[robmiller]

Yes, this is in reference to noise passing through a door that is localizable. Typically we would play pink noise (broadband, equal energy per octave band) on one side and listen for "hotspots" on the quiet side. I would wonder about the precision of being able to tell in the image the contribution of the door frame from the perimeter gasketing.

Acoustic cameras like from Noiseless Acoustics are on the market though they seem to be marketed to industrial customers. There are similar mapping systems using a scanning mic like from Soft dB.

[loxias]

Ah! In that case yeah, this tech could possibly help. At least, I'd love to give it a shot! (I hope you don't mind an email from me later...)

It's sensitive enough to noise that I can pick up (and locate) the air vents in a room, even when the sound is at the threshold of hearing. Noise (pink and white), and even more so MLS (maximum length sequence) really "jumps out" (it's very obvious), well below my threshold of hearing.

There's so many interesting areas of research I've never had the time/money to fully investigate. I'd love to play with an "active" system, not just "passive", with a goal of experimentally finding modes of resonance of objects in a room.

I bet once can tell the relative contribution to noise of one physical object over another, but I don't know enough about construction to know if one would be able to separate the door frame from the perimeter gasketing. You do need line of sight for it to work. At the least, you'd have a way to quantify the sound leak, with numbers and reproducibility.

FWIW the Noiseless Acoustics camera costs ~$18k(!)