What Does
Anechoic Chamber Mean?
An anechoic (which means non-reflective, non-echoing, or echo-free) chamber is a room that is designed to completely absorb reflections of sound or electromagnetic waves.
Anechoic chambers are enclosed by an external metallic shielding, which provides isolation from the outside environment. Used to conduct experiments, this electromagnetically-quiet room is constructed with echo suppression features and with effective isolation from the acoustic or RF noises that are present in the external environment. This combination allows workers to exclusively hear direct sounds (no reverberant sounds), simulating being inside an infinitely large room. This ensures the integrity of the experiment carried out inside as it is not influenced by external or internal reflected noise.
Safeopedia Explains Anechoic Chamber
An anechoic chamber is a closed room whose design blocks out outside sound or electromagnetic energy. Originally used to absorb acoustic (sound) echoes caused by internal reflections of a room, anechoic chambers have since expanded their uses to provide a shielded environment for radio frequency (RF) and microwaves.
Personnel are not normally permitted inside the chamber during measurements, in part because they could interfere with the transmission and in part because they could be exposed to RF radiation.
Potential health and safety risks associated with RF anechoic chambers are:
- RF radiation hazard
- Fire hazard
- Trapped personnel
Depending on the frequency range being tested or the size of the objects used in experiments, anechoic chambers can range in size from as large as an airplane hangar to as small as a microwave oven.