Across Acoustics

This episode, we talk to a few of the latest round of POMA Student Paper Competition winners from the 186th ASA Meeting in Ottawa about their exciting research endeavors: - Using a small-scale ship-like structure to test noise mitigation techniques for shipping noise - Modeling spatial coherence in underwater sonar - Understanding the noise created by rotorcraft Make sure to keep an ear out for our next episode, which will include interviews with the remaining two winners! Associated papers: - Marc-André Guy, Kamal Kesour, Olivier Robin, Stéphane Gagnon, Julien St-Jacques, Mathis Vulliez, Raphael Tremblay, Jean-Christophe Gauthier Marquis. "Effectiveness of standard mitigation technologies at reducing ships’ machinery noise using a small-scale ship-like structure." Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 54, 070001 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001912 - Kyle S. Dalton, Thomas E. Blanford, Daniel C. Brown. “Bistatic spatial coherence for micronavigation of a downward-looking synthetic aperture sonar.” Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 54, 070002 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001924. - Ze Feng Gan, Vitor Tumelero Valente, Kenneth Steven Brentner, Eric Greenwood. “Time-varying broadband noise of multirotor aircraft.” Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 54, 040006 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001946. Learn more about entering the POMA Student Paper Competition for the Fall 2024 virtual meeting. Read more from Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics (POMA). Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=1022

Current touchscreen technology has its limitations. In this episode, we talk with Jérémy Moriot (Université de Sherbrooke) about his team's development of an ultrasound-based system that not only can work with various types of surfaces, but can also detect multiple touches at the same time. Associated paper: Maxime Bilodeau, Jérémy Moriot, Joëlle Fréchette-Viens Raphaël Bouchard, Philippe Boulais, Nicolas Quaegebeur, and Patrice Masson. "Embedded real-time ultrasound-based multi-touch system." JASA Express Letters 4, 082802 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0028323. Read more from JASA Express Letters. Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications Music: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.

When pulsed active sonar was found to cause mass strandings of whales, researchers turned to the quieter continuous active sonar for underwater monitoring. In this episode, Brian K. Branstetter (Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Pacific) shares his work to find out how this sonar affects killer whales. Associated paper: Brian K. Branstetter, Michael Felice, Todd Robeck, Marla M. Holt, and E. Elizabeth Henderson. "Masking in continuous sonar noise." J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 156 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0025855. Read more from The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA). Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.

We know noisy classrooms and learning environments can negatively impact students and teachers. However, these problems can be compounded for those with autism. We talk to Carmen Rosas-Pérez (Heriot-Watt University) about her research to better understand the experiences of autistic people in daily life acoustic environments. Associated paper: Carmen Rosas-Pérez, Laurent Galbrun, Mary E. Stewart, and Sarah R. Payne. "How can anyone learn or teach? Experiences of autistic people with sound in schools and universities," Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 51, 015001 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001741. Read more from Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics (POMA). Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=1022

Because cardiovascular disease is the world's leading cause of death, researchers have been looking for ways to diagnose it early. Low-frequency sounds have been used to assess the elasticity of blood vessels, but until now, the elastic waves being studied were too fast to get precise measurements. Sibylle Gregoire (INSERM) discusses how here team has been able to image a different type of elastic wave, opening up the possibility to more precise assessments and diagnosis of cardiovascular disease in the future. Associated paper: Sibylle Gregoire, Gabrielle Laloy-Borgna, Johannes Aichele, Fabrice Lemoult, and Stefan Catheline. "Flexural pulse wave velocity in blood vessels." J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 155, 2948–2958 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0025855. Read more from The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA). Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.

We have yet to fully understand the wind on Mars, even though it transfers heat, momentum, and molecules from the surface. Traditionally, heat loss and motion detectors have been used to measure wind speeds. Robert D. White (Tufts University) discusses his team's work on ultrasound transducers that may offer a more precise way to measure turbulent eddies on the Red Planet. Associated paper: Robert D. White, Rishabh Chaudhary, Zijia Zhao, Luisa Chiesa, Ian Neeson, and Don Banfield. "Modeling and characterization of gas coupled ultrasonic transducers at low pressures and temperatures and implications for sonic anemometry on Mars." J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 156, 968- 988 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0028008. Read more from The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA). Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.

