ABSTRACT There are several methods to capture and visualize the acoustic properties in the vicinity of an object. This article considers scanning PU probe based sound intensity and particle velocity measurements which capture both sound pressure and acoustic particle velocity. The properties of the sound field are determined and visualized using the following routine: while the probe is moved slowly over the surface, the pressure and velocity are recorded and a video image is captured at the same time. Next, the data is processed. At each time interval, the video image is used to determine the location of the sensor. Then a color plot is generated. This method is called the Scan and Paint method. Since only one probe is used to measure the sound field the spatial phase information is lost. It is also impossible to find out if sources are correlated or not. This information is necessary to determine the sound pressure some distance from the source, at the driver's ear for example. In this paper, the method of Scan and Paint is enhanced in such way that it is possible to handle partial correlated sources. The key of the novel method is having a pressure microphone at the listener position which is used as a reference sensor. With all this data, it is possible to derive the spatial phase of the sources measured relative to the listening position. INTRODUCTION Novel scanning methods have been recently introduced to accurately map stationary sound fields in an efficient way [ 1, 2, 3, 4]. In the previous literature, sound pressure, particle velocity, intensity, sound absorption or acoustic impedance have been measured with a new scanning method developed by Microflown Technologies called “Scan & Paint” [ 2, 3]. The properties of the sound field are determined and visualized via the following routine: while the probe is moved slowly over the surface, pressure and velocity are recorded and, at the same time, a video image is captured. Next, all data is processed. At each time interval, the video image is used to determine the location of the sensor. Then, a color plot is generated. Nonetheless, phase information has not been taken into account so far, only magnitudes of each measurable quantity have been characterized. Measuring this quantity implies a huge improvement for transfer path analysis problems, where the contribution of multiple correlated sources to a given position strongly depends on the phase characteristics of each one of them. This paper introduces the measurement procedure and the implemented calculations so as to preserve the phase information of the sound field. Lab results are presented to validate the method experimentally. In addition, the method demonstrated in a car interior, giving accurate results. THEORY Current scanning methods have two main disadvantages: they are only able to characterise time stationary sound fields; and, they do not usually preserve phase information. The first disadvantage is an implicit feature of any scanning method due to the fact that different areas of a virtual plane scanned are not measured simultaneously. Nonetheless, relative phase of the sound field can be measured by using a microphone reference [ 4]. This information is necessary for transfer path problems. Hence, not only the theoretical considerations of A Scanning Method for Source Visualization and Transfer Path Analysis Using a Single Probe 2011-01-1664 Published 05/17/2011 Daniel Fernández Comesaña, Jelmer Wind and Hans-Elias de Bree Microflown Technologies BV Copyright © 2011 SAE International doi: 10.4271/2011-01-1664