title: Investigations on the balloon as an impulse source.
abstract: Measurements of impulses produced by bursting balloons are presented. Various sizes of balloons were popped with a mechanical device in an anechoic chamber and recorded with a spherical microphone array. The power responses and directivity of the balloons are analyzed. Results indicate that power responses have two emphasized frequencies which depend on balloon size and inflation level. Larger balloons radiated more energy and higher inflation levels resulted in stronger high frequency content. Balloon directivity patterns are stable over repetitions. However, balloons do not radiate omnidirectionally. The degree of omnidirectionality improves with balloon size and for midrange frequencies.
authors.affiliation: Aalto University School of Science and Technology, Department of Media Technology, P.O. Box 15400, FI-00076 Aalto, Finland. jukka.patynen@tml.hut.fi
authors.forename: Jukka
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pätynen
authors.forename: Brian F G
authors.initials: BF
authors.lastname: Katz
authors.forename: Tapio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lokki
mesh_terms: D000162:Acoustics / Q000295:instrumentation; D004867:Equipment Design; D005160:Facility Design and Construction; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009038:Motion; D013016:Sound; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D013997:Time Factors; D014159:Transducers