In this episode, we dive into the world of acousto-optics, where light is used to visualize and measure sound-- particularly acoustic phenomena that are difficult to observe. Samuel Verburg (Technical University of Denmark) and Kenji Ishikawa (NTT Communication) share the history of this field of research, as well as discuss modern day applications and potential uses for acousto-optic sensing in the future. Read the associated article: Samuel A. Verburg, Kenji Ishikawa, Efren Fernandez-Grande, and Yasuhiro Oikawa. (2023) “A Century of Acousto-Optics: From Early Discoveries to Modern Sensing of Sound with Light,” Acoustics Today 19(3). https://doi.org/10.1121/AT.2023.19.3.54 Read more from Acoustics Today. Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Intro/Outro Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.

This episode highlights three recent articles from the field of musical acoustics. First, we talk to Elvira Brattico (Aarhus University) about her research into what causes a person to experience music as noise. Next, Stefan Weinzierl (Technical University of Berlin) discusses how a musician's movement during a performance will impact the notes listeners hear. Finally, Pablo Miranda Valiente (University of Southampton) discusses his work to develop a model that shows the impact a piano soundboard has on the note played. Associated papers: - Giulio Carraturo, Marina Kliuchko, and Elvira Brattico. "Loud and unwanted: Individual differences in the tolerance for exposure to music." J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 155, 3274–3282 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0025924. - David Ackermann, Fabian Brinkmann, and Stefan Weinzierl. "Musical instruments as dynamic sound sources." J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 155, 2302–2313 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0025463. - Pablo Miranda Valiente, Giacomo Squicciarini, and David J. Thompson. "Influence of soundboard modelling approaches on piano string vibration." J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 155, 3213–3232 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0025925. Read more from The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA). Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.

Most people have encountered speech recognition software in their day-to-day lives, whether through personal digital assistants, auto transcription, or other such modern marvels. As the technology advances, though, it still fails to understand speakers of African American English (AAE). In this episode, we talk to Michelle Cohn (Google Research and University of California Davis) and Zion Mengesha (Google Research and Stanford University) about their research into why these problems with speech recognition software seem to persist and what can be done to make sure more voices are understood by the technology. Associated paper: Michelle Cohn, Zion Mengesha, Michal Lahav, and Courtney Heldreth. "African American English speakers’ pitch variation and rate adjustments for imagined technological and human addressees." JASA Express Letters 4, 047601 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0025484. Read more from JASA Express Letters. Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications Music: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.

This episode, we talk to a new round of POMA Student Paper Competition winners from the 185th ASA Meeting in Sydney about their exciting research endeavors: - An analysis of how drums convey emotion - A method to assess stress caused by vibration in acoustic black holes - An improved estimator for background noise in underwater signals - A model to help remove distortion from the sound fields of parametric array loudspeakers - A numerical study of a little-understood phenomenon in bowed-string instruments Associated papers: Zeyu Huang, Wenyi Song, Xiaojuan Ma, and Andrew Brian Horner. "The emotional characteristics of bass drums, snare drums, and disengaged snare drums with different strokes and dynamics." Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 52, 035005 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001834 Archie Keys and Jordan Cheer. "Experimental measurements of stress in an Acoustic Black Hole using a laser doppler vibrometer." Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 52, 065003 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001829 David Campos Anchieta and John R. Buck. "Robust power spectral density estimation via a performance-weighted blend of order statistics." Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 52, 055006 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001849 Wenyao Ma, Jun Yang, and Yunxi Zhu. "Identification of the parametric array loudspeaker system using differential Volterra filter." Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 52, 055005 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001850 Shodai Tanaka, Hiroshi Kori, and Ayumi Ozawa. "A mathematical study about the sustaining phenomenon of overtone in flageolet harmonics on bowed string instruments." Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 52, 035006 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001835 Read more from Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics (POMA). Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=1022

The tiny microphones used inside hearing aids can be very sensitive to vibration of the device, resulting in annoying feedback. Testing how sensitive these microphones are to vibration has been a problem that plagued engineers. In this episode, we talk to Charles King and Chris Monti of Knowles Electronics about their innovation to measure microphone vibration sensitivity. Associated paper: Charles B. King and Chris Monti, "Microphone vibration sensitivity: What it is, why it is important, and how to measure it," Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 50, 065001 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001702 Read more from Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics (POMA). Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=1022

Speech Science courses are a key component to the curriculum within a variety of disciplines, but coursework is frequently lacking in terms of representation of those from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. In this episode, we talk to Melissa Baese-Berk (University of Chicago) and Paul Reed (University of Alabama), about why it's so important for instructors to use a variety of voices in the classroom, and how to talk about other ways of speaking when one feels ill-equipped to do so. Associated paper: Melissa Baese-Berk and Paul E. Reed. "Addressing diversity in speech science courses." J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 154, 918–925 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0020613. Read more from The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA). Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.

