Summing up Acoustics 2024

 

We thank you all for your support over a year. We started the year with a KTP associate, Kola Alabi, and PhD student Ekim Bakirci joining us to bringing the group to a full complement. Rebecca Page won the Nti-Audio award for best Diploma project. Three journal papers were published in JASA, Building Acoustics and the Journal of Acoustics on Sound of Performance, Alternative Speech Sources, and Rigid Plates. Ten papers/presentations were given by staff and students at various in-person conferences including: IOA 50^th Anniversary in Manchester, Inter-Noise in Nantes, and outside of acoustics with the Hearing Conservation Association in Birmingham and the British Academy of Audiology in Telford. The Art of Being an Acoustician was run at the National Oceanographic Centre, Southampton with Diploma, Masters, and PhD students in attendance. Links with the IOA were strengthened with Diploma students presenting at the January London branch meeting, in July the Masters’ students presented, and in May the IOA held their highly successful AI in Acoustics meeting at LSBU. Enterprise activities grew with the IOA Short course run twice with 19 candidates, Royal Academy of Music collaboration continuing, cooperation with Foster + Partners, work with the Royal Opera House and with the Bickerdike Allen/National Galley on highly unusual experiments. In 2025 we look forward to the results of two significant research grant bids. We hope you all have a great Christmas.  

Christmas Finale 2024

 

A final lecture of the year was held on 19th December 2024 with students on the Masters and Diploma in attendance. We hope all the students enjoyed their first term with us and look forward to teaching you in 2025 and beyond!

Abstract submitted to Euronoise 2025

 

On the 18th December 2024 an abstract entitled, "A possible single number universal classroom acoustic criterion" was submitted by Professor Stephen Dance to Euronoise 2025. The conference will be held in Malaga, June 23-26th 2025. Hope to see you on the sunny side!

Abstract submitted to Inter-Noise 2025

 

On the 10th December 2024 an abstract was submitted to the 54th Inter-Noise in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The largest annual conference will be held 24-27 August 2025 at the World Trade Centre. The paper is by Prof Stephen Dance and Ruben Vazquez Amos and entitled, "Pilot study: Otoacoustic Emissions based Hearing Assessment for Classical Musicians" See you all in Sao Paulo!

Institute of Acoustics Says Goodbye to Linda Canty

 
On 4th December 2024 we said goodbye and a fond farewell to Linda Canty the event organiser of 35 years standing for the Institute of Acoustics. Professor Dance first met Linda at IoA Spring Conference at the University of Keele. We have been working together delivering first rate conference across the UK. Our thanks goes to Linda who will be difficult to replace. On a brighter note... the heraldry has been completed on the coat of arms! So more great work is in the offing. 

Institute of Acoustics Musical Acoustics Group 50th Webinar

 

On the 3rd December 2024 the final Institute of Acoustics 50th anniversary event was held on-line. A Zoom meeting of the Musical Acoustics Group entitled, "Instruments, People and Places" was held. The event was hosted by Stephen Dance, with the support of David Sharp and Murray Campbell. One hour of presentations were given followed by fifteen minutes of questions and answers. The entire event was recorded and will be made available on the IOA website. We hope you found the event informative and educational!

The Institute of Acoustics 50th Party

 

On the 27th November 2024 the Institute of Acoustics held their 50th Anniversary at Vintners Hall, home for the Worshipful Company of Wine Makers. At the event the long awaited Coat of Arms for the Institute was unveiled. One hundred and ten people attended with 18 ladies, so that needs to be improved, but its quality not quantity that matters!  

Ecophon and Department for Education visit

 

On the 27th November 2024 the now near annual Ecophon visit to the Acoustics Laboratory occurred, This year the Department for Education joined along with architects from practices all across London. Shane Cryer organised the visit with Professor Stephen Dance which this year included a quick hearing assessment and a short lecturer on room acoustics in reference to the updating of BB93. We hope they all enjoyed the experience and have learnt something about hearing and listening!

CIBSE accredit LSBU Engineering Courses

 

On the 26th November 2024 an accreditation panel approved the HND, BEng and Masters courses in Building Services Engineering. For two days the panel meet with students and industry representatives, assessed course content, our assessments and feedback. The results... for September 2025 entry the Masters course in Environmental and Architectural Acoustics has been accredited for the next 5 years!  Many thanks go to the Course Leader Dr Haydar Aygun. 

