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 to simulate soundscapes in the lab.

Associated paper:
- Nima Zargarnezhad, Bruno Mesquita, Ewan A Macpherson. and Ingrid Johnsrude. "Focality of sound source placement by higher (ninth) order ambisonics and perceptual effects of spectral reproduction errors." J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 157, 2802–2818 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0036226.

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. 

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 acoustics in Hindu temples from the 8th and 15th centuries. 

Associated paper: Shashank Aswathanarayana and Braxton Boren. "Acoustic analysis of two Hindu temples in Southern India." JASA Express Letters  5, 031601 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0036033.

Read more from JASA Express Letters. 

Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications 

 Music: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay. 

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 (California State University, Dominguez Hills) talks about the acoustic spectrometer she created using off-the-shelf parts. 

Associated papers:

Jonathan Michael Broyles and Wil Srubar, III. "A comprehensive dataset of environmental emissions, health, and manufacturing information of building acoustic products in North America." Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 55, 015002 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001997.

John S. Latta and Lauren M. Ronsse. "An analysis of spatial impulse response measurements and their ability to validate spatial features within acoustic models." Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 55, 015001 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0002004.

Michelle R. Crouse, Małgorzata Musial, Jason A. Widegren, Jacob Pawlik, Bryan Bosworth, Nathan Orloff, Aaron Hagerstrom, Angela C. Stelson, and Robert Lirette. "A low-cost ultrasonic absorption spectrometer mainly using off-the-shelf parts."Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 55, 030002 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0002003.

Learn more about entering the POMA Student Paper Competition for the Spring 2025 meeting in New Orleans.

Read more from Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics (POMA).

Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications.

Large venues like amphitheaters and stadiums are used across the world for a variety of purposes, hosting everything from sporting events to concerts to large social gatherings and other events. The massive size of the spaces, alongside their multifaceted uses, however, mean their acoustic needs are quite different from those of smaller rooms or even concert halls. This episode, Gary W. Siebein (Siebein Associates, Inc.), Keely Siebein (Siebein Associates, Inc.), Jack Wrightson (Wrightson, Johnson, Haddon, & Williams, Inc.), and Joe Solway (Arup) discuss the unique considerations for designing these structures. 

Read the associated article: Gary W. Siebein, Keely Siebein, Jack Wrightson, Joe Solway, and Raj Patel. (2024) “Large-Venue Acoustics- Arenas, Stadiums, and Amphitheaters,” Acoustics Today 20(1). https://doi.org/10.1121/AT.2024.20.1.55.

Read more from Acoustics Today.

Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications.

Intro/Outro Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay. 

In this episode, we explore things that go boom: from volcanic eruptions to underwater ordinances to the (relatively) tiny explosions of gunshots. Thomas Blanford (University of New Hampshire) joins us as a cohost as we discuss the use of high-amplitude acoustic sources in research with three members of a special session on the topic from the Ottawa ASA meeting: Steve Beck (Beck Audio Forensics), Daniel Bowman (Pacific Northwest National Laboratories), and Andrew McNeese (University of Texas at Austin). 

Associated paper: Thomas E. Branford. "Summary of “Things that go boom: High amplitude acoustic sources." Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 54, 002002 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001991.

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. 

The phenomenon of acoustic scattering, when a sound wave bounces off a surface and is redirected in different directions because of the surface texture, has been recognized since ancient Greece. Accounting for acoustic scattering when designing a built space, however, can be tricky. In this episode, we speak with Michael Vorländer (RWTH Aachen University) about his work to develop a general guideline for estimating the effects of acoustic scattering from a given surface.

Associated paper: Michael Vorlaender and Stefan Feistel. "Show your scattering coefficients." Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 50, 015003 (2022) https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001816.

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. 

Human-made noise from shipping is an ongoing problem for aquatic life. However, actually implementing measures to reduce noise can be costly and time consuming-- a risk many ship makers don't want to take without knowing how effective those methods will be. In this episode, we talk with Vanessa M. ZoBell (Scripps Institution of Oceanography) about her research that simulates the impacts of various strategies, with hopes for finding the most effective methods to improve the lives of our underwater neighbors.

Associated papers:
- Vanessa M. ZoBell, John A. Hildebrand, and Kaitlin E. Frasier. "Assessing approaches for ship noise reduction within critical whale habitat." J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 156, 3534–3544 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0034455

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. 

Acoustic levitation allows objects to be suspended in air or in liquids without falling. In this episode, we speak with Philip Marston (Washington State University) about the history of acoustic levitation, and his work to translate previous research into terminology more accessible to modern readers and those outside of the field of physics.

Associated papers:
- Philip L. Marston. "Trapping in acoustic standing waves: Effect of liquid drop compressibility." J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 154, R5–R6 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0020809

- Philip L. Marston. "Contrast factor for standing-wave radiation forces on spheres: Series expansion in powers of sphere radius." JASA Express Lett. 4, 074001 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0027928.

- Philip L. Marston. "Position dependence of the standing-wave radiation pressure quadrupole projection on a sphere applied to drop shape." J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 156, 1586–1593 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0028518.

Read more from The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA).
Read more from JASA Express Letters.
Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications.

Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay. 

This episode is part two of our interviews with the POMA student paper winners from our meeting in Ottawa. First, we talk with Miranda Jackson (McGill University) about her research regarding modeling the mouthpiece and bells of brass instruments. Next, Mark C. Anderson (Brigham Young University) talks about the noise created by the Falcon 9 boosters as they fly back to Earth and the impact that noise can have on surrounding communities.

Associated papers:
- Miranda Jackson and Gary Scavone. "A comparison of modeled and measured impedance of brass instruments and their mouthpieces and bells." Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 54, 035004 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001925

- Mark C. Anderson, Kent L. Gee, and Kaylee Nyborg. "Flyback sonic booms from Falcon-9 rockets: Measured data and some considerations for future models." Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 54, 040005 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001916

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.

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. "Auditory masking of tonal and conspecific signals by continuous active sonar, amplitude modulated noise, and Gaussian noise in killer whales (Orcinus orca)." J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 156 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0028626.

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.