Need for international standards to evaluate airborne ultrasound emitted by high-intensity ultrasonic equipment

Abstract

Airborne ultrasound applications have been around for several decades and are still being actively developed. The applications developed in recent years include parametric speakers and airborne ultrasound haptic devices, which are becoming more familiar in our daily lives. One of the characteristics of the recently developed applications is that the sound pressure of emitted airborne ultrasound is extremely large. Although airborne ultrasound cannot be perceived as auditory sensation, it is known that high-intensity airborne ultrasound is hazardous to us. To assess the safety of airborne ultrasound and to evaluate the acoustic performance of airborne ultrasound applications, quantitative measurement is essential, however, the measurement procedures for airborne ultrasound have not been clear yet, and some matters are emerging. This paper describes the need to standardize the measurement procedures for airborne ultrasound emitted from airborne ultrasound applications. It also presents the current matters that need to be resolved in the standardization.