Sensgard Ear Protector Tested

The Sensgard ear protector was fully tested by an intrepid researcher using undercover techniques, I dressed up as Boris Johnson and went nightclubbing! Subjectively it was found to be effective, but the tubes seemed to be ineffective at attenuating the bass in the club. Officially, the Zem Sensgard is rated at 32.5 dB at 125 Hz linearly increasing to 37 dB noise reduction at 8 kHz with an NRR of 26. Merry Christmas to you all!

Research Assessment Exercise 2008

The results of the Research Assessment Exercise 2008 was released on 18th December 2008. The exercise covered all UK universities for the period 2001-7 inclusive. The Acoustics Group was part of a London South Bank University submission under General Engineering, 60% of the staff submitted were considered to be World Leading or be Excellent (4*/3* rating). Under the previous scheme this would be rated as 5*. By way of comparison, 60% of staff at ISVR were considered World Leading or Excellent (under Mech Engineering category), and 65% of the staff submitted by Salford were considered to be World Leading or Excellent. Well done to everybody and Merry Christmas!

Knowledge Connect with London Philharmonic

The Acoustics Group commenced work on a Knowledge Connect scheme on 15th December 2008 in collaboration with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. We hope, over the next 6 months, to address some of the issues raised by the new Noise at Work Regulations. This will include audiometry, dosimetry, architectural acoustics and education. Its a lot of work, in a little time!

Independent tests of the Absorptive Mirror

On Tuesday 9th December 2008 ANV Measurement Systems undertook the independent evaluation of the new sound absorbing mirror patented by London South Bank University Enterprises. The mirrors were found to an effective absorber from 250 Hz to 4kHz with a Noise Coefficient Rating of 0.8. These second generation mirrors will be installed at the Royal Academy of Music in their rehearsal and practice rooms.

iPhone at the Royal Academy of Music

On Thursday 20th November the iPhone was tested as a noise dosimeter a the Royal Academy of Music. The app was downloaded from iTunes, sound meter, and left to run during a rehearsal for 15 minutes, along with a Cirrus Research CR110 noise badge. Results look promising, calibration is tricky and the iPhone is not 100% stable!

Urban Wind Turbines - saviours or statues

CIBSE / ASHRAE together with IMechE have invited Dr Stephen Dance and Prof Tony Day to give a presentation on Urbines. Put a date in your diary, 13th May 2009, London South Bank University, 5.30pm. The flyer is...
Two 6 kW roof top wind turbines located in the middle of London have been
closely monitored for 2 years - wind speeds, noise, vibration and most
importantly electricity generation. These turbines are a traditional
horizontal axis and a more unusual vertical axis design. Tony Day and Steve
Dance will present the findings of the comparison of two turbine types in
this very real central London location of Elephant and Castle.

Acta Acustica Journal Now Available

The Acoustics Group through the European Acoustics Association now has access to Acta Acustica. Please make use of it!

iPhone as Integrating Sound Level Meter

On Monday 10th November the Acoustics Group tested sound level meter apps for the Apple iPhone. Using the iPhone external microphone it is possible, via Sound Meter by Faber Acoustical, to use the iPhone as an integrating sound level meter with reasonable accuracy, measuring LAeq,T. LCpeak can be measured but not simultaneously. The OS is a bit wobbly, calibration with a standard calibrator is possible. The max sound level is limited to around 95 dBA. The app costs $20.

KTP Award with Capita Symonds won

On the 10th November 2008 the Acoustics Group were awarded a 3 year Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Capita Symonds on Roof Top Wind Turbines. This was good timing as today the Quiet Revolution turbines all over Britain switched themselves off... Too windy!

MARU / Acoustics Group / Arup Project

On 10th November 2008 Nicky Shiers joined the Acoustics Group as a PhD student. Nicky will be working with the Medical Architecture Research Unit (MARU) and Arup on the acoustics in hospitals. Nicky is now an EPSRC Case Award scholar, previously she was attending the Masters course in Environmental and Architectural Acoustics. We wish her well in her studies

Royal Festival Hall Measurements

Georgia Zepidou and Stephen Dance were at the Royal Festival Hall to undertake comparative dosimetry measurements for the rehearsal and performance of the London Philharmonic Orchestra on 7th November 2008. They were lucky enough to listen to Gennadi Rozhdestvensky! Life isn't so bad...

New class 1 Sound Calibrator

The Acoustics Group have taken delivery of a new class 1 sound calibrator.