First Exhibition Completed

 

On the 21/22nd November 2024 The Paediatric Music based Audiometer was shown for the first time to the general public. The event: The British Academy of Audiology Annual Conference, held in Telford, UK. Dr Bradford Backus of Audio3 presented early research results to conference and demonstrated the new kit on their stand. Feedback was very positive as to the need and use of the new option. Prof Stephen Dance fielded technical questions and the key question: time to market.

Hearing Conservation Association Conference UKAN Event

 

On the 5th November 2024 the UK Hearing Conservation Association (UKHCA) held  it's 3rd annual conference at the Birmingham Events Centre. UKAN also held an interSIG (Special Interest Group) event involving communication, hearing and immersive audio. Prof Stephen Dance gave an interactive Mentimeter presentation on how UKAN and UKHCA can work together. A great conference was has with presentations from a lawyer, a psychologist, a policymaker, government enforcement, a nurse, an acoustician, an audiologist, an academic, a noise control consultant (see above) and from a marketing expert! The definition of multidisciplinary conference.

Noise Abatement Awards 2024

 

The Noise Abatement Society annual John Connell Awards were hosted by Lord Balfe and held at the Palace of Westminster on 16th October 2024. The contribution of London South Bank University was recognised in dispatches for, "A Soundscape intervention for a Police Communication roon" the work was led by Peter Rogers of Sustainable Acoustics with the full collaboration of Thames Valley Police. A very interdiscplinary piece of research around comms, room acoustics, behavioural science and psychology was recognised with the Innovation award. Finally, a great evening was held by all with many thanks once again to Gloria Elliott and Dr Lisa Lavia.    

Abstract submitted to ICA Meeting New Orleans

 

An abstract has been submitted to the International Congress on Acoustics organised by the Acoutstical Society of America. The meeting will be held in New Orleans 18-23 May 2025. The paper is on "Refurbishment of a Choir Rehearsal Room" and is based on Masters student Vincent Tham Jee Sheng research results, 

Welcome to the Student cohort 24/25

 

The Acoustics Group welcomed the new cohort of students to the laboratory this week. Masters and Institute of Acoustics Diploma students will study together to learn the mysteries of acoustics! We hope you all enjoy the experience and work as a team!

First Ever Autumn Acoustics Short Course Starts

 

A cohort of five candidates for the Institute of Acoustics Certificate of Competence in Noise Measurement start at London South Bank University, 23rd September 2024\. This is the first time the Acoustics Group team have run the Autumn option for CCENM. We all hope they enjoyed the course lead by DR Luis Gomez Agustina. We will next run the short course in May 2025! 

Auditory Science Conference 2024 held in Cambridge

 On the 26/27th September 2024 Cambridge University Hearing Research Group hosted the Basic Auditory Science meeting (ASM) at the McGrath Centre, St Catherine's College. This event was support by UKAN with Professor Stephen Dance (Health and Wellbeing Champion) and his early career research Mr Ruben Vazquez in attendance. With 117 delegates, 32 presentation and 60 posters the conference was a great success. Next year Nottingham!  

Article published in Building Acoustics Journal

 

An article has been published in Building Acoustics published by Sage.

The article is entitled Objective validation of alternative speech test sources for person-to-person speech intelligibility link 10.1177/1351010X241281539

It has been authored by Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina and Dr Rusdy Hartungi. The findings of this study will, for the first time, provide practitioners guidance and reassurance on the applicability and suitability of affordable non-special loudspeakers. This in turn will enable more researchers and practitioners to undertake person-to person speech intelligibility assessments and investigations when special standardized speech sources are not available or other relevant standards allowing non-special loudspeakers as alternative speech sources are adhered to. We hope you enjoy the read.

PhD Candidate Alec Korchev presents ar IOA 50th

The five and final Acoustics Group presentation at the Institute of Acoustics 50th Annual Conference was given by PhD candidate Alec Korchev. Alec presented his research on , "Wind Induced Noise in Tall Buildings". This is multidisciplinary study involving structural engineers and wind analysts. Alec presented some early results on slender buildings which creaked like old wooden sailing ships! This really bought the subject to life! Well done Alec.
 

