Acoustic Black Holes ceiling for noise control on board cruise ships

Entertainment is one of the principal noise sources on board of cruise ships. To ensure high comfort standards in cabins located above public areas, ceilings made by mineral wool coupled to honeycomb panels are typically used as acoustic insulation. Engineers are searching for new solutions to substitute the traditional system, as the mineral wool presents health concerns. Acoustic metamaterials are among the candidates as new products in this field. This paper aims to verify the feasibility of an innovative ceiling design with enhanced Acoustic Black Holes (ABHs). The proposed solution is compared with the traditional ones, using the Sound Reduction (R) as Key Performance Index (KPI). Traditional solutions are experimentally tested, and the data are used to assess an acoustic Finite Element Method (FEM) model, which is then used to simulate the acoustic properties of the proposed ceiling.