New Norsonic 140 Sound Level Meter

The Acoustics Group have just taken delivery of a new Norsonic 140 Sound Level Meter from Campbell Associates. The unit is for auralisation experiments, recording the sound and then measuring speech intelligibility. I hope the measurements and recordings agree with the computer simulations!

Svantek 958 Sound Level Meter

The Acoustics Group have upgraded the Svantek 958 4 channel analyser to include a noise capability using a Class 1 prepolarised 0V Chinese microphone from Shanghai. The meter can now measure octaves and 1/3 octaves, percentiles and reverberation time.

Stephen Dance presents at Inter-Noise 2008

Dr Stephen Dance presented his paper, "Are simplified models good enough to predict the acoustics of Underground Stations? " at Inter-Noise 2008 on October 29th in the main hall of the congress. His paper was well received in the special Underground spaces session. Many interesting points were raised and contacts established.

Louis Gomez presents at Inter-Noise 2008

Louis Gomez presented his paper, "Evaluation of More Suitable Test Methodologies to Obtain RT and STI in London Underground Spaces " at Inter-Noise 2008 on October 29th in the main hall of the congress. His paper was well received in the special Underground spaces session. Useful contacts were made for Telent Ltd with the consultants working on Singapore and Turkey metro networks.

Chistros Nestoras presents in Shanghai

Christos Nestoras presented his paper, "Design and Validation of Computer Models for the Assessment of Speech Intelligibility in Enclosed Spaces " at Inter-Noise 2008 on October 28th in the main hall of the congress. His paper was well received in the Architectural Acoustics session.

Inter-Noise 2008 Shanghai

The Acoustics Group was represented by Dr Stephen Dance and his PhD students: Louis Gomez and Christos Nestoras at Inter-Noise 2008 Shanghai. Three papers were presented and links with Academics, Consultants and Instrumentation Guys were made. A successful and enjoyable conference for all!

Emma Greenland hands in PhD Thesis

On Monday 20th October 2008 Emma Greenland submitted 3 copies of her doctoral thesis on Open Plan Schools. Well done Emma, I hope Mike Barron, Raf Orlowski and Carl Hopkins likes it!

Hoare Lea visit to see our roof top wind turbines

Hoare Lea, the consultant engineers, came in strength to visit the roof-top urban wind turbines on Ashenden House, Elephant and Castle. Luckily the weather the fine and the Proven and Quiet Revolution turbines were spinning nicely.

Dosimetry at the Royal Academy of Music

On 16th October 2008 the Acoustics Group began measuring individual noise doses of students from the Royal Academy of Music. Georgia Zedpidou, Steve Dance and Ozge Can were taking dosimetry measurements. The harp appears noisy than we thought!

This year acoustics students

On 14th October 2008 the 1st year Masters students were taken to see the Quiet Revolution and Proven urban wind turbines at Elephant & Castle. We have Hussien, Nicky, Ozge, Rob, Camilo, Ben and Bob. Welcome to the course!

Henry Wood Hall Rehearsals

On 9th October 2008, the Acoustics Group measured the noise dose of a sample of musicians of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The measurements were taken a Henry Wood Hall and will be repeated at the Royal Festival Hall for the following days performance.

Joint collaboration with the Ear Institute and the Royal College of Music

On 1st October 2008 the Royal College of Music and the Ear Institute, part of University College London, UK. agreed to collaborate on Enterprise developments and future joint research. It is hoped to developed an EU Framework 7 grant application addressing the needs of classical musicians.

ISVR Advanced Course

Dr Stephen Dance gave a presentation to the Noise Control thread of the ISVR Advance Course on Noise and Vibration on the 12th September. It was the first time the sound absorbing mirror had been seen by the profession. Luckily the mirror survived! More importantly, drinks and dinner was enjoyed by all at the Oxford Brasserie in Southampton

Assessing the PA Systems of London Underground

Dr Stephen Dance has agreed to assess the quality of the work undertaken by Telent Ltd for the specifying, design, surveying, installation and benchmarking of PA Systems on London Underground as operated by Tubelines. Seems like a lot of work!

Acoustics Group at the Proms

The Acoustics Group has been collaborating with the London Philharmonic Orchestra to establish the difference between noise exposure when rehearsing and when performing. On 2nd September 2008 dosimetry was undertaken whilst the musicians practiced the Firebird suite at the BBC Maida Vale studios. Then on the 5th September the measurement were repeated at the Royal Albert Hall thanks to Stephen Dance, Georgia Zepidou and Salvador Morant. Most importantly thanks to the cooperation of the musicians!

