Across Acoustics

What is the relationship between the auditory systems of humans and animals and the natural sounds of the real-world environment? In this episode, we speak to three of the editors of the Special Issue on Ecological Perspectives on Hearing,  Laurie M. Heller (Carnegie Mellon University), Christian Lorenzi (Ecole Normale Supérieure and Université Paris Sciences et Lettres), and Frédéric Theunissen (...

The impact of climate change on the field of acoustics is multifold. Researchers not only use acoustics to better understand changes to the environment, they also must consider how climate change impacts standard research practices. In this episode, we talk to three of the guest editors of the recent Special Issue on Climate Change: How the Sound of the Planet Reflects the Health of the Planet-- M...

In this episode, find out what the next generation of acousticians is researching! In this episode, we talk to the latest round of POMA Student Paper Competition winners, from the joint 189th meeting of the ASA and the Acoustical Society of Japan, held in Honolulu in December 2025. Their topics include: - Perception of the PIN/PEN merger in speakers from the US South (Irene Smith, McGill Universit...

Anybody who's been in a noisy restaurant can tell you how the acoustics of a built environment can impact individuals in the space. In particular, absorption and diffusion of sounds can greatly affect the acoustics. This episode, the editors of the Special Issue on Sound Absorption and Diffusion: Modeling, Measurement, and Application, Mélanie Nolan (Universidad Politecnica de Madrid), Peter...

The sport of pickleball has become more than a passing fad. The equipment involved in the game, which include a hollow plastic ball perforated with holes, create some pretty unique sounds. In this episode we talk with Kathleen Romito and Jamie Banks (Quiet Communities) about their research into how pickleball noise affects bystanders.  Associated paper: Kathleen M. Romito and Jamie Banks. "A...

As the study of acoustic metamaterials has progressed over the past couple of decades, research has shifted from focusing on the creation of materials with fixed structures to ones that are active or tunable. In this episode, we talk to the guest editors of the recent special issue on Active and Tunable Acoustic Metamaterials, Michael Haberman (University of Texas at Austin), Christina Naify (Univ...

One of the key components of soundscape research is the focus on the perspective of the listener. However, that perspective may shift depending on the listener's personal characteristics, their cultural background, and other factors. In this episode, Katie Chatburn (Manchester Metropolitan University), Kirsten Van Den Bosch (University of Groningen), and Arezoo Talebzadeh (Ghent University) d...

You may have heard of deepfakes—AI clones of people used to create lifelike video and audio to manipulate an audience. AI cloning technology, however, has much broader applications than just subterfuge. In this episode, we talk with Patti Adank (University College London), who studied the intelligibility of voice clones compared to their natural counterparts and sheds light on some potential benef...

How is climate change impacting the Arctic Ocean? It can be hard to track these changes, but researchers have been using acoustic signals transmitted beneath the ice to learn more. In this episode, we talk with Matthew Dzieciuch and Peter Worcester of Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Hanne Sagen of the Nansen Center about an international effort to use acoustic thermometry to better underst...

As anyone in ocean acoustics will tell you, sound is essential for much of the work done underwater, whether that be navigation, sensing objects, or passively monitoring wildlife. While much research has been done about sandy ocean floors, scientists still have a lot to learn about muddier regions with mixtures of different types of sediment. In this episode, we talk with two editors and a researc...

With the development of automatic speech recognition has come a new type of technology, designed to give the user advice on how to speak better. In this episode, we talk with Nicole Holliday (University of California, Berkeley) about some of the issues that can arise with the use of these technologies, from their nebulous definitions of "good communication" to the impact they could have...

Do you find the sound of people chewing unbearably annoying? Or perhaps you can't stand to be near folks who are typing on noisy keyboards, fidgeting with their pens, or rustling a plastic bag of chips. The term for this sort of aversion is misophonia. Even if you don't personally deal with this issue, you may know someone who does. In this episode, we talk with Benjamin Kirby (Wichita S...

Manipulating the scattering of waves can allow engineers to achieve numerous goals, like reducing unwanted noise or eliminating potentially destructive vibrations in structures. In this episode, we talk to Vladislav Sorokin (University of Auckland) and Luke Bennetts (University of Melbourne), two guest editors of the recent Special Issue on Wave Phenomena in Periodic, Near-Periodic, and Locally Re...