Haydar Aygun presents at IOA 50th

 

DR Haydar Aygun presented his research at the Institute of Acoustics 50th annual conference. The meeting was held in Manchester Metropolitan University's Business School on 12/13th September 2024. Haydar presented his mathematical work on perforated and non-perforated concrete with basalt strains. His empirical work (creating the concrete/basalt sample), acoustic measurements of absorption and transmission, analytical and simulation work created a comprehensive acoustic study. This was pitched as on-going work!

Choral Rehearsal Room research presented at IOA 50th

 

On the 13th September 2024 former MSc student Vincent JeeSheng Tham virtual presented his Masters thesis on Acoustics of Choir Rehearsal Room.  Vincent was in Malaysia so a video was used to give the presentation. The paper cover a critique of the new ISO 23591:2021 using an example of a refurbishment of a Choir Room (48 to 96 singers) with a size of 1000m3. His conclusion, based on objective acoustic measurements and subjective feedback from 22 vocalists and the conductor, was that it was too loud and sound strength should be the key parameter. Well done Vincent.

Face the Music: A 20 year plan was presented at IOA 50th

 
At the Institute of Acoustics 50th Annual Conference held 12-13 September 2024 at Manchester Met Business School Professor Stephen Dance chaired the Musical Acoustics session presenting an update to his Face the Music series. This was a 10 year update on his Tyndall Medal winning research. He explained that noise and music have a different physiological affect on our hearing system but more sound definitely leads to more damage. He went on to discuss how education and awareness over the past 18 years has improved musicians hearing. Finally new hearing assessment methods are being developed and are under testing. A very good and diverse session. . 

The results of the Quiet Project presented at IOA 50th Conference

On the 12/13th September 2024 the Institute of Acoustics held their 50th Conference in Manchester. Professor Stephen Dance presented the results of the Quiet Project - A National Noise Survey undertaken during Lockdown to conference. The results demonstrated that WHO day and night target noise levels are very difficult to achieve. It was also found that suburbia does not exist according to government which will be very important to Electric Vehicle Penetration which needs charging points. A range of questions were asked around Air Source Heat Pumps which of course are mainly located in the back garden of homes.  

 

The Final UKAN Conference

 

On the 12th September 2024 UKAN held it's annual conference at Manchester Metropolitan University. The future, successes and legacy were discussed with Professor Stephen Dance leading the discussion using Mentimeter for audience feedback. PhD candidate Ruben Vasquez Amos attended the event and participated in the dialogue. EPSRC programme lead Andrew Lawrence was impressed. The best UKAN research poster award went to Julia Tomaszewska of University of West London  The new EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training lead by Salford, with Sheffield, Southampton, Bristol was celebrated. Finally the proposed Noise Network+ pitched their ideas at a mock panel. We wish them all the best!  . 

Hearing Conservation Conference supported by UKAN event

 

The Hearing Conservation Association will host their annual conference on 5th November 2024 at Birmingham Event Centre. This is a UKAN supported event. This year will include a research update fromn Professor Stepheh Dance who will also host a discussion between the Communication, hearing and Immersive Audio Special Interest Groups. See you in Birmingham

19th Year of Royal Academy of Music Hearing Assessments

 
On the 5th September 2024 the Acoustics Group started the 19th round of hearing assessments for the Royal Academy of Music. This year PhD candidate Ruben Vazquez Amos is assisting Professor Stephen Dance in the audiometric and otoacoustic emission testing. This year we should reach 5500 audiograms and 1000 OAE results!

Additional funding from UKAN for Campaign on Hearing

 

On the 2nd September 2024 Professor Stephen Dance has been awarded £5000 from the UK Acoustics Network (UKJAN) to help support the campaign to Make Listening Safe and the annual Hearing Conservation Association conference. Lets hope that the campaign raises public awareness of the risks associated with using headphones for gaming and music listening..     

