Across Acoustics

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. &quo...

More precisely, is silence the absence of sound? (What is sound, anyway?) In this episode, we get a little philosophical, talking with Bill Yost (Arizona State University) about what sound is and the role perception plays in our understanding of sound and silence. Associated paper: William A. Yost. "What is silence? Therefore, what is sound?" J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 154, 2333–2336 (2023). ht...

Oftentimes, when a scientist studying underwater acoustics begins an experiment, they have a specific goal in mind... but then there's a bloop or a crackle they don't expect, or the instruments are saying the ocean floor is at 500 meters instead of 5,000 meters like all the charts say, or a rogue pod of dolphins has caused measurements to go awry. In this episode, we talk to Erin Fischel...

Another meeting, another round of amazing student research! This episode, we talk to winners of the POMA Student Paper Competition from the 184th meeting of the ASA about their research into using machine learning to model concert hall reverberation time, the effect of clear speech on memory, noise from the Atlas-V rocket launch, the bridge force exerted on the string of a bowed instrument, and a...

Why is the sound quality of some violins preferred over others?  In this episode, we talk to Carlo Andrea Rozzi (National Research Council of Italy) and Massimo Grassi (University of Padova) about the myth surrounding Stradivari violins as well as their research into the aspects of violin timbre that cause listeners to prefer one instrument to another. Associated paper: Carlo Andrea Rozzi, Alessan...

The manufacturing and production of concrete construction building materials creates roughly 10% of global carbon emissions. As a result, architectural engineers are trying to find new ways to reduce the amount of concrete used in their buildings. Less concrete, though, can lead to some major ramifications in terms of the acoustics of a built space. In this episode, we talk to Jonathan Michael Bro...

The sound environment of a classroom can significantly impact the experience of students, particularly for young learners. Yet most research on primary school classroom acoustics has focused solely on removing all sound, even though some sounds may be beneficial to young students’ experience. In this interview, we talk to Chiara Visentin (University of Ferrara) about her research into the soundsca...

Started after a mysterious beaching of beaked whales and dolphins, Discovery of Sound in the Sea (DOSITS, https://dosits.org/ ) has been providing educational content to the public about the science of underwater sound for over 20 years. In this episode, we talk to Kathleen Vigness-Raposa (Inspire Environmental) and Holly Morin (University of Rhode Island) about how the site has developed over tim...

Musical mixes are typically created with normal-hearing listeners’ preferences in mind. How do the preferences of listeners with hearing impairment differ, though?  In this episode, we talk to Aravindan Joseph Benjamin and Kai Siedenburg (University of Oldenburg) about their recent article, which explores how various spectrum- and level-based mixing transforms might be altered to cater to listener...

In this episode, we talk to the ASA's very own Keeta Jones, the Education and Outreach Coordinator, about science communication: everything from common mistakes scientists make when talking to others about their research, to how to communicate to different types of audiences, to a bevy of tips and tricks you can use when sharing your work with others-- whether it's your grandmother at Th...

 We know that dolphins and bats echolocate, but less is known about the ultrasonic vocalizations of other animals-- including the northern short-tailed shrew. Some suggest they don’t even make ultrasonic vocalizations at all, but instead produce noise when they move. In this episode, Valerie Eddington and Laura Kloepper (both currently at University of New Hampshire and previously at St. Mary’s Co...

Most researchers know the seminal articles that have impacted their field. Sometimes, though, the research in those articles can get misinterpreted or exaggerated, and those misunderstandings can take hold and reappear year after year. In this episode, we talk to the editors of the Special Issue on Reconsidering Classic Ideas in Speech Communication, Matthew Winn (University of Minnesota), Richard...

The annoyance caused by airplane noise can have adverse effects on those living near airports. Can anything be done when the plane lands to mitigate the noise? In this episode, we talk to Anders Johansson (Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden) about his research into how airplane configuration and weather may affect landing noise.   Associated paper: Anders Johansson and Karl Bolin "Analysis...

