Friday, 21 November 2025

Back at British Academy of Audiology with Audio3

 

On the 20/21st November 2025 at the Telford International Centre the British Academy of Audiology held their annual conference. Once again Audio3 had a stand, manned by Dr Bradford Backus and Professor Stephen Dance.  A new product was previewed to assess hearing using music based audiometer, an oncoming software which can be installed with an existing audiometer with free field capability. A great time was had with many interested customers! 

Thursday, 20 November 2025

New PhD Candidate Simla Turhan

 

Welcome to our new PhD candidate Simla Turhan, an Architect from Turkey. She will be studying with Professor Stephen Dance, Dr Haydar Aygun and Mr Federico Rossi on physical scale modelling using 3D printing. She has a lot to learn about Architectural Acoustics!

Thursday, 13 November 2025

Masters students present to institute of Acoustics London Branch

 

On the evening of the 12th November 2025 at London South Bank University three Masters students from the MSc in Environmental and Architectural Acoustics programme presented their dissertation research projects. This annual event organised by the Institute of Acoustics allowed Antonella Bevilacqua to present her work on options to improve the acoustics of the Royal Festival Hall. She was followed by Rozhin Naeemaee on the sound from clappers as an alternative source for room acoustic measurements. Finally, Alexandra Timageni gave a talk on her thesis on how to improve a listed heritage event space at the National Technical University of Athens through complex computer simulations. The event was hosted by Course Leader Dr Haydar Agyun and as ever ended up in the pub!

Wednesday, 5 November 2025

Noise Network+ Pilot Launch

On the 5th November 2025 the Welcome Trust hosted the launch of the Noise Network+ pilot projects. Ideas were shared as to how Tomorrow's Engineering Challenges can be tackled through expert multi-disciplinary teams. Prof Stephen Dance feedback on ideas around Built Environment and Buildings. The call for pilot research is out with a deadline 12 December 2025.

 

Tuesday, 4 November 2025

Celebration for the Graduates Class of 2025

 

On the 3rd November 2025 at the Royal Festival Hall London South Bank University graduands turned out for graduations. The Environment and Architectural Masters students were a small but important part of the 650 graduates. They celebrated with their parents and siblings with the academic staff who taught them. It was a pleasure and stay in touch! 

Tuesday, 28 October 2025

Welcome to the club... Dr Rodrigo

 

On the 27th October 2025 PhD candidate Rodrigo Sanchez-Pizani successfully defended his thesis. Many thanks go to the examiners: Dr Gordon Hunter and Dr Haydar Aygun for assessing, "Deep Neural Networks for Audio Quality and Intelligibility in Educational Spaces". The supervisory team of Professor Stephen Dance and Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina were delighted to see Rodrigo submit such a high quality piece of work. The research should highly beneficial to blended learning environments.  

Monday, 27 October 2025

Institute of Acousticd 51st Conference

 

The Institute of Acoustics held their 51st Annual Conference at Milton Keynes Wimbledon FC Football Stadium on 20/21st October 2025. Dr Haydar Aygun was the chair for Physical Acoustic session where he also gave a paper entitled, "Experimental and computational investigation of the acoustical properties of concrete".  

Thursday, 23 October 2025

Noise Abatement Society 2025

 

On the 22nd October 2025 the Noise Abatement Society held their annual awards ceremony at the Palace of Westminster. Lord Balfe was once again the gracious host for the evening. Emeritus Professor Bridget Shield was one of the judges for the 18 awards. Professor Stephen Dance was Lord Balfe assistant for the event. Once again thanks go to Gloria Elliot and Dr Lisa Lavia for organising such a beautiful event and congratulations go to Poppy for getting Quiet Mark into the European and American markets.

Thursday, 9 October 2025

The new intake of Diploma Students

 

On the 9th October 2025 the Acoustics Team welcomed the new Institute of Acoustics Diploma students. We also welcomed the Masters students back. The Course Lead, Dr Haydar Aygun wished the students well as they start their new adventure! 

Wednesday, 8 October 2025

Institute of Acoustics Certificate Students

On the 29th September 2025 the new IOA Certificate students joined the short course called, Certificate of Competence of Environmental Noise Measurements.  Course leader Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina, Professor Stephen Dance and Dr Haydar Aygun provided their experience and knowledge to assist the students. We hope the students have enjoyed their week learning the ins and outs of acoustics. We wish them all the best in their examination!