Professor Stephen Dance presents his work at Inter-Noise24

 

On the 29th August 2024 Professor Stephen Dance presented his research to Inter-Noise24 in Nantes. His paper was entitled, "Sound exposure of St Paul's Cathedral choristers including unusual events". The special event of particular interest was when the tenor gave an unamplified solo performance which filled the entire volume of St Paul's. This raised many questions from the audience but has resulted in an all girls choir being introduced. The first time in 900 years! 

PhD Candidate Ruben Vazquez presents at Inter-Noise24

 

Inter-Noise 2024 - the largest ever acoustics conference

The French Society of Acoustics held the 53rd Inter-Noise conference in Nantes between 25-29th August 2024. This was the largest Inter-Noise with 1874 delegates attending the little hybrid meeting with 1169 papers presented with 22.5% of those from Early Careers paying significantly less to attend.. The size of the Inter-Noise meeting was 50% larger than typical.. Professor Stephen Dance sat on the I-INCE committee which selected this venue as a conference which turned out to be a great decision! The welcome address involved music and comedy to demonstrate physical principles. Let's hope Brazil 2025 can continue the great progress! 

Abstract submitted to British Academy of Audiology Conference

 

The British Academy of Audiology is holding it's annual conference in Telford 21/22nd November 2024. At this meeting Audio3 will unveil the first music based audiometer design, built and tested in cooperation with Chear, St Thomas's Hospital and London South Bank University. A paper will be presented entitled, "Music Audiometer: Can we use music stimuli to measure the hearing of children with social and communication disorders?". In addition, an exhibition booth will allow audiologists to see and experience the prototype! 

Two more papers accepted for IOA 50th Conference

 

The 4th and 5th papers by the Acoustics Group have been accepted to be presented at the IOA 50th Anniversary Conference, Manchester 12/13th September 2024. The first is the PhD work of Alec Korchev entitled, "Wind induced creaking in tall buildings", and second by Dr Haydar Aygun on "Sound transmission through rigid porous materials with and without perforations". See you all in Manchester!

Dr Haydar Aygun elected Fellow

 
It is a pleasure to announced that Dr Haydar Aygun, Associate Professor of Acoustics at London South Bank University has been elected a Fellow of the Institute of Acoustics. Dr Haydar Aygun is the current Course Lead for Acoustics at London South Bank University incorporating the Masters programme in Environmental and Architectural Acoustics and the IOA Diploma in Noise Control. Well done Haydar!

Masters students present at IOA London Branch

 

On the 10th July 2024 three Masters students from the MSc in Environmental and Architectural Acoustics course presented their dissertations to IOA London Branch hosted by London South Bank University. Starting with Vincent Tham on "Acoustics of Choral Rehearsal Room" (dialing in from Malaysia at 1am). This was followed by Ruben Vazquez Amos on, "The Effect of Face Coverings on Speech Intelligibility and Speech Transmission". The finale was Sam Toone presenting on, "Automated Sound Classification on Construction and Non-construction Events". The hybrid meeting was attended by 26 people, not bad for the evening of the Euros semi-final which we wathced in our local pub's beer garden! 

Environmental Noise Monitoring Network

 

Eight Svantek SV200 Class 1 environmental noise monitoring stations has been kindly donated to the Acoustics Group from the Hinkley Point C construction site. These will be used to PhD candidate Ekim Bakirci as part of his research comparing the on-site performance of Norsonic, NTi and Svantek noise monitoring kit with his proposed solution. Many thanks go to Turnbull UK.  

Abstract submitted to 3rd Hearing Conservation Conference

The third Hearing Conservation Association conference will be held at the Birmingham Conference and Events Centre on 5th November 2024. The theme this year is Listen Up Change is Coming! Professor Stephen Dance has been invited to give an update on academic aspects on hearing conservation and music exposure in a presentation entitled, "Face the Music: Key Findings and Future Research Directions". We hope to see you all in Birmingham for Fireworks night!  

 

International Acoustics Visit to Geopanel, Spain

On the 24th June 2024 a three way joint visit to Geopanel.com in Longono, Span. Former  MSc and now Lecture, Laura de Azacate of Soundscape Studios and Association of Architects and Professor Steohen Dance of London Sourh Bank University with Masters students from the School of Suoeeior Design all joined.  Tours of the newly expanded factory were taken, followed by lunch and an invitation to return next year to see the new recycled construction and automative materials.
 

