A modified convolution model for calculating the far field directivity of a parametric array loudspeaker

Abstract

The far field directivity is a straightforward indicator to describe the radiation pattern of the audio sound generated by a parametric array loudspeaker (pal), but its accurate and computationally efficient prediction is still challenging at present. This paper derives two-dimensional (2D), three-dimensional (3D), and 3D axisymmetric convolution models for calculating the far field directivity based on the quasilinear solution of Westervelt equation. The obtained expressions are expressed as linear and spherical convolutions of the ultrasound directivity and Westervelt directivity for 2D and 3D models, respectively. To improve prediction accuracy, the obtained expression is multiplied by an effective directivity resulted from the aperture factor of audio sound. The calculated directivities are compared against the exact solution obtained using the cylindrical and spherical wave expansions for 2D and 3D models, respectively. Numerical results with piston, apodized, and steerable profiles in both 2D and 3D models show that the proposed modified convolution model agrees well with the exact solution. It is also found that sidelobes appear in the audio sound directivity at large aperture sizes and high audio frequencies due to the aperture factor of audio sound, which can be predicted with the proposed method with a relatively low computational expenditure.