Waveguide enabled externally ducted vehicle loudspeaker

A vehicle, comprising:

• a body panel including a partition that separates an interior space from an exterior space;
• an acoustic waveguide coupled to the body panel and defining an acoustic volume that acoustically couples the interior space to the exterior space via a gradually changing cross section, the acoustic waveguide dimensioned to have a fundamental resonant frequency of 100 Hz or greater and having a first opening that acoustically couples to a selected one of the interior space or the exterior space and an opposing opening configured to accommodate a loudspeaker acoustically coupled to the other of the interior space or the exterior space;
• and
• a loudspeaker coupled to the acoustic waveguide at the opposing opening, the loudspeaker being acoustically coupled to the acoustic waveguide at a first portion of a radiating surface and being acoustically coupled to the other of the interior space or the exterior space at a second portion of a radiating surface.

A loudspeaker assembly, comprising:

• an acoustic conduit having:
• a proximal opening configured to accommodate a loudspeaker and acoustically couple to a first radiating surface of the loudspeaker,
• a distal opening configured to acoustically couple to a region, and
• an interior volume forming a unitary acoustic volume between the proximal opening and the distal opening, configured to provide waveguide acoustic coupling between the loudspeaker and the region, the interior volume having a cross sectional profile between the proximal opening and the distal opening,
• the acoustic conduit dimensioned to have a fundamental resonant frequency greater than an operating band of the loudspeaker and further configured to be coupled to a vehicle such that the distal opening is acoustically coupled to a selected one of an exterior or an interior of the vehicle and the proximal opening is configured to position the loudspeaker such that a second radiating surface of the loudspeaker is acoustically coupled to the other of the exterior or the interior of the vehicle.