Sound Economics Report 2025

 

On the 8th October 2025 the updated Sound Economics Report 2025 was launched at the Royal Academy of Engineering. The event lead by Prof Horoshenkov and Prof Craster of UKAN with the Institute of Acoustics  President, Prof Waddington. Industry and Government both attended the event which demonstrated the increased value of acoustics to UK PLC in terms of jobs and productivity since the original 2019 report. 

Tuesday, 23 September 2025

Institute of Acoustics London Branch on Masters Projects


On the evening of the 12th November 2025 three Masters students from London South Bank University will present their project work at the Institute of Acoustics London Branch meeting. The presentations cover novel sound sources and sound exposure, architectural acoustic refurbishment of a heritage building to improve speech intelligibility and improving the acoustics of a concert hall. The meeting will be held at AECOM HQ in the City of London please register on-line.

Wednesday, 10 September 2025

Institute of Acoustics London Branch Presentation

 

On the 10th September 2025 PhD Candidate Rodrigo Sanchez-Pizani gave a presentation to IOA London Branch (on-line only due to a Tube strike). The talk was entitled, "Can you hear me at the back?". The project covered AI in Predicting Clarity of Lecture Recordings and was given to 38 virtual attendees. Good work! 

Tuesday, 9 September 2025

19th Year of the Royal Academy of Music Hearing Project

 

This is the 19th year of the Royal Academy of Music hearing project. From the 8-22nd September 2025 300 students will be assessed using screen audiometry and otoacoustic emissions in the laboratory of London South Bank University. This year this is despite the London Underground tube strikes, so each student has had an adventure!

Friday, 5 September 2025

Advanced Talkbox called Terrifying Terry

 

We have new kit Terry the Terrifying Talkbox talks to Bob are Binaural Observer. Bedrock Audio are the manufacturers of the advanced talkbox BTB115. This new research tool will greatly assist are incoming new PhD students! 

Monday, 1 September 2025

Noise Network+ Education Working Group

 

On the 1st September 2025 the newly launched EPSRC funded Noise Network+ had its first working group meeting around Education, Outreach and Skills. Lots of support from industry, lots of ideas and great enthusiasm all round. Look out for a call for pilot funding around Tomorrow's Engineering Challenges this autumn! 

PhD Candidate to present at IOA London Branch

 

On the 10th September 2025 PhD candidate Rodrigo Sanchez-Pizani will present his research at the Institute of Acoustic London branch meeting at Aldgate Towers 6pm. The title of his presentation, "Can you hear me at the back: AI for predicting clarity of lecture recordings". This will summarise 7 years of research!

Thursday, 28 August 2025

Inter-Noise Presentation using acoustics and audio together!

Inter-Noise 2025 was held at the World Trade Centre, Sao Paulo, Brazil 24-27 August 2025. A silent disco type arrangement was used in the Golden Hall, so audio and acoustics coming together through headphones! Professor Stephen Dance presented an update on the hearing assessment of classical musicians using otoacoustic emissions alongside Michael Vorlander so competition was stiff! Great event next time Adelaide :)

 

Tuesday, 26 August 2025

Professor Dance joins the I-INCE Board

 

On the 24th August 2025 Professor Stephen Dance was invited to join the I-INCE Board. In January 2026 he will become General Secretary stepping down from his role representing Europe/Africa on the Conference Selection Committee. This should be four years of fun! 

Friday, 22 August 2025

Noise Network+ Working Groups Announced

 

The EPSRC funded Noise Network+ Groups have now been formed. There are 6 Working Groups looking for volunteers in: AI, Policy, Health, Education, Transport, Sustainability and Inclusive Engineering. Education, outreach and skills is having its inaugural meeting online on 1st September 2025 to get the ball rolling on this 3 years grant. Follow the link to sign up and get involved in integrating noise into all aspects of engineering!

Friday, 1 August 2025

PhD thesis submission by Rodrigo Sanchez-Pizani

 

On the 31st July 2025 PhD candidate Rodrigo Sanchez-Pizani submitted his thesis, "Deep neural networks for audio quality and intelligibility in educational spaces". He has taken 7+ years on this research which became very popular under COVID with hybrid teaching being extensively used by universities. He defends the work in late September 2025, the team all wish him luck and success!   

Tuesday, 1 July 2025

Final UKAN+ Meeting Completed

 

The final UKAN+ management meeting was held on 1st July 2025. UKAN now has reached 2000 members, ran 440 events and funded 28 projects over an 8 year period. The team have been amazing. The final deliverable will be a co-funded Sound Economics report due October 2025, supported by the EPSRC Noise Network+ and the Institute of Acoustics. I like to thank Kirill Horoshenkov, Richard Craster and all the support teams and look forward to Virtual UKAN!. 

