John Connell Award at the Palace of Westminster

 

On the 21st October 2026 at the Palace of Westminster the Noise Abatement Society held their annual John Connell awards reception. This year Professor Emeritus Bridget Shield was a main judge for the competition winners! Well done everyone! Special thanks to Gloria Elliott, Lisa Lavia and Viscount Stansgate. 

Masters student wins IOA Bursary

 

On the 20th October 2026 Chris Bailey, a Masters student studying Architectural and Environmental Acoustics won the Institute of Acoustics Bursary. Chris will be using the money to support himself during his second year of part-time study. Well done Chris! 

Royce Institute Acoustics Diffuser Design

 

On the 19th October 2026 the final BAAMM acoustic diffuser design was produced. The Royce Institute funded project, Bio Architectural Acoustics Manufactured Metamaterial, was successfully completed. The project between London South Bank University and NHS Guys & St Thomas's with support of 3D sustainable material manufacturer SymbioTex. It looks great thanks to Federico Rossi and Ruben Vazquez-Amos! 

Uniformity of Sound Field Tests

On the 19th October 2026 a retest was undertaken at Sunrise House, part of Guys & St Thomas's NHS Hospital Foundation Trust. This time the audiology clinical setting was fully furbished to understand the sound field under normal operating condition. This was part of the MRC FERMATA grant with Audio3.

 

International Year of Sound 2020+ Report

 

On the 12th October 2026 the final report on the International Year of Sound was published by the International Commission for Acoustics. The report covers activities in 2020-2021, a difficult time! The UK Acoustics Network, the Institute of Acoustics and I-INCE. Professor Stephen Dance amongst many others contributed to the 230 pages report, it is a long read :)

IOA Diploma Candidates 26-27

On the 5th October 2026 the 13th Institute of Acoustics Diploma cohort jointed London South Bank University. The course is lead by Professor Stephen Dance. For the first time the four taught modules will be taken over the course of the year in block release. Welcome one and all to the Acoustics Group!

 

20th Anniversary of the Royal Academy of Music Hearing Assessments

For the 20th Anniversary of the long term joint London South Bank University - Royal Academy of Music hearing project we made a silly movie. Once again 300 classical music students visited the Acoustics Laboratory over a 2 week period to be aurally assessed. For the 5th year both audiometry and otoacoustics were used in the assessment. Professor Stephen Dance and Nicola Mutton are the two originators of the project!