As the market continues to demand the latest audio technology—including home theaters, streaming audio, and smart speakers—users also demand higher sound quality.
Eastman offers durable and sustainable plastics that help preserve sound quality by improving audio performance.
Enhance audio performance in devices
- Reduce resonance of cabinets and enclosures that can degrade the listening experience.
- Improve active noise cancellation.
- Prevent feedback and feed-forward systems from going unstable by reducing housing resonance and interference.
Reduce load on digital signal processing (DSP)
- Reduce computational load by removing resonances, leading to longer battery life.
- Reduce computing power of PCB to mitigate cost.
- Increase efficiency of speaker/microphone systems by reducing echo.
- Allow higher SPL of speaker systems that incorporate microphones by reducing echo and reverberation.
Eastman Tritan™ copolyester and Eastman Trēva™ engineering bioplastics (cellulosics) also provide great aesthetics, durability, and other advantages to enhance the user experience.
Tritan
- Proven in wearables as well as portable and stationary devices
- Excellent impact strength and flex fatigue resistance
- Excellent chemical resistance (including body oils, hygienic cleaners, and cosmetics)
- Design flexibility offers—excellent secondary operations characteristics.
- Prop 65– compliant plastic
Trēva
- The first engineering bioplastic
- Cellulose- based from sustainably- harvested forests
- Reduced environmental impact
- Excellent chemical resistance
- Excellent flow characteristics are—ideal for complicated or thin-walled designs.
- Prop 65–compliant plastic
- Presents opportunities for differentiating products based on sustainability and environmental messaging
How do you compare plastics for audio devices?
Eastman is a leader in testing for vibration damping in appliances and other industries. We have applied this expertise to evaluate the impact of device housing materials on audio performance in four areas:
- Compare vibration damping and frequency response function.
- Compare cumulative spectral decay (CSD) in fully molded devices.
- Compare total harmonic distortion (THD) in these devices.
- Compare subjective responses from a panel of expert listeners.
Eastman presented the results of this testing in a white paper and recent webinar.