Acoustic seminar | 18 September 2025

The Helmholtz resonator is one of acoustics’ most enduring models: a simple cavity with a neck that acts like a mass–spring oscillator. It shapes the sound of musical instruments, absorbs unwanted noise, and underlies silencers and filters. Yet this familiar system continues to evolve. Modern research employs Helmholtz resonators in metamaterials and energy-harvesting devices, where flexible boundaries such as membranes create new, tunable resonances. A recent study (Applied Acoustics, 2024) introduced a refined model that predicts not only the fundamental but also higher-order modes of these membrane–cavity systems, offering a unified framework for their behavior. This talk traces the journey of the Helmholtz resonator from classical acoustics to advanced materials, showing how a simple idea remains a source of innovation.