New JBL Subwoofer

On the 18th December 2014 the Acoustics Group acquired their first passive subwoofer, a JBL 6112. It is lightweight, 16 kg, has a flat response from 40-300 Hz and runs using Speakon cable. It should be useful for transmission loss measurements and room acoustic analysis.

UK Research Results for Acoustics

The UK research audit has just been announced. Acoustics falls under General Engineering and London South Bank University Engineering submission was ranked 42nd out of the 153 Universities that took part in the audit. The General Engineering submission was found to be 3*, internationally leading, out of the possible 4 categories. Overall LSBU came 89th for the research produced during the period 2008-2013. I know a lot of effort went in by the research team, so I thank you all.

Best IOA Diploma Student Award

Jenefer Taylor has been awarded  the IOA Diploma prize for best student in 2014. Jennifer should  be congratulated on  achieving the highest marks in all of the UK. In addition,  Jemma Jones was commended on achieving merits in all 5 areas of studies - General Principles of Acoustics, Noise and Vibration Control, Building Acoustics, Laboratory and Project. Well done all!

Acoustics Roundup for 2014

Thanks for all your support over 2014. We won four key awards: Dr Stephen Dance was the recipient of the Institute of Acoustics Tyndall Medal, Professor Bridget Shield was awarded a Fellowship from the Acoustical Society of America, associate Dr Peter Mapp was awarded the Audio Engineering Society Bronze Medal, and the team won the Happold Trust prize. In addition MSc students Christina Higgins and Leo Weber were awarded the Acoustical Society of America Newman medal. Lorenzo Morales submitted and successfully defended his doctoral thesis. Links were furthered with the Institute of Acoustics with LSBU running the Certificate of Competence in Environmental Noise Measurement, hosting meetings on Machinery Noise, and BS4142:2014, as well as two Masters’ students giving an IOA London evening branch presentation, and associate Dr Brad Backus presenting his work on cochlear implants. The Masters course was reaccredited for CEng registration by both CIBSE and the Institute of Acoustics for 2014-2019 entrants.  One scientific paper was published in the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society. Presentations were given at the following conferences: Birmingham, Melbourne and Krakow.  Significant consultancy work was undertaken for Chevron, the Royal Academy of Music, Not for Scale and Native. In addition, outreach work with the Training Partnership, the Vision Forum,  and Making Music was undertaken. Finally, we would like to thank Professor Bridget Shield for her contribution to the group over the past 28 years. Best wishes for the New Year from the Acoustics Group.

Cymatic shoot by Not to Scale

On the 12th December 2014 the film company visited to the Acoustics Laboratory at London South Bank University. Not to Scale filmed in the anechoic chamber all day for a future Cymatic production. We hope the film looks stunning!

Abstract accepted for Wind Turbine Noise 2015

On the 15th December 2014 PhD candidate Ben Dymock's abstract was accepted to the 6th International Wind Turbine Noise conference. This year the conference will be held in Glasgow on 20-25th April 2015. The paper is on the final results of Ben's urban wind turbine study.

Student Christmas Party 2014

On the 11th December 2014 the IOA and MSc students held their Christmas party in a local English pub. As is traditional Steve provided the wine and the pizza. We all hope they enjoyed their year and a revising right now!

Christmas Gathering of the Acoustics Group

On the evening of the 5th December 2014 the Acoustics Group had their annual Christmas gathering. This year it was held at the new Bulgari Hotel, Knightsbridge. Old students and new attended the event, along with our guest lecturers and former researchers. We all congratulated Bridget on becoming the first Emeritus Professor of Acoustics.

MSc student presents in Australia

Former Masters student Sheldon Walters presented a research paper in Melbourne, Australia at Inter-Noise 2014 last month. Sheldon's paper was based on his thesis and was entitled,"Noise control potential of vacuum isolating panels". He then took Nick Durup and Colin Campbell on a night on the town to shown them the sights!

Steve presents at the Institute of Education

On the 2nd December 2014, Dr Stephen Dance presented to the Training Partnership at the new UCL  Institute of Education. Steve presented to STEM students on the mathematics behind acoustics. He chose the subject, "Red Card or No Red Card - An acoustic investigation" to present to 900 A level students. It was also his first every selfie!

Nick wins I-INCE Travel Grant

PhD candidate Nick Durup has been awarded the International Institute of Noise Control Engineers travel grant. Nick was fortunate to present at Inter-Noise 2014 in Melbourne Australia. His paper was awarded the I-INCE grant of £500 for young acousticians. Nick presented his paper entitled, "Vocal problems for teachers and school acoustics - a field study". He is now traveling around Oz!

Seminar for Making Music

On the 27th November 2014 LSBU hosted a meeting for Making Music at CEREB. The seminar was on Music and Hearing Safety and it was jointly presented by Martin Marmoy-Haynes (of JEM Safety Management) and Stephen Dance. Questions were answered over a glass of wine in a very civilised manner!