AI Sensors installed on Campus

 

PhD candidate Ekim Bakirci has installed his prototype AI enabled wireless Class 1 environmental sound monitoring system across the London South Bank University campus. This will enable automated sound event classification of the City Soundscape as well as noise monitoring the environment. Ekim is in his second year of studies and needs to train the system to monitor air, road and rail traffic. Let's hope he stays busy and the sun keeps shining!

Wednesday, 25 June 2025

Presentation at Euronoise 2025

 

On the 24th June at the Forum Acusticum / Euronoise 2025 conference in Malaga Professor Stephen Dance gave an invited paper. The paper entitled, "A possible universal single number criteria for classrooms" was presented in the Room Acoustics sessions to a full audience where Steve demonstrated that the value of your research is key, see President Trump and the National Institute of Health, and that the Tax Payer funds 90% of research. So he demonstrated value for money!

NTi-Audio Executives visit the Acoustics Group

 

On 11 June 2025, during the Institute of Acoustics (IOA) one-day conference on the acoustic challenges of air source heat pumps at London South Bank University (LSBU), NTI-Audio’s Chief Executive Officer, Hansjorg Prettner, and UK General Manager, Charles Greene, visited the LSBU Acoustics Group and its laboratory facilities. Dr. Luis Gomez-Agustina hosted the visit, providing an overview of the group's teaching and research activities. The discussions highlighted the long-standing relationship and mutual support between the two organizations. The NTI executives were particularly impressed by the laboratory instrumentation and facilities, especially the aural demonstrations in the anechoic and reverberant chambers

Wednesday, 18 June 2025

London South Bank University host Institute of Acoustics Event

 

On the 11th June London South Bank University hosed the Institute of Acoustics events around Noise and Air Source Heat Pumps. The event was organised by London branch by Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina and Dr Haydar Aygun. We had a full room, 140 delegates, for this full day event. The result being a plan to create additional guidance for heat pump installations that do not follow the MCS scheme.


Thursday, 12 June 2025

Abstract submitted to Joint Japanese/American Conference

 

An abstract has been submitted to the 189th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America.  This will be the sixth time the conference has been jointly organised with the Acoustical Society of Japan. The paper is entitled, "Adjustment to the acoustics of a refurbished choral rehearsal room". It has been jointly written by Professor Stephen Dance with former Masters student Vincent Jee Sheng Tham. Looking forward to going back to Honolulu! 

Saturday, 7 June 2025

Final Day for Diploma Students 24-25

 
On the 6th June 2025 the Institute of Acoustics Diploma students sat their last exam. As is tradition the teaching team invited them to the local pub garden to celebrate! We wish them the best of luck with their upcoming projects and in their future careers. It was a pleasure to teach you all and thanks for the feedback! 

Thursday, 5 June 2025

Launch Development Workshop for Aurora3 Facility

 

On the 5th June 2025 at the University of Surrey the partners on the EPSRC Aurora3 project held the first development and design workshop. London South Bank University was represented by Professor Stephen Dance who along with 21 other industry and academic partners aided Professor Enzo de Sena on the design of the £3m facility for Acoustics, Audio and AI. The Variable Acoustics Room and an Anechoic Chamber were the focus of the meeting. Let's see what forms over the next year!

Tuesday, 3 June 2025

UKAN produces Sound Economic Data

 

On the 2nd June 2025 London South Bank University hosted the UK Acoustics Network, the Institute of Acoustics, and 9 industry representatives during a hybrid meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to develop and update their Sound Economics report using industry input to account for the size of the UK industry. The original report having been developed in 2018 at LSBU in the same room! For the past 6 years this report has been critically important in bidding for UKRI research. Lets hope the 2025 report is just as influential! 

Tuesday, 27 May 2025

Testing beautiful sound absorbing panels

 

On the 27th May 2025 three new beautiful designs from Anne Kyyro Quinn were measured in the acoustics laboratory of London South Bank University. The panels were part of the display at the Biennale in Venice and were measured using the Microflown Impedance Gun to gather the sound absorption coefficients. We also kept one for display in the lab! 

Testing at the Royal Festival Hall

 

On the 27th May 2025 Professor Stephen Dance and MSc student Antonella Bevilacqua from London South Bank university measured the acoustics of the seating at the Royal Festival Hall. Using the Microflown impedance gun the sound absorption of a sample of seating was quickly taken. This was part of a project to partially redesign the hall for its 75th anniversary. 

