Startup company uses technology developed at WSU to help automakers identify noise sources.

SenSound LLC, a start-up company based on technology developed at Wayne State University, hopes to help automakers quiet their rides by allowing engineers to "see" sound. The company uses a patented combination of computer algorithms and an array of microphones and other hardware to produce something called near-field acoustic holography, which allows engineers to see sound in 3D space and real time. The technology helps vehicle engineers identify sound sources in various vehicle parts, such as the instrument panel, and use that information to modify designs to eliminate unwanted noise.

Consumers are demanding quieter vehicles and much innovation in the auto industry is aimed at vehicle interiors, which have become one of the last places automakers can distinguish their vehicles from rivals' models. President and CEO Sergio Mazza said SenSound will generate revenue by selling software, offering testing services and selling turn-key systems that include software and hardware.

Last year, all the company's revenues came from selling testing services, but SenSound started selling systems this year as well. Mazza declined to provide revenue figures. "There is a huge need for this technology," says Mazza, who admits it may be a tough sell to the U.S. auto industry, with intense competition from foreign rivals claiming a bigger share of car and truck sales and squeezing profits for automakers and parts suppliers. "The auto companies have armies of people looking at noise issues . . . The technology people have embraced the technology. But getting management to release money is a challenge." Mazza hopes new quietness standards in Europe for off-road machinery beginning in 2006 will translate into sales and profits for the company.

Andrew DeWolfe is a product development engineer with Cadillac Products of Troy, which makes interior automotive trim and injection-molded parts, including door liners intended to keep water, air, dust and sound from a vehicle's interior. DeWolfe's duties include finding new acoustic and sealing products for his customers. He first worked with SenSound founder Sean Wu on test projects when the technology was still a research project at Wayne State and had not been incorporated into a spin-off company. "The technology not only gave us the accumulated amount of sound that came through our [watershield] and the whole door assembly but showed us where the largest amount of sound was coming from," DeWolfe said. "Using this information, a part could be designed by increasing acoustic material in key areas, which hopefully would increase performance and/or lower cost."

Read More >Detroit News