Institute of Acoustics 2012 AGM at South Bank

On the 12th June 2012, the Institute of Acoustics will hold its Annual General Meeting at London South Bank University in our new facility CEREB. Earlier the same day a seminar entitled, "Music to your Ears" seminar organised by the London Branch will take place.

The Newman Award winner 2012 is Alba!

Alba Losada Amor won the Newman best student dissertation for his Masters project on, "An evaluation of the Jack Lyons theatre at the Royal Academy of Music". An investigation into new ways of designing theatres so that the musicians sound dose can be reduced thorugh measurement and computer simulation. The Bradford Newman medal is for excellence in the study of acoustics and its application to architecture. The prize will be awarded by the Acoustical Society of America and a paper based on the work will be presented at the ASA meeting in Hong Kong, May 2012.

On the 27th April 2012, Georgia Zepidou gave her presentation entitled, "Introducing acoustics to classical musicians" at Acoustics 2012 in Nantes. Georgia answered many questions regarding migitating measures to control sound, not noise!!

On the 27th April 2012, Dr Bob Peter, Visiting Research Fellow, gave a entertaining presentation entitled, "The IOA Diploma in acoustics and noise control" at Acoustics 2012 in Nantes. Lots of references to 1978 and world events!

How to become a PhD student!

On the 27th April 2012 Dr Stephen Dance gave two presentations in the Education in Acoustics session. The first was entitled, "Cheap acoustics as a learning methodology" followed by "Master course in Acoustics at London South Bank University - A route on to our PhD programme". A very busy morning!

Acoustics Group at Nantes 2012

The Acoustics Group attended Acoustic 2012 in Nantes from 23-27 April 2012. Dr Bob Peters represented the Institute of Acoustics at the closing ceremony, Dr Stephen Dance organised the Education in Acoustics session which included a live undergraduate teaching demonstration. I think Georgia, Ben and Nick had a great time and we will all remember some of the boat trip!

Steve wins Enterprising Award

On the 18th April 2012 Dr Stephen Dance was one of five individuals to win the inaugural LSBU Enterprise Awards. Steve won for his enterprising activies with London Underground, the London Philharmonic orchestra, the Royal Academy of Music, and with the Newman Trust. Professor Martin Earwicker, a former acoustician, and LSBU Vice Chancellor was happy to see acoustics moving forward in new and interesting ways. Stephen commented that the money will go towards the next ICA in Montreal 2013!

IoA London Branch Meeting: Student Projects

On the 18th April 2012, three Masters students on the Environmental and Architecturtal Acoustics course presented their dissertations to the Institute of Acoustics London branch. Matthew Brown, Lorenzo Morales and Tamara Potaz each had 20 minutes to give a brief symposis of their work. The audience seemed to enjoy handling a disembodied head with very realistic silicon ears!

Sound Vibration and Product Perception Group

The Engineering Integrity Society held a joint one day event at Warwick University on the 17th April 2012. Acoustics Group Research Fellow Luis Gomez attended the seminar with EPSRC Refrigeration research student Ana Catarina. The seminar was entitled, "Shaping the emotional response to products by the optimisation of sound and vibration". There were plenty of meet and greet opportunities, so networking was key!

Paper submitted to Applied Acoustics

On the 13th April 2012 a new research article was submitted for consideration to Applied Acoustics. The paper was entitled, "iPod listening levels on London Underground for Music and Speech", it was written by Phil Wash of Bickerdike Allen Partners with Stephen Dance. Phil was a Masters student who presented the research at Acoustics 08 in Paris. It just took a long time to confirm the results!

Lay Paper submitted to the Acoustical Society of America

On the 9th April 2012, the Acoustical Society of America asked for a shorter lay version of the Acoustics 2012 Hong Kong paper to be written. This summary paper concerns the improvement of the acoustic environment for classical musicians, to be presented on the 14th May 2012. The paper was written to raise peoples' interest in architectural acoustics.

Papers submitted to the Journal of Sound and Vibration

On the 6th April 2012, a paper split into two parts was submitted to the Journal of Sound and Vibration. The premier acoustics journal. The paper was based on the award winning MSc dissertation by Gil Van Buuren. The paper is entitled, "Parametric studies on the low-frequency acoustics of listening rooms using a hybrid wave model: Part I -the model; Part II - Parametric study". Let's hope the reviewers understand the equations!!