Acoustics Group / Royal Academy of Music Presentation

On Saturday 6th September the Acoustics Group and the Royal Academy of Music gave a joint presentation to the International Association of European Conservatories (AEC) on, "The Control of Noise at Work Act - A Collaboration". The conference was held at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. Philip White, the Registrar, Stephen Dance and Georgia Zepidou gave the presentation and demonstrated the sound absorbing mirror for the first ever time. We now have the fingerprints of all the attendees!

Audiometric testing of all new music students

The Acoustics Group has commenced audiometry health surveillance for all new students studying at the Royal Academy of Music. A Kamplex KLD21 audiometer has been installed to speed up the process in a second sound isolated booth. Hopefully there be less of a queue than last year!

Seminars for the Royal Academy of Music

Dr Stephen Dance gave a series of seminars to all new students and staff of the Royal Academy of Muisic on 3rd and 4th September 2008. The topic was the dangers of excessive noise exposure. The singers were particularly vocal in their questioning!

Knowledge Connect with London Philharmonic

On 15th August 2008, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Acoustics Group agreed to collaborate using the Knowledge Connect scheme run by Angle Technology. The team will establish the noise exposure of professional musicians during rehearsal performance in a number of different venues. Great work all.

Business Grant award

On 7th August 2008, Dr Stephen Dance was awarded an Emerald Business Award for the development of a patented "Soft Mirror". Our first business award will be used to create prototypes suitable for acoustic performance testing. The mirrors will be then be installed in the Royal Academy of Music for field testing in September 2008.

Inter-Noise 08 in Shanghai 3 Papers submitted

Three papers have been submitted for Inter-Noise 2008 in Shanghai, 26-29th October 2008. The papers are for a special session on "Underground station acoustics". The papers are entitled, "Evaluation of More Suitable Test Methodologies to Obtain RT and STI in London Underground Spaces", by Louis Gomez; "Design and Validation of Computer Models for the Assessment of Speech Intelligibility in Enclosed Spaces" by Christos Nestoras; "Are Simplified Models Good Enough to predict the Acoustics of Underground Stations?" by Stephen Dance. Steve will also be chairing the session with Prof Jian Kang.

Graduation Ceremony July 2008

On Thursday 24th July the postgraduate ceremony took place at the Imperial War Museum. Linda and Pradeep are dressed in their best. Don't know what happened to the other 4 graduates? Was a fabulous day in the sunshine.Well done all.

New Proven Wind Turbine tested on Kestrel House, Islington

The Acoustics Group have just completed the measurement and analysis of a new Proven wind turbine on Kestrel House, Islington, London. The 6 kW urbine has been installed on a 17 storey building undergoing refurbishment by Apollo. Continuing wind, noise and vibration measurements will be undertaken by Stephen Dance using Rion and Svantek equipment.

Presentation to London Philharmonic Orchestra

On 17th July Stephen Dance and Georgia Zepidou presented to the London Philharmonic Orchestra at Gylndebourne. A joint 1 hour presentation on, "Noise Exposure and Noise Induced Hearing Loss- A Risk Assessment for the Royal Academy of Music", was given to a receiptive audience. Aaron Williamon from the Royal College of Music also presented on, "Hearing of Musicians". It looks like I'm wearing a mask!

Georgia Presents in Paris

Georgia Zepidou presented her paper on, "An audiometry study of the students of the Royal Academy of Music". Georgia was erudite on Friday the 4th July at Acoustics 08. Luckily that was the day she presented.

The Acoustics Group at Glyndebourne

Dr Stephen Dance and Georgia Zepidou will be presenting to the London Philharmonic Orchestra at Glyndebourne on Thursday 7th July 2008. The LPO want to raise awareness of hearing damage amongst classical musicians. And for us, its a nice day out!

Linda Liviani presents her MSc dissertation

On Friday 4th July Linda Liviani presented her MSc dissertation on urbines as a poster at Acoustics 08 in Paris. Linda explains the noise and vibration from the roof-top wind turbine.

Summer Internships

In the last weeks ,two summer jobs have been organised by the Acoustics Group for Nicky Shiers at RBA-Acoustics and Ben Dymock at telent plc. Good luck next week. Remember to come back and study on the MSc in Environmental and Architectural Acoustics.

