US Patent 9765516 Acoustically absorbing room divider

A room divider (100) for dividing a room into two sub-portions (R1, R2) and for attenuating sound (S1, S2) travelling between the two sub-portions is provided. The room divider comprises hollow cylindrical elements (110) arranged periodically for dividing the room into the two sub-portions. At least some of the hollow cylindrical elements have a cylindrical shell (111) with at least one slit (112) extending in an axial direction (120) of the shell. The shell extends continuously along the perimeter of the corresponding hollow cylindrical element from one side (113) of the at least one slit to another side (114) of the at least one slit. Each of the at least one slit faces in a local elongation direction (130) of the room divider for increasing acoustic symmetry with respect to the two sub-portions. The use of destructive interference and resonance to attenuate sound allows for a less bulky/heavy acoustically absorbing room divider.