Researchers know that bats will alter the calls they use for echolocation depending on their task or environment. In this episode, we talk to Léna de Framond and Holger R. Goerlitz of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology about their research into whether bats from temperate regions, which experiences large variations in temperature and humidity which could affect call attenuation, vary their c...

Besides hosting exciting meetings and publishing the latest in acoustics research, the Acoustical Society of America has another branch: ASA Standards! In this episode, we talk to Steve Lind, Director of ASA Standards, Donald Peterson (Northern Illinois University) and Derrick Knight (Trane Technologies) about what standards are, why we need them, and current initiatives that those in the acoustic...

The answer: As loud as 40 million bowls of Rice Krispies. In this episode, we talk with Kent Gee of Brigham Young University about his recent research trip to measure the launch acoustics of NASA's Artemis-I mission, why understanding launch noise is so important, common misconceptions about how loud rockets are, and more. Associated paper: Kent L. Gee,   Grant W. Hart, Carson F. Cunningham,...

Noise can damage hearing in numerous ways: hearing loss, tinnitus, difficulty hearing in noisy settings, as well as other sound detection or sound processing deficits. In this episode, we talk to Colleen LePrell (UT Dallas School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences) and Odile Clavier (Creare), two editors of the recent Noise-Induced Hearing Disorders Special Issue of JASA . Learn about current clinic...

Could moths’ hearing be the key to figuring out how to localize sound with tiny microphones?  How do we prevent rocket launch noise from damaging the ship’s payload? Is it possible for algorithms to account for microphone arrays that don’t stay in a rigid structure? These are some questions considered by Acoustical Society students who won the latest round of the POMA Student Paper Competition fro...

Is there an ideal level for lead vocals compared to accompaniment in popular music? Researchers at University of Oldenburg investigated this question by analyzing the Billboard Hot 100 year-end list from 1946 to 2020 as well as Grammy award nominees from 1990 to 2020.  In this interview, author Kai Siedenburg discusses what his group learned about an important aspect of music mixing and the impact...

As mobile technology has evolved, allowing people to carry music, movies, books, and a host of other types of infotainment in their pockets, headphones have become more prevalent. However, in the 2010s, as smartphones became ubiquitous, headphone technology remained stuck twenty years in the past. In this episode, we talk to Sean Olive of Harman International about his research regarding the perce...

Offshore wind farms are a sustainable option for producing energy, but little is known about their effect on fish on aquatic invertebrates. In this episode, we talk to Arthur N. Popper (University of Maryland) and Kathryn A. Williams (Biodiversity Research Institute) about research priorities to better understand how sound and vibration from wind farms may affect aquatic life. Associated paper: Ar...

Is there one "true" perception or assessment of a soundscape, or is it actually a combination of many different perspectives/assessments? How does a researcher represent data for a multifaceted view of soundscapes? In this episode, we interview Andrew Mitchell of University College London about his article, "How to analyze and represent quantitative soundscape data," ( JASA Exp...

In honor of JASA Express Letters ’ ( JASA-EL ) two-year anniversary as a fully independent, gold open access journal, we’re taking a trip down memory lane with three figures who’ve been involved with the journal over the years: Christy Holland, of University of Cincinnati, who took part in the inception of JASA-EL ’s predecessor, Acoustic Research Letters Online , and the creation of JASA-EL ; Kei...

Studying music poses a conundrum: real musicians don’t play consistently, while machines designed to play an instrument in exactly the same way every time may omit the effects of other factors on the music. In this episode, we talk to Sam Bellows about his research into modeling how the musician’s body affects the diffraction and absorption of clarinet music in directivity measurements.  Associate...

Typically, to block sound of a particular frequency, a structure of comparable wavelength dimensions is required. For low-frequency sounds with very long wavelengths, this can mean needing prohibitively large objects to reduce noise. In this episode, we talk to Trigun Maroo about his research regarding using 3d printing to create noise-attenuating structures that take up less space. Associated pap...