Theory and technique of violin radiativity measurements
Gabriel Weinreich · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1982
The radiativity parameters comprise a quantitative specification of the sound field produced by a violin per unit force amplitude applied to the bridge by the vibrating string. A careful theoretical definition of these quantities makes possible absolute physical measurements that can be related to details of the violin's mechanical structure. Guided by such a definition, we have built a system that can make precise radiativity measurements over a large frequency range in a matter of minutes. The violin is mounted in a small nonreverberant chamber and is excited acoustically by a specially designed broadband signal digitally generated by a computer in real time. The same computer simultaneously samples the response of the violin and of some calibrating microphones. The amplitudes and phases of the corresponding spectral functions are then computed. A number of applications will be discussed. [Work supported by NSF.]