Optimizing Acoustic Performance

Today's customers expect high-quality sound in your product regardless of the environments in which they use the device. Even with the use of waterproof transducers, maintaining high-quality acoustic performance requires vents for two purposes:

• protection without compromising sound quality
• releasing pressure from devices and preventing a bias on waterproof acoustic transducers

Degraded Sound Quality

Although waterproof transducers can prevent water from entering sensitive sections of devices, they can still allow water and particulates onto and around the transducer surface. If covered with a highly porous material, the electronics inside the housing may be exposed to damage from contaminants. If these transducers are covered with a non-porous material, pressure can build on the transducer diaphragm. This pressure buildup reduces the transducer’s ability to vibrate and reproduce sound waves accurately. GORE® Acoustic Vents provide the best combination of pressure equalization and protection, enabling transducers to vibrate freely.

GORE® Pressure Vents increase product life by equalizing pressure. Play the Video Play the Video

Balloon Demonstration

GORE^® Pressure Vents increase product life by equalizing pressure.

Transducer Bias

In portable electronics that use waterproof transducers, internal pressure changes can affect a sealed device’s performance. Pressure differentials occur primarily because of one of two environmental changes: rapid temperature changes such as when the device is taken from a warm car into cold weather outside, or air pressure changes such as during take-off or landing of an aircraft. As pressure builds in an acoustic cavity or chamber, it creates a bias on compliant surfaces of the transducer, such as speaker and/or receiver diaphragms. This effect can reduce acoustic output and eventually damage the transducer. Incorporating a vent in the housing enables pressure differentials to be equalized. The unique materials used in GORE® Pressure Vents allow air to flow freely through the vent, equalizing pressure within the housing and eliminating transducer bias.