In the aftermath of World War II, New York City wanted to built a new home for its orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and secure its place a cultural center of the world. In this episode, we talk to the Paul H. Scarbrough (Akustiks, LLC) about where these plans went awry and the multiple renovations over many decades to fix the hall. Read the associated article: Paul H. Scarbrough. (2023) “David Geffen Hall and the Evolution of Acoustics at Lincoln Center,” Acoustics Today 19(4). https://doi.org/10.1121/AT.2023.19.4.41 Read more from Acoustics Today. Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Intro/Outro Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.

It's not always feasible to measure the sound field generated by an acoustic source; instead, scientists have to model to come up with a best guess for the missing pieces of the sound field. In this episode, we talk to Efren Fernandez-Grande and Xenofon Karakonstantis (Technical University of Denmark) about their new machine learning method to reconstruct sound fields. Associated paper: Efren Fernandez-Grande, Xenofon Karakonstantis, Diego Caviedes-Nozal, and Peter Gerstoft. "Generative models for sound field reconstruction" J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 153, 1179-1190 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0016896 . Read more from The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA). Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.

While analyzing acoustic data from the Mariana Archipelago, Angela Szesciorka (Oregon State University) noticed something funny: a signal unlike any other she'd seen. It showed up over and over, and only seemed to occur at night. In this episode, we talk to Szesciorka about this mystery call and what animal possibly made it. Associated paper: Angela R. Szesciorka, Jennifer L. K. McCullough, and Erin M. Oleson. "An unknown nocturnal call type in the Mariana Archipelago." JASA Express Letters 3, 011201 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0017068 Read more from JASA Express Letters. Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications Music: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.

Recent advances in technology have allowed scientists to gather larger quantities of acoustic data from locations more remote than ever before. As a result, the study of animal sounds can be used to inform species or habitat conservation and natural resource management practices in new and exciting ways. In this episode, we talk to Aaron Rice of Cornell University about how acoustics can be used to advance conservation efforts, as well as how folks outside of large research universities can take part in efforts to help save the planet with science. Read the associated article: Aaron N. Rice, Marissa L. Garcia, Laurel B. Symes, and Holger Klinck. (2023) “Conservation Bioacoustics: Listening to the Heartbeat of the Earth,” Acoustics Today 19(3). https://doi.org/10.1121/AT.2023.19.3.46 Try out the BirdNET app mentioned in this episode! Read more from Acoustics Today. Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Intro/Outro Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.

Metamaterials have been a hot topic in the acoustics community since the late 1990s, but there's no consensus among researchers as to what a metamaterial actually is or when they first came about. Christina Naify (University of Texas - Austin) took a deep dive into the literature about metamaterials and then posed the question to an audience of researchers in a session at the ASA conference in Chicago. In this episode, we talk to her about what came up during this discussion. Associated paper: Christina J. Naify, Alexey Titovich, and Michael R. Haberman . "What is an acoustic metamaterial?" 51, 065002 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001813. Read more from Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics (POMA). Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=1022

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s (NIOSH) recommended exposure limit for occupational noise is often cited as the upper limit for loudness in all situations-- but that's not actually the case. Worse, the limit may not even fit modern ears, which face a barrage of loud sound in and out of the workplace, starting at an early age. In this episode, we talk to Daniel Fink of Quiet Coalition about how NIOSH's recommended exposure limit for occupational noise impacts even those of us in quiet workplaces, and why the limit needs to be revised downwards. Associated paper: Daniel Fink. "The recommended exposure limit for occupational noise needs to be revised downwards." Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 50, 040002 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001729. Read more from Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics (POMA). Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=1022

Traditionally, speech researchers have asked participants to classify speakers on a binary scale for gender. However, as our understanding of gender changes, so must our research methods. In this episode, we talk to Brandon Merritt (University of Texas - El Paso) about their research into updating research protocols to better encompass a diversity of genders and gain a more nuanced understanding of listeners' perception of speakers' identity. Associated paper: Brandon Merritt, Tessa Bent, Rowan Kilgore, and Cameron Eads. "Auditory free classification of gender diverse speakers" J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 155, ##-## (2024). https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0024521. Read more from The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA). Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=1022

Infants can distinguish caregivers' and other familiar voices early in life, and can even tell the difference between two unfamiliar female voices. In this episode, we talk to Madeleine Yu (University of Toronto) about her research into infants' ability to distinguish the voices of unfamiliar male speakers. Associated paper: Madeleine E. Yu, Natalie Fecher, and Elizabeth K. Johnson. "Learning to identify talkers: Do 4.5-month-old infants distinguish between unfamiliar males?" JASA Express Letters 4, 015203 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0024271. Read more from JASA Express Letters. Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications Music: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=1022