This paper describes an application of active control of sound diffrac
ted by a barrier. The basis of this application is the cancellation of
the sound pressure at the diffraction edge, which behaves like a virt
ual source to the diffracted field. Several points on the edge were ca
nceled simultaneously by several secondary sources to get a large atte
nuation over a wide area. While many factors appear to influence the e
ffectiveness of active control, the points of cancellation on the diff
raction edge and the arrangement of the secondary sources were studied
. The optimum conditions for control were investigated using numerical
simulation. These conditions were then confirmed experimentally using
multichannel adaptive signal processing. It was found that control is
stable and effective when the intervals of the points of cancellation
on the edge are shorter than half of the wavelength, and that attenua
tion is greatest when the secondary sources are nearest the primary so
urce.