The Acoustics Group in Paris

Between June 30th and 6th July 2008 the Acoustics Group attended Acoustics 08 in Paris. Five papers were presented by Prof Shield, Christos Nestoras, Linda Liviani, Phil Wash, Georgia Zepidou. Salih and Bilgin Hassan joined us for the banquet at the Institute of Chemistry.
It may look like we drink a lot, but we did do some work! Although Steve Dance and Salva Morant were just taking it easy...

Christos Nestoras PhD Candidate presents in Paris

On Wednesday 2nd July at 8.20am (bloody early) Christos Nestoras presented his paper on quiet noise measurements using swept sine method in Paris. The event was organised by EAA/SFA/ASA and called Acoustics 08.

Fame at Last... Well Korean TV

On Friday 27th June Korean TV interviewed Prof Tony Day of London South Bank University and Tony Moseley of Southwark Council. The topic of discussion was the new Quiet Revolution urbine. I think health and safety has yet to arrive in Korea.

Long term monitoring of Quiet Revolution urbine

On Friday 20th June long term noise and vibration monitoring commenced on the Quiet Revolution urbine. At the same moment, 3.15pm, all traffic was stopped on New Kent Road due to an accident, so we have measurements without any background noise from traffic. Although an air ambulance did arrive, so you can't win!

Quiet Revolution turbine erected on Southwark site

On Tuesday 17th June our QR turbine was installed on Ashenden House, Elephant & Castle. The Acoustics Group will be monitoring the noise and vibration performance of the roof top wind turbine over the course of the next year. I have intern doing the work!

Second Audiometer for the Acoustics Lab

A new Kamplex KS16 automatic screening audiometer has been purchased. In July it will be installed in a second sound proof booth to extend the audiometric capability of the acoustics lab. They will be fully test in early September when the musicians of the Royal Academy of Music are tested.

Scholarships for MSc Acoustics students

RBA Associates and the Acoustics Group are pleased to announce 2 part scholarships for full time Masters students in Environmental and Architectural Acoustics. RBA Associates are acoustic consultants based near Southwark tube station. The first scholarships will be available from September 2008. RBA are

BS4142 Assessment at Tad Restaurant

On 23rd May 2008 the Acoustics Group undertook a BS4142 assessment at Tad Restaurant, Hackney. The exhaust system was monitored, we'd have liked more space! It turned out that an air handling unit of nearby residences was making the noise!

AcSoft demonstrates Svantek kit at South Bank

John Shelton of AcSoft demonstrated the latest Svantek Noise and Vibration meters, the 958 in particular, on Friday 23rd May 2008. Ken Rotter and Stephen Dance were suitably impressed by the meter's capabilities.

6 new logging sound level meters

Next year's acoustics' students will each be able to play / learn a new data logging sound level meter, downloading the results to their laptops, which they must program to calculate LAeq, LN, max, min values etc! Sounds like fun:)

A new environmental sound level meter

The Acoustics Group have recently purchased a new environmental sound level meters. Its a type 2 unit, but it has limited abilities. The students will learn its limits!

Peter Mapp presents to the Acoustics Group

On 29th April Peter Mapp gave a well received seminar on speech intelligibility to the Acoustics Group. This kept Peter off his phone for 2 hours.!Many questions were answered, unfortunately many more arose. That's research!

Acoustics Group purchase Extech Noise Alert System

The Acoustics Group have purchased a Extech Noise Alert system for use by the Royal Academy of Music. We hope the music students take notice of the sign!

IoA Diploma students can save a year on MSc in Acoustics

Recent Institute of Acoustics Postgraduate Diploma students can now save up to a year when joining the MSc in Environmental and Architectural Acoustics. The Master qualification will then allow Chartership to be awarded by the Engineering Council in only 1 additonal year (part-time), assuming suitable industrial experience has been obtained. This scheme will be rolled out from September 2008 apply now

The Royal Academy of Music Noise Team present at Playsafe

The Royal Academy of Music Noise team presents at the Institute of Acoustics Playsafe seminar. Martin outlined risk assessment, Steve presented the results and Georgia answered the questions on noise exposure of classical music students. An excellent collaboration between JEM Safety, RAM and LSBU- Acoustics.

Steve Dance presents his results on urban wind turbines at Reading

Steve Dance presents his results at Reading University for the Institute of Acoustics. The paper was entitled, "Noise from a roof-top urban wind turbine in London". In summary, central London is noisy, its reasonably windy at roof-top level, vibrations were minimal, electrical generation efficiency of the turbine was 9%, turbines are non tonal and relatively quiet.