Acoustic metamaterial in low-frequency underwater noise mitigation

Yijie Zhang · Acoustical Society of America (ASA) · 2025

A lightweight, 3-D-printed acoustic metamaterial is proposed and lab-tested to attenuate wide-band low-frequency underwater noise via sound insulation.

High AI ConfidenceStrong SourceLaboratory ResearchReadiness Unknown

Plain English summary

The abstract addresses underwater noise mitigation driven by offshore facility deployments and the need to protect marine ecosystems. It notes that conventional approaches (hydro-dampers, bubble curtains, and metal casting layers) struggle to suppress broadband low-frequency noise while remaining portable and cost-efficient. The authors propose a lightweight, easily manufactured acoustic metamaterial design intended to mitigate wide-band low-frequency underwater noise using a sound-insulation mechanism. They report lab-scale tests on a 3-D-printed structure. In those lab-scale tests, the structure shows noise attenuation of about 25 dB across more than three octaves, with a maximum reduction level around 60 dB.

Why this matters

The abstract claims a lightweight, easily manufactured metamaterial design specifically targeting wide-band low-frequency underwater noise mitigation using sound insulation. The abstract does not provide evidence of field deployment, manufacturing scale-up, cost analysis, or commercial adoption.

Key findings

  • Proposed a lightweight, easily manufactured acoustic metamaterial design for wide-band low-frequency underwater noise mitigation.
  • Uses a sound-insulation mechanism for noise control.
  • Lab-scale tests on a 3-D-printed structure show ~25 dB attenuation across more than three octaves.
  • Maximum reported reduction level is about 60 dB.

Limitations

The abstract provides lab-scale test results but does not specify real-world deployment, durability in marine conditions, bandwidth limits beyond the stated range, or comparisons against specific conventional methods.

Publication

Publisher
Acoustical Society of America (ASA)
Publication date
October 1, 2025
Research type
Paper

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Method note: Summaries and ratings on this page are generated by AI from the abstract only. Read the original paper for full context. · Model: gpt-5.4-nano-2026-03-17