Biograph: Xiaojun Qiu is a professor in Audio, Acoustics and Vibration at Center for Audio, Acoustics and Vibration in Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology Sydney. He received his Bachelor and Master degrees from Peking University in 1989 and 1992, and his PhD from Nanjing University in 1995, respectively, all majoring in Acoustics. He worked in the University of Adelaide as a Research Fellow in the field of active noise control from 1997 to 2002, worked in the Institute of Acoustics of Nanjing University as a professor on Acoustics and Signal processing from 2002 to 2013, and worked at RMIT University as a Professor of Design on Audio Engineering from 2013 to 2016. He joined University of Technology Sydney in 2016. Xiaojun Qiu’s main research areas include noise and vibration control, room acoustics, electro-acoustics and audio signal processing, particularly applications of active control technologies. He is a Fellow of Audio Engineering Society and a Fellow of International Institute of Acoustics and Vibration. He serves as an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Acoustics and Vibration and an Associate Technical Editor for the Journal of Audio Engineering Society. He has authored and co-authored 1 package of software, 3 books, 5 book chapters, 7 national standards and more than 400 academic papers. He has applied more than 90 invention patents, and more than 50 of them have been granted. He founded the center for Audio, Acoustics and vibration in Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology at University of Technology Sydney in 2016, which is one of the largest acoustics centres in Australia at present.

Title:Virtual Sound Barriers and their Applications

Abstract: Active control is a method of reducing existing noise by the introduction of controllable secondary sources to affect the radiation and transmission of the original primary noise source. It can provide better solutions to low frequency noise problems than the current passive noise control methods when there are weight, volume, or access constraints. A virtual sound barrier is an active noise control system that uses arrays of loudspeakers and microphones to create a practical size of quiet zone in a noise environment just like an acoustic barrier but without blocking air and light. This technology can be used to reduce sound radiation from noise sources or to reduce noise level around one or few person heads in noisy environments. This lecture introduces the history, principle and design methods of the virtual sound barriers first, and then describes recent progress in research on the systems, especially the applications of planar virtual sound barriers on power transformer noise radiation control from an enclosure and on traffic noise transmission control from outside into a room via an open window. This lecture is concluded by the limitations and future direction discussions of the virtual sound barriers.