Thursday, 22 May 2025

Prof Dance presents at ICA 25 and ASA 188th Meeting in New Orleans

 

On the 18th May 2025 the 188th Acoustical Society of America meeting was held jointly with the 25th ICA conference in New Orleans, USA. Professor Stephen Dance was invited to speak o, "Acoustics of a Choir Rehearsal Room" joint research with Masters student Vincent Tham. He also acted an official student presenter prize assessor. In addition he mentored two student lunches for the purposes of mentoring. The new ICA is in Madeira in 2028 and will have to go some to compete with New Orleans!  

Friday, 16 May 2025

Institute of Acoustics Short Course students 2025

 

On the 16th May 2025 the Acoustics Team of London South Bank University ran the Institute of Acoustics Certificate in Environment Noise Measurement. This is the 12th year we have run the course. Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina delivered the course with the assistance of Dr Haydar Agun and Professor Stephen Dance.  All 12 candidates enjoyed their experience of acoustics. We hope to see some of you back for the Diploma course next Autumn! 

Thursday, 15 May 2025

Institute of Acoustics Heat Pump 1 Day Meeting

 

London South Bank University is to host an Institute of Acoustics London Branch meeting on 11th June 2025. This one day meeting is focused on Air Source Heat Pumps. You can register for the event here.

Tuesday, 13 May 2025

Six PhD Chancellor Scholarships in Acoustics for September 2025

 

On the 9th May 2025 London South Bank University offered six PhD Chancellor Scholarship in Acoustics for entry in September 2025. The School of Engineering and Design is pleased to announce this opportunity for international students, application submission by 30th June 2025. The projects include: Just noticeable difference for speech intelligibility, new technology for speech and hearing, acoustics and robotic manufacturing, Machine Learning for the acoustic and thermal performance of buildings, Heat Pumps and their affect on human health,  and acoustics of composite panels for reducing CO2. See what you think here.

Friday, 9 May 2025

PhD student wins Early Career Award

On the 8th May 2025 at the Institute of Acoustics Awards events at the Balmoral Hotel, Edinburgh Alec Korchev was presented the IOA Early Career Award. Alec won for his research on Wind induced noise in Tall Buildings and his commitment to progressing engagement with the student body for the Association of Noise Consultants. Alec also sits on a UKAN special interest group for Room Acoustics and Communication. He currently works for Clarke Saunders Associations. Well done Alec! 

 

Acoustics at the Launch of the Venice Biennale

 

On the 9th May 2025 the Venice Biennale opened their "Time Space Existence" Architectural Exhibition. A team from London South Bank University of Architects, Engineers and Acousticians attended the event with Federico Rossi, Ottavia Rispoli and Prof Stephen Dance. They were supported by the industrial partners, AKTII and Anne Kyyro Quinn designers. More event photos to follow as the exhibition is on for 6 months!

Acoustics at the Launch of the New Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery

 

On the 8th May 2025 the refurbished Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery. Acoustics was represented by Tomasz Galikowski of Bickerdike Allen Partners and Prof Stephen Dance of London South Bank University who assisted Catherine Higgit of the National Gallery with  the support of an AHRC Grant supporting University of Oxford. Great launch party but a very noisy entrance!. 

Last Day for Masters' Students 2025

On the 8th May 2025 it was the end of term for the Masters students on Environmental and Architectural Acoustics. We hope you all enjoyed the course as much as the teaching team enjoyed lecturing you over the past 9 months. As ever, the year finished as it started in a beer garden! Good luck with your projects!

 

Friday, 2 May 2025

Institute of Professional Sound visit the Lab

 

On the 2nd May 2025 the Institute of Professional Sound visited the Acoustics Laboratory of London South Bank University. This was the final UKAN event, part of an outreach exercise to engage audiences away from acoustics. We hope the sound engineers enjoyed the half day event, which as is tradition, ended up with on going discussions at a beer garden!

Friday, 25 April 2025

16th Year of Royal Academy of Music Exit Testing

 

On the 25th April 2025 the Royal Academy of Music - London South Bank University undertook the 16th exit testing as part of their long term collaboration on sound exposure. A sample of 30+ students were tested using pure tone audiometry and otoacoustic emissions with their results compared to their entry tests taken 3.5 years earlier. We wished them all good lucky with their finals!



