacing. Such limitations are sometimes physically difficult to implement. A horn assembly increases the exit dimensions of the small speaker to larger desired dimensions by utilizing one or more plugs that divide a larger horn cavity into smaller horn cavities and creating similar pathlengths thereto. The similar pathlengths and the smaller horn cavities having desired dimensions allow the exiting sound to combine effectively. The overall dimensions of the exit portion of the horn assembly can be selected to match the dimensions of larger bass speakers, thus allowing improved arraying of the high frequency speakers with respect to other larger speakers.

主权项

1. A speaker assembly, comprising:
a sound source that produces a sound signal; and a housing having an input aperture and a plurality of output apertures that are distributed substantially along a first direction, wherein the housing is acoustically coupled to the sound source to receive the sound signal at the input aperture, and wherein the housing defines at least three acoustic paths, including at least one central acoustic path and at least one outer acoustic path wherein the outer acoustic path is interposed between the housing and the at least one central acoustic path and wherein the at least three acoustic paths have substantially equal path lengths that link the input aperture to the plurality of output apertures such that the sound signal is divided into a plurality of sound signals that are distributed in the first direction by travelling along the at least three acoustic paths such that the plurality of sound signals emanate from the plurality of output apertures at substantially the same time to combine to form a substantially coherent combined sound signal that is expanded in the first direction.