What is an acoustic camera?

An acoustic camera is a measurement system that combines a microphone array with beamforming algorithms to create a visual "sound map" — a heat map image showing where sound is coming from and how loud each source is. It overlays this acoustic map onto a real-time optical camera image, letting engineers instantly locate and prioritize noise sources.

How does an acoustic camera work?

An acoustic camera captures sound simultaneously from dozens or hundreds of microphones arranged in a specific pattern (the array). Signal processing algorithms — primarily beamforming — calculate time delays between each microphone's signal to determine the direction each sound is coming from. These directional measurements are combined into a spatial sound map displayed over a live video feed.

What is the difference between beamforming and acoustic holography?

Beamforming calculates sound source locations in the far field (typically >0.5m from the array) and works well for identifying dominant noise sources at distance. Acoustic holography (near-field acoustic holography, NAH) reconstructs the full sound field in the near field (<0.5m), providing higher spatial resolution and the ability to map sources on complex surfaces. Most modern acoustic cameras support both methods.