Article published on the risks to paint from sound

 

On the 14th June 2024 the work with the National Gallery was published in News in Conservation Issue 102 June-July 2024News in Conservation Issue 102 June-July 2024 undertaken in the Acoustics Laboratory of London South Bank University. This work was supported by UKANUKAN and was a collaboration with BickerdikeAllen Partners. It covers how very high sound levels might damage paint in paintings.  

Mike Clayton passes PhD viva

 

On the 13th June 2024 Mike Clatyon defended his doctoral thesis entitled, "UAV Sound acquastition system design and its applications" at Queen Mary University of London. Professor Stephen Dance and Dr George Fazekas acted as the examiners for the five hour defence.  Dr Clayton passed with multiple minor corrections. Well done Mike and his supervisor Dr Lin Wang. 

Visit to the Royal Opera House

 

On the 10th June 2024 architects from Foster + Partners together with acousticians from London South Bank University enjoyed a back stage tour of the Royal Opera House. Thanks to Alex Lucas for looking after us, and showing us the really big stuff!

Masters' Students to Present to IOA London Branch

 
On the 10th July 2024 three former MSc Environmental and Architectural students will present their Masters dissertations at the London South Bank University Hub. This is a long established annual event for the Institute of Acoustics London Branch. At 6pm Vincent Tham Sheng will give a virtual presentation on the Acoustics of a Choral Rehearsal Room, followed by Sam Toone on Automated Sound Classification of Construction and Non-construction Sound Events. The final presentation by Ruben Vazquez Amos is on, The Effects of Face Coverings on Speech Intelligibility and Speech Transmission. We hope you can all make it!

Final UKAN+ Event Announced

 

The final UKAN+ event will be held on 12th September 2024 at Manchester Met University Business School. Each Specialist Interest Group will present a poster, the history of UKAN will be covered, the results of the funded risky research projects, and the future discussed. This full day event is free to all UKAN members through this form. 

PhD Candidate presents to Association of Noise Consultants

 

An ANC hybrid meeting was held on the 21st May 2024 in London. PhD Candidate Alec Korchev presernted his latest research results on, "Wind Induced Noise Creakk in Tall Buildings". There is an increasing trend in noise complaints from residents in particularly slender designs. Alec has been measureming and recording the sound that induces the complaints and compares that to the weather conditions and cross-correlates to rate of noise complaints. The next step is finding a solution!   

Very popular AI in Acoustics Meeting

 

On the 22nd May 2024 London Southn Bank University hosted the Institute of Acoustics London Branch all day meeting on "AI in Acoustics". This international event consisted of ten presentations with 103 delegates in attendance. Professor Mark Plumbley of Surrey and Professor David Waddington of Salford were the chairs for the monrnig and afternoon sessions. Professor Stephen Dance then lead the delegates for refreshments at the Student Union Bar. 

Workshop on Acoustics Metamaterial

 

London South Bank University PhD candidate Ruben Vazquez Amos attended the Young Researhers in Acoustic Metamaterials workshop. The event which is student organised takes place each year. This year it was held in Aegina, Greece between 14-18 May 2024. We hope the networking activities were both helpful and enjoyable. 

Paper published on the sound of performance

 
The work of Prof Stephen Dance and former PhD candidate Georgia Zepidou has been published by the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. The paper summarises the research results of 17 years with the Royal Academy of Music and is entitled, "Face the (unamplified) Music: Key findings for Musicians". We hope you enjoy the read!

IOA Certificate Students 2024

 

The Acoustics Group welcomed 14 students on to the Institute of Acoustics Certificate for Environmental Noise Measurement. The largest cohort ever taught joined us for 5 days to take a short course. We hope they enjoyed the experience and learnt something about noise! Good luck all in the assessments.

The Final Experiment for PhD Candidate

The final experiments of PhD candidate Rodrigo Sanchez were undertaken in the Acoustics laboratory of London South Bank University during 10-17th May 2024. To encourage participation their were plenty of give aways: Sennheiser headphones, financial inducement and an iPad Pro! Many thanks to all who gave their time to understand on-line fatigue.