A system which is composed of a membrane and an air cavity is studied. To analyze the low frequency characteristics of a single membrane-cavity system, a plane wave model is derived. The relations among system variables, such as tension, density and stiffness, are investigated. Absorption coefficient has a maximum value at a peak frequency. In addition, a membrane-cavity system absorbs the low frequency noise with a band around peak frequency. This band is primarily determined by damping effect of the system. Furthermore, a multiple membrane-cavity system is investigated by using the transfer matrix method. To show the practical applicability of the proposed model, extensive experiments were conducted. Results show that a multiple membrane-cavity system can have broader noise reduction in the low frequency range than single.