The purpose of this study was to analyze the vibro-acoustic characteristics of a stiffened rectangular plate at high frequencies. The stiffeners attached along the plate surface were assumed to have rotational and translational stiffness and inertia. The harmonic response of the stiffened plate were predicted and compared using the Rayleigh-Ritz method with two different trial functions - polynomial and beam functions. The variation of the spatially averaged mean square velocity and the modal characteristics with the number of stiffeners were obtained. The use of the beam function ensured fast convergence which was essential for analyzing the high frequency vibration responses. Using the calculated modal characteristics and the Rayleigh-integral, the radiated sound power was predicted, and the effects of stiffeners were investigated. The proposed model can be applied to study optimal layout of stiffeners for minimal noise generation of the stiffened structures.