Active Vibration Control Applied to Flat Panel Loudspeakers Using the HyVibe Pro

Inertial exciters can be used to transform surfaces into flat panel loudspeakers. Well-known for twenty years in several industries, this technology potentially revolutionizes the car audio industry by drastically reducing weight and volume of sound systems. However, several drawbacks make its implementation very challenging, especially if the used surfaces were not specifically designed for sound diffusion.

For example, the eigenmodes of the radiating surfaces and their coupling with the exciter properties significantly affect the perceived sound quality. In this paper, we present the HyVibe Pro, a standalone device designed to enhance flat panel loudspeakers sound quality with embedded audio and active vibration control algorithms. The HyVibe Pro is made of a collocated electrodynamic actuator & accelerometer, and an embedded digital feedback controller. Its main feature is to excite the radiating surface at the full audio frequency range, while controlling the main eigenmodes of the coupled system. Its benefits are presented in terms of frequency and temporal responses on experimental applications.