Friday, 18 April 2025

UK Hearing Conservation Association

On the 17th April 2025 the UK Hearing Conservation Association held their 4th AGM at British Occupational Hygiene Society in Derby as convened by Clare Foreshaw. A range of presentation were given including the new EPSRC Noise Network+ by Charlotte Clark. Emphasis was given to prioritise this multi-disciplinary area. Other presentation included Sam Couth of University of Manchester on amplified music, Tinnitus treatment by Fabrice Bardy of MindEar,  Jacqualine Patel of the Health and Safety Executive, Gill Cusson of NVM on Train the Trainer. Leah Philpot then closed the meeting by providing an update on planning for the Annual Conference to be held on 6th November 2025 at the Hilton in Manchester. See you in Manchester this autumn!       

 

Saturday, 12 April 2025

PhD candidate wins IOA Award

 

PhD candidate Alec Korchev has won the Institute of Acoustics Early Career Award 2025. Alec works for Clarke Saunders as well as undertaking doctoral study with London South Bank University. Alec is the Association of Noise Consultants lead for Early Career mentoring and facilitating mentoring.  Alec also works with UKAN as an Early Career representative. The award is sponsored by Cirrus. The awarded will be presented in Edinburgh on 8th May 2025.   

Friday, 11 April 2025

Master student presents her research at the Royal Opera House

 

On the 9th April 2025 Masters student Antonella Bevilacqua presented her research at the Royal Opera House. Antonella gave an overview of the intermediate stage between Ballrooms and Theatres in architectural acoustics design with her presentation entitled, "Architecture and Music cross-correlation inside the Guitar Hall in Contarini's Villa, Italy". So if you wanted a musical evening first build a villa and hire an orchestra and get them to play over your head! 

Musical Acoustics at the Royal Opera House

 

On the 9th April 2025 at the invitation of the Royal Ballet and Opera the Institute of Acoustics held a half day Musical Acoustic events at the Choral Rehearsal Room. Prof Stephen Dance organised, chaired and presented at the meeting. Four presentations were given to the 24 delegates which included LSBU students and former students. The delegates enjoyed a private back stage tour before adjuring to Covent Garden for a drink.

Royal College of Art visit to Scream!!!

 

On the 9th April 2025 two students from the Royal College of Art visited the Acoustics Laboratory of London South Bank University to undertake an experiment. They wanted to scream in the anechoic chamber!! We measured the sound level at 110 dBCpeak with an average of 99 dBA over 5 seconds at a distance of 1m. When turned to face the sound absorbing wall the level fell by 20 dBA. The girls seemed to enjoy the screaming! 

Monday, 31 March 2025

Paper published on "Acoustic Quality of the Student Learning Experience"

 

On the 31st March 2025 a journal paper entitled, "An investigation in the effect of acoustic quality of the student learning experience at a London Higher Education Institution". The articles lead author was LSBU PhD student Rodrigo Sanchez Pizani and his team at King's College London. The paper can be found  here and was published by SSRN.



Saturday, 29 March 2025

Art of Being an Acoustician 2025

 

On the 28th March 2025 at the Mercure Hotel, Manchester the 3rd Art of Being an Acoustician took place organised by Professor Stephen Dance with the support of UKAN. Again the meeting was split into three sessions (Senior, Current and Early Career) members experiences in acoustics. Thanks to Keith Attenborough, Rupert Taylor, David Waddington, Jo Webb, Jack Harvie-Clark, Volkan Akun, Simone Graetzer and Zachary Simcox for their talks. We hope all the delegates enjoyed discussing their experience in acoustics! 

Art of Being a Consultant 2025

 

On the 27th March 2025 at the Mercure Hotel in Manchester the 21st Art of Being a Consultant was held. Once again organised by the IOA Early Career Group (this year Zac Simcox) the event had 30 delegates. All aspects of consultancy were discussed before Prof Stephen Dance introduced the Art of Being an Acoustician. Adjournment to the bar allowed the love of acoustics to shine through over a drink. This was followed by ten people going for a steak dinner!

Wednesday, 19 March 2025

UKAN Celebration!

 

On the 19th March 2025 the UKAN (UK Acoustics Network) celebrated 8 years of funding. The network brought together academics across the country who might have previously working in isolation. Industry supported the idea and EPSRC paid twice! Prof Stephen Dance raised issues around policy and standards and was the Health and Wellbeing champion. UKAN will continue as a virtual network and will be incorporated into the Institute of Acoustics as part of legacy planning. Many thanks to everybody who helped!