Multi-functional active noise control system on headrest of airplane seat

This work describes a multi-functional active noise control (ANC) system installation in an airplane seat. Most researchers in the field have focused on systems that cancel narrowband noise on headrests owing to the causality constraint of ANC system. Therefore, ANC systems in seats have limited performance. In this paper, an ANC system is designed for an airplane seat and the electronic delay of the ANC system is reduced to meet the causality requirement of a feedforward ANC system. An infrared sensor is used to detect the head of the occupant of the seat, so the ANC system can automatically cause the quiet zone to surround the ears of users with various sitting postures. Multiple noise sources and the automatic activation function of the ANC system are discussed. Experimental results show that the proposed ANC system for an airplane seat effectively reduces recorded airplane noise without the need for earplugs or an ANC headset.