In this episode, find out what the next generation of acousticians is researching! In this episode, we talk to the latest round of POMA Student Paper Competition winners, from the joint 188th meeting of the ASA and the 25th International Congress on Acoustics held in New Orleans in May 2025. Their topics include: - Using the spatial decomposition method to parameterize acoustic reflections in a ro...

Studying bats' hearing can be tricky due to their small size, making certain styles of measurement used for larger echolocating mammals unavailable to researchers. In this episode, we talk to Victoria Fouhy and Michael Smotherman (Texas A&M University) about their work to develop a noninvasive method to study cortical auditory evoked potentials in bats, thereby allowing scientists to bett...

You may have heard of the "ghost army" of World War II—a set of rubber tanks used by the US Army to mimic active battlefields in Europe. What you may not know was the tanks were accompanied by an equally fake soundtrack of battle noises. Even more surprising? This "sonic deception" was developed by a team of the ASA's founding members whose contributions were almost lost t...

The traditional Chinese structure of the interlocked timber-arched covered bridge serves multiple purposes within Chinese culture—both as a physical connection between communities, but also as a function space for various rituals and performances. Because of these structures multiple uses, the acoustics are different from other bridges or event spaces. In this episode, we talk with Dongxu Zhang (G...

Longitudinal studies of how an individual's accent changes over the course of their life are hard to come by. Fortunately, Taylor Swift's decade-plus career-- and the numerous interviews she's given over those years-- has opened a window into our understanding of how and why dialect changes may occur on an individual level. We talk to Miski Mohamed and Matthew Winn (University of Mi...

In an effort to develop renewable energy, scientists have turned to the sun, the wind, and now the ocean. With these new forms of energy harvesting, considerations need to be made about how the new technologies will impact the surrounding environments. In this episode, we talk with Joseph Haxel (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory), Christopher Bassett (University of Washington), Brian Polagye (...

A lot has changed in the twelve years since JASA's first special issue on soundscape research. This episode, we talk to the editors of the recent special issue on  Advances in Soundscape: Emerging Trends and Challenges in Research and Practice, Francesco Aletta (University College London), Cynthia Tarlao (McGill University), Tin Oberman (University College London), and Andrew Mitchell (Univer...

Ultrasonic tomography has been applied in many fields, from geophysics to engineering, and now to medicine. In this episode, we talk with Aaron Chung-Jukko and Peter Huthwaite (Imperial College London) about their work to develop an ultrasonic tomography algorithm that can be used to assess fracture risk in bones, and, as a result, be used as a noninvasive way to diagnose osteoporosis. Associated...

For a long time, it was believed that words were mostly arbitrary symbols. However, with advances in our ability to study speech, it has become clear that we must reconsider the fundamental relationship between words' sounds and their meanings. In this episode, we talk to two of the editors of the Special Issue on Iconicity and Sound Symbolism, Aleksandra Ćwiek and Susanne Fuchs (Leibniz-Cent...

Recreating the natural hearing experience has long challenged researchers who study auditory perception. Recently, ambisonic panning has been developed as a method to accurately reproduce soundscapes. In this episode, we talk with Nima Zargarnezhad and Ingrid Johnsrude (Western University) about their research testing the accuracy of the "AudioDome," a device that using ambisonic panning...

Much of the research into the historical acoustics of worship spaces has focused on Christian churches or Islamic mosques. However, little is known about the acoustic history of Hindu worship spaces, despite Hinduism being the third largest religion in the world. Shashank Aswathanarayana and Braxton Boren (American University) share their efforts to fill this knowledge gap by studying the acoustic...

This episode showcases the latest winners of the POMA Student Paper Competition: First, Jonathan Michael Broyles (University of Colorado, Boulder) discusses his database to help acoustical consultants design more environmentally friendly spaces. Next, John Latta (University of Nebraska - Lincoln) shares his work regarding spatial impulse response measurements. Finally, Michelle Ruth Crouse (Califo...