Anechoic chamber
Our anechoic chamber is one of the largest in the UK. It is lined on all sides with acoustic wedges that absorb sound, creating an echo-free environment. Its ultra-low noise level makes it perfect for detailed acoustic measurements.
Reverberant chambers
Unlike the anechoic chamber, our reverberant chambers have hard, non-parallel surfaces that reflect sound many times. This creates a non-directional, ‘diffuse’ sound field. We use the reverberant chambers for certain types of acoustic testing, for example measuring the sound absorption of materials.
Product development lab
With hard flooring and sound-absorbing materials lining the walls and ceiling, the product development lab is a large, semi-anechoic acoustic environment, suitable for repeatable testing. It is ideal for the testing and development of products ranging from industrial machinery and vehicle components to domestic appliances and consumer electronics.
Other facilities
Our University links give us access to related test facilities, such as the RJ Mitchell wind tunnel (pictured), heavy structures laboratories, a long-stroke six-axis motion simulator and the Southampton University Driving Simulator (SUDS).
Equipment
We use high-precision instrumentation, including laboratory-standard microphones and accelerometers. Our systems can record measurements from many such devices simultaneously. Our equipment includes instrumentation from industry standard suppliers such as Brüel & Kjær, GRAS, PCB Piezotronics, National Instruments, Rion, Norsonic, Genelec and Prism Sound.
To ensure the integrity of these measurements, all our equipment is subject to rigorous maintenance and calibration procedures.
