Patent 8157052 was granted and assigned to Yamaha (yacht) on April, 2012 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
In an acoustic structure, sound absorbing effect is achieved by interference between incident waves falling in an opening portion and reflected waves radiated from the opening as a result of resonance occurring within a hollow member in response to the incident waves, and a sound absorbing region is formed, for example, in a frontal direction of the opening portion. Sound scattering effect is achieved through interaction between the above-mentioned interference and interference between the incident waves and sound waves radiated from the opening portion, and a sound scattering region is formed, for example, near the sound absorbing region. A sound scattering effect is achieved by flows of gas molecules being produced in an oblique direction, not normal to the opening portion and reflective surface, due to a phase difference between the sound waves radiated from the opening portion and the sound waves radiated from the reflective surface.