About Us
The Chesapeake Acoustic Research Institute, LLC (CARI, LLC) was established in 2007 by Dr. Peter D'Antonio to
provide the architectural acoustics community with continuing acoustical education, experimentation/proof-of-performance
testing and exploration of more effective room designs, with the ultimate goal of improving the acoustics of the built environment.
Dr. D'Antonio was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1941. He received his B.S. degree from St. John's University in 1963 and his Ph.D.
from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, in 1967.
In 1974, he developed a widely used design for modern recording studios at
Underground Sound, Largo, Maryland, utilizing a temporal reflection free zone and reflection phase grating diffusors. Dr. D'Antonio is
founder and president of RPG Diffusor Systems, Inc., established in 1983. Dr. D'Antonio pioneered the sound diffusion industry and has
significantly expanded the acoustical palette by creating and implementing a wide range of novel number-theoretic, fractal and optimized
diffusing and absorbing surfaces, for which he holds many trademarks and patents.
He has lectured extensively, published numerous
scientific articles in technical journals and magazines and is the co-author with Prof. Trevor J. Cox at Salford University, of the reference
book Acoustic Absorbers and Diffusers: Theory, Design and Application, Spon Press 2004, the 2nd Edition published by Taylor & Francis 2009 and
the 3rd Edition published by CRC Press 2016. He has also contributed several chapters to the Master Handbook of Acoustics, 6th Edition published
by McGraw Hill Professional 2015 and a book that reflects the life, work, and legacy of one of the greatest acousticians of the 20th century
entitled Acoustics, Information, and Communication: Memorial Volume in Honor of Manfred R. Schroeder, published by Springer and edited
by Ning Xiang and Gerhard M. Sessler (2015). He has served as adjunct professor of acoustics at the Cleveland Institute of Music, since 1991
and was inducted into the music industry's TECnology Hall of Fame in 2012. A complete list of Dr. D’Antonio’s publications can be found on
Google Scholar (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=cLEl85sAAAAJ&hl=en).
He served as Chairman of the AES Subcommittee on Acoustics Working Group SC-04-02, which published AES-4id-2001; is a member of
the ISO/TC 43/SC 2/WG25 Working Group, which published ISO standard 17497-1:2004; and has served as adjunct professor of acoustics at the
Cleveland Institute of Music, since 1991. He is a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America and the Audio Engineering Society and a
professional affiliate of the American Institute of Architects.
The mission is to expand acoustical knowledge through a collaboration and association of practicing acousticians, research and educational
institutions, mathematicians, material scientists and manufacturers.
The quantifiable use of sound absorbing surfaces was initiated by Sabine over 100 years ago and random and normal incidence absorption
coefficient testing standards have been enshrined by the ASTM 423C and ISO 354. Several laboratories offer testing services under the
NVLAP certification or not. The commercialization of sound diffusing surfaces occurred in 1983 by RPG® Diffusor Systems, Inc. and
hence the use of these surfaces is relatively new by comparison.
Over the past three decades Dr. D'Antonio has collaborated
with international acousticians in standards organizations to develop standards for measuring and characterizing sound scattering surfaces.
The method proposed by Dr. D'Antonio was accepted by the AES Standards committee SC-04-02 and published as an AES Information Document,
AES-4id-2001, JAES, Vol. 9(3), pp 148-165 (March 2001). This method is in the final stages of acceptance as ISO 17497-2. In addition to the
diffusion coefficient, Dr. D'Antonio has served on the of ISO/TC 43/SC 2 working group 25 to create the standard for the random incidence
scattering coefficient, which was published as ISO 17497-1 and is described below.