TEXTILES.ORG
Step 1: Take inspiration from the technology in noise-canceling headphones. Step 2: Apply it to textiles. Step 3: Create acoustic silk that could become cubicle or thin wall panels that reduce noise in large spaces. That’s what’s been done by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
The fabric, which is about as thin as a human hair, contains a single strand of a fiber called a piezoelectric fiber actuator. The sound suppression works in two ways when voltage is applied to the actuator: It either vibrates the fabric to interfere with unwanted noise and cancel it out or forces the fabric to be held still to suppress the vibrations that transmit sound.
The latter method works in larger spaces, such as rooms or cars, because the sound waves don’t get through. They’re reflected, like a mirror reflects light. The interdisciplinary team of scientists worked with silk, muslin and canvas. Silk worked best, but depending on what frequencies need to be removed from a space, even the materials with larger pores could still be effective.
Silk significantly lowered the sound of noises 65 decibels or less in direct acoustic suppression mode (vibrating, conducting active noise cancellation). In vibration-mediated mode (preventing sound from being transmitted), it cut noise up to 75%.
The research was published in Advanced Materials in April 2024 and the authors include MIT scientists in partnership with colleagues at other institutions. It builds on previous MIT work on fabric microphones, albeit flipped. Future work will explore blocking multiple sound frequencies and variables involved in the architecture of the fabric.