What is "acoustic impedance"

n. opposition to the flow of sound through a surface; acoustic resistance is the real component of acoustic impedance and acoustic reactance is the imaginary component [syn: acoustic resistance, acoustic reactance]

Acoustic impedance and specific acoustic impedance are measures of the opposition that a system presents to the acoustic flow resulting of an acoustic pressure applied to the system. The SI unit of acoustic impedance is the pascal second per cubic metre or the rayl per square metre , while that of specific acoustic impedance is the pascal second per metre or the rayl. In this article the symbol rayl denotes the MKS rayl. There is a close analogy with electrical impedance, which measures the opposition that a system presents to the electrical flow resulting of an electrical voltage applied to the system.