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In most industrial settings, machinery generally does not fail without prior warning; however, many of these warning signs cannot be seen with the naked eye and often go unnoticed until after a very costly machinery breakdown occurs. Acoustic Testing is changing the way that maintenance is done in modern times by using sophisticated acoustic imaging and ultrasonic inspection to assist in identifying compressed air leaks, electrical discharge problems, bearing failure, vacuum leaks, and mechanical irregularities long before leading to equipment breakdowns. With traditional inspection methods typically requiring extensive troubleshooting, using Acoustic Testing gives maintenance engineers the ability to see sound waves visually and locate the exact location of the problem quickly and accurately.

In addition to maintenance benefits, identifying faults proactively can save organizations money from unscheduled downtime; provide greater energy efficiency; create an overall safer working environment; and reduce overall operational cost. For businesses operating in industries where every production minute counts, proactive monitoring will generate a significant amount of long-term cost savings.

As organizations around the world begin to adopt predictive maintenance and Industry 4.0 technologies, Acoustic Testing is becoming one of the most important resources for reliability engineers and asset management teams alike.

The direction of maintenance is changing dramatically as these organizations not only repair broken products but attempt to identify problems prior to their occurrence.

Find out more information regarding online Acoustic Testing, Ultrasonic Inspections, and Predictive Maintenance Solutions by visiting the AcousticTestingPro.com website.

**Developer Differences**. Developers often do not have the ability to test their products in the same environment where the user will be using their product. This is an issue if a developer wishes to provide users with a consistent experience with their products , as each of the devices will have different effects on the acoustics of the device and may create very different outcomes with regard to the quality of the acoustics produced by the product.

*Goals/or Objectives**. Developers do not have a clear understanding of what they wish to create with their product. Therefore it can be difficult to determine if their product has been successful. Developers should actively seek to identify their goals before creating an acoustic comparison between a product and the product they are designing , and measure the goals before creating a product to achieve those goals.

ignoring the signal-to-noise ratio: a microphone that works perfectly in silence will pick up every sound from the heating and cooling system, the sound of someone typing on their keyboard, the noise of the TV in your neighbor’s house when you are in an actual home. When determining what level of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) that you need to hit, please factor in ambient noise in your target area where you will be using your microphones, not just your test area.

skipping the human ear: while using objective measurements can reveal a lot about performance, there are still limitations. Even though a frequency response measurement may display a flat response on the graph; when played through particular hardware and/or under particular conditions, it may come across as harsh or muddy in perception. You cannot skip listener evaluations — this is where you will determine the real quality of the product(s).

 A practical way to test:

1. identify the use: where will this audio actually be heard? Voice-based products in a kitchen environment will have very different acoustical challenges than an audio communications system in an office with glass walls.

2. establish your acceptance thresholds: before you begin making measurements, define the maximum amount of ambient noise you will allow at your listening position, acceptable sound pressure level (SPL) ranges and desired reverberation time (RT60). These numbers are derived from the application, not just from the measurements.

3. perform objective testing with calibrated equipment: the use of free software such as REW (Room EQ Wizard) can provide you with a simple solution for collecting data on a room and/or speaker; ‘sci-py’, a module of Python, is available for more advanced applications; and professional audio tools such as ‘Smaart’ and ‘SpectraFoo’ are also available to provide you with more precise and controlled measurements.

Before beginning your measuring process, create your acceptance limits. Determine your maximum acceptable noise floor, your SPL range, and the target RT60. All of these limits should be derived from your own use case and not the results of the measuring process.

Perform objective measurements utilizing calibrated measurement devices. Some good free tools are Room EQ Wizard (REW) for room and speaker analysis, and using Python’s scipy signal will help create custom processing. For professionals, audio measuring programs like Smaart or SpectraFoo offer on-site real-time audio analysis.

Conduct subjective testing using actual subjects in their normal environments to discover what the meters were not able to reveal.

Go through the iteration process. Change EQ curves, utilize acoustic treatment, change signal processing code, and then retest until both the measurements and the observers agree.

 ## Why Development Teams Should Care

The audio quality of a product is a product quality concern and not a hardware concern. The code that controls audio processing, how compression takes place, buffering, and timing of playback all contribute to the final sound of the product.

Acoustic testing gives development teams an objective and measurable opportunity to catch audio problems prior to users detecting them. Users will notice.

If you are developing a product that has sound, test it. It’s that simple.

There are usually signs of impending industrial machine failure prior to a breakdown, and machines often emit relatively low-level sound or vibration emissions prior to a machine failure occurring.

By utilizing acoustic testing and analysis, maintenance teams can detect:

Air leaks;

Bearing defects;

Electrical discharges;

Steam trap failures;

Mechanical wear.

Detecting potential problems at an early stage not only allows companies to minimize downtime, but also increases employee safety and lowers maintenance costs.

The future of predictive maintenance is more than just visualizing problems; it is also about hearing the impending failure of a machine before it becomes a critical event.

Learn more about industrial reliability at AcousticTestingPro.com.

Industrial companies lose millions of dollars each year because of mechanical breakdowns, air leaks, and other unplanned downtime from equipment failure. Although traditional inspection methods will always have some value, more and more maintenance teams are turning to acoustic imaging technology to help them find and fix problems before they become costly repairs.

Acoustic imaging detects ultrasound sound waves caused by mechanical problems, such as air leaks, electrical discharges, bearing defects, and mechanical wear. Many of the sounds created by these defects are outside the range of normal hearing for humans (even at very noisy manufacturing plants).

Because of the speed of acoustic imaging, maintenance personnel can scan very large areas and instantly visualize sound sources, allowing them to accurately find the source of the problem, and then prioritize repairs based on how severe the defect is.

With regard to compressed air systems, when compressed air is vented out through even a small leak, it will greatly increase the amount of energy being consumed. With acoustic imaging, organizations can quickly locate and measure these leaks, which ultimately helps reduce wasted energy and their operating expenses. Predictive maintenance programs can also be improved with the use of acoustic imaging to identify mechanical problems early, before they result in unanticipated downtime.

In industrial sectors utilizing a service- or preventive-focused method of inspecting their equipment, use of high-performance, proactive technologies like Acoustic Imaging have become vital components to provide companies with improved reliability, safety and efficiency. Often, through investment in progressive inspection methods, many companies are able to significantly reduce their level of downtime, decrease the costs associated with maintenance, and create better-performing assets.

At Acoustic Testing Pro, we feel that the future of industrial maintenance is going to be centered on the early detection of problems and the ability to make informed decisions. By using advanced Acoustic Testing solutions for evaluating assets and machinery, industries should be able to transition from a reactive maintenance approach to a more predictive and cost-effective solution.

What do you envision will be the use of Acoustic Imaging in the next generation of smart factories?

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