Transmission loss (duct acoustics)

Transmission loss (TL) in duct acoustics, together with where:

insertion loss (IL), describes the acoustic performances
of a muffler like system. It is frequently used in the indus-
try areas such as muffler manufacturers and NVH depart-
ment of automobile manufacturers. Generally the higher
transmission loss of a system it has, the better it will per-
form in terms of noise cancellation.
1 Introduction
Transmission loss (TL) (more specifically in duct acous-
tics) is defined as the difference between the power in-
cident on a duct acoustic device (muffler) and that trans-
mitted downstream into an anechoic termination. Trans-
mission loss is independent of the source and presumes
(or requires) an anechoic termination at the downstream
end.[1]
Transmission loss does not involve the source impedance
and the radiation impedance inasmuch as it represents
the difference between incident acoustic energy and that
transmitted into an anechoic environment. Being made
independent of the terminations, TL finds favor with re-
searchers who are sometimes interested in finding the
acoustic transmission behavior of an element or a set of
elements in isolation of the terminations. But measure-
ment of the incident wave in a standing wave acoustic field
requires uses of impedance tube technology, may be quite
laborious, unless one makes use of the two-microphone
method with modern instrumentation.[1]
• LW i is the incident sound power in the inlet coming
towards muffler;
• LW o is the transmitted sound power going down-
stream in the outlet out of the muffler;
• Si , So stand for the cross-sectional area of the inlet
and outlet of muffler;
• pi+ is the acoustic pressure of the incident wave in
the inlet, towards muffler;
• po is the acoustic pressure of the transmitted wave
in the outlet, away from muffler.
• vi+ is the particle velocity of the incident wave in
the inlet, towards muffler;
• vo is the particle velocity of the transmitted wave in
the outlet, away from muffler.
Note that pi+ cannot be measured directly in isola-
tion from the reflected wave pressure pi− (in the inlet,
away from muffler). One has to resort to impedance
tube technology or two-microphone method with mod-
ern instrumentation.[1] However at the downstream side
of the muffler, po = po+ in view of the anechoic termi-
nation, which ensures po− = 0 .
And in most muffler applications, Si and So, the area of
the exhaust pipe and tail pipe, are generally made equal,
thus we have:

 
 pi+ 
2 Mathematical definition 
T L = 20 log10  
Transmission loss (duct acoustics) definition illustration.
By definition the TL on an acoustic component, for ex-
[1]
ample a muffler, is described as:
po 
Thus, TL equals 20 times the logarithm (to the base 10)
of the ratio of the acoustic pressure associated with the
incident wave (in the exhaust pipe) and that of the trans-
mitted wave (in the tail pipe), with the two pipes hav-
ing the same cross-sectional area and the tail pipe ter-
minating anechoically.[1] However this anechoic condi-
tion is normally difficult to meet under practical industry
environment, thus it is usually more convenient for the
muffler manufacturers to measure insertions loss during
their muffler performance tests under working conditions
(mounted on an engine).
Also, since the transmitted sound power cannot possibly
  exceed
 the incident
 sound power (or |pi+ | is always larger
 Si pi+ vi+ 2  than |p
S 2), it is known that TL will never be less than 0
op|i+
T L = LW i −LW o = 10 log10   = 10 log  
i
2 So po v0  10 
dB. So p2o 

1
2 4 A SIMPLE EXAMPLE

3 Transmission matrix description

Transmission loss (duct acoustics) definition illustration with

transmission matrix.

The low-frequency approximation implies that each sub-

system is an acoustic two-port (or four-pole system) with Result of transmission loss (duct acoustics) calculation - a simple
two (and only two) unknown parameters, the complex example (one chamber silencer). c=520m/s at 400°C; l=0.5m;
amplitudes of two interfering waves travelling in oppo- h=1/3.
site directions. Such a system can be described by its
transmission matrix (or four-pole matrix), as follows[2]

[ ] [ ][ ]
p̂i A B p̂o [ ] [ ]
= A B cos kl j Sρc2 sin kl
q̂i C D q̂o = S2
C D j ρc sin kl cos kl
where p̂i , p̂o , q̂i and q̂o are the sound pressures and vol-
ume velocities at the input and at the output. A, B, C and
D are complex numbers. With this representation it can Substitute to the equation of TL above, it can be seen that
be prove that the transmission loss (TL) of this subsystem the TL of this simple reactive silencer is
can be calculated as,
(  2 )
(  2 ) 1  S1 S2 
1  S ρc  T L = 10 log10 cos kl + j sin kl + j sin kl + cos kl
T L = 10 log10 A + B + C + D 4  S2 S1
4 ρc S ( )
( )2
where: 2 1 1 2
= 10 log10 cos kl + h+ sin kl
4 h
• S is inlet and outlet cross-sectional area; ( ( )2 )
1 1
• ρc are media density and sound velocity. = 10 log10 1 + h− 2
sin kl ,
4 h

where h is the ratio of the cross-sectional areas and l is

4 A simple example the length of the chamber. k = ω/c is the wave number
while c is the sound speed. Note that the transmission
loss is zero when l is a multiple of half a wavelength.
As a simple example, consider a one chamber silencer
with h=S1/S2=1/3, at around 400 °C the sound speed is
about 520 m/s, with l=0.5 m, one easily calculate the TL
result shown on the plot on the right. Note that the TL
c
equals zero when frequency is a multiple of 2l and TL
peaks when frequency is 4l + n ∗ 2l .
c c

Also note that the above calculation is only valid for

Transmission loss (duct acoustics) calculation - a simple example
(one chamber silencer).
Considering we have the most simplest reactive silencer
with only one expansion chamber (length l and cross-
sectional area S2), with inlet and outlet both having cross-
sectional area S1). As we know the transmission matrix
of a tube (in this case, the expansion chamber) is[2]
low-frequency range because at low-frequency range the
sound wave can be treated as a plane wave. The TL cal-
culation will start losing its accuracy when the frequency
goes above the cutoff frequency, which can be calculated
as fc = 1.84 πD c
,[1] where D is diameter of the largest
pipe in the structure. In the case above, if for example the
muffler body has a diameter of 300mm, then the cut-off
frequency is then 1.84*520/pi/0.3=1015 Hz.
 3

5 References
[1] Munjal, M.L. (1987). Acoustics of ducts and mufflers with
application to exhaust and ventilation system design. New
York: Wiley. pp. 58–60. ISBN 0471847380.

[2] Jacobsen, Finn (2000). Propagation of sound waves in

ducts - DTU. Technical University of Denmark. p. 68.
4 6 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

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