Leo wins ASA Newman Award

On the 26th November 2014 Masters student Leo Weber was awarded the Acoustical Society of America Newman Prize for best student project. His research project was entitled "Investigation into the application of an acoustic meta-material for sound attenuation in airflow" and was supervised by Dr Luis Gomez–Agustina. Leo and Luis will be presenting a paper based on the research project at ICSV in Italy next summer!

THe Vision Forum visits from Sweden

Swedish contemporary artists visited the Acoustics Group on the 25th November 2014. Karin Kihlberg of Linköping University,  was the organiser of the visit and the co-coordinator for the Vision Forum. The Vision forum is an international organisation which carries out research and contemporary visual art productions across borders. The researchers attended a lecture given by Dr Brad Backus and then visited the Acoustics labs. I think everyone had a good time!

Luis article on the front cover of the IOA bulletin

A technical contribution article by Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina has been selected to feature as leading article on the front page of Institute of Acoustics (IOA) Nov-Dec 2014 Acoustic Bulletin issue. The article entitled “Improvement of voice alarm systems (VA) in underground railway stations” is based on the conference paper which was nominated by delegates attending Reproduced Sound 2013 to appear in the Bulletin. Previous IOA president Bridget Shield told the Acoustics group: “A good platform (sorry, pun not intended!) from which to launch Luis plea for a new standard”

Abstracts for EuroNoise 2015

More abstracta have been submitted to Euronoise 2015 conference http://www.euronoise2015.eu/index.htmlentitled “Investigation into the application of an acoustic meta-material for sound attenuation with airflow”. The paper will be based on the high quality final project undertaken by MSc student Leo Weber and supervised by Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina. In addition, PhD candidate Gizem Okten has submitted an abstract entitled, "A comparison of the room acoustics of laboratory and real spaces on the vocal load of Opera singers". We are all looking forward to visiting the Netherlands. 

Institute of Acoustics 40th Party

On the 6th November 2014 the Institute of Acoustics held a 40th anniversary party in Soho, London. The Acoustics Group had a good turn out with the staff, students, ex-students and associates in attendance. We were also lucky enough to be taken out for Turkish coffee at Kahve Dunyasi in Piccadilly by one of our students who designed and installed the sound system.

Abstract submitted for International Building Physics Conference

On the 23rd October 2014, PhD candidate Nick Durup submitted an abstract to the 6th International Conference on Building Physics on his latest research. The paper is entitled, "How classroom acoustics effect the vocal load of teachers" and Nik will present it in a special session on "Teaching and learning in healthy comfortable classrooms". The conference is to be held in Turin, 14-17 June 2015.

RPG Panels Tested by the Acoustics Group

On the 23rd October 2014, RPG Europe delivered 14 panels to the Acoustics Group for testing and evaluation in accordance with ISO 354:2003. A thicker 15th panel was tested using the Microflown impedance gun. The students all enjoyed the demonstration.

Abstract submitted to Euronoise 2015

An invited paper has been submitted to Euronoise 2015, to be held in Maastricht in June 2015. The abstract is for a special session on, "Sound Exposure of Musicians" and is entitled, "Sound exposure of musicians and hearing loss". Dr Stephen Dance will present the latest research. Now it's the students turn to write their papers!

Dr Stephen Dance receives the Tyndall Medal

Dr Stephen Dance was awarded the Institute of Acoustics Tyndall Medal for his research activities over the past 20 years. The award was presented by ex President of the Institute of Acoustics, Prof Bridget Shield, at the IOA's 40th Conference in Birmingham. Steve then went on to give his first plenary address on his work with the Royal Academy of Music.

Steve Dance presents at the 40th IOA Conference

On the 16th October 2014, Dr Stephen Dance of the Acoustics Group, London South Bank University, presented his Masters student's paper entitled, "The development of vacuum isolating panels for noise control applications". There was great interest in Sheldon Walters work, with many more questions that need further investigation to be answered!

The Acoustics Group at the 40th IOA Conference

On the 16th October 2014, the Acoustics Group meet at the Institute of Acoustics 40th Conference at the NEC, Birmingham. The Masters students come up for the day to attend the conference and learn wider aspects of acoustics and its context. Prof. Bridget Shield organised the event as President of the Institute of Acoustics. We all hope they had a good time and learnt something!

Peter Mapp receives the AES Bronze Medal in Los Angeles

On the 12th October 2014 Dr Peter Mapp, Acoustics Group Associate, was awarded the Audio Engineering Society Bronze Medal. It was presented at the 137th Meeting of the AES in Los Angeles for services to the Society. He is currently the co-chair of Technical Committee for Acoustics and Sound Reinforcement. Well done Peter!

40th Anniversary IOA Conference Dinner

The Institute of Acoustics 40th Anniversary conference dinner was held at the Hilton at the NEC Birmingham. The London South Bank University acoustics students decided to have a table to themselves among the 300 guests. In the picture Sam won the IOA diploma project award, Gordon Hunter - from Kingston, Tammy an MSc student, Christina an ex MSc student now at Ramboll, Cleo a PhD student from Surrey, Nick - a PhD student, Ben - a PhD student, Bob - ex MSc student now at ANV, Steve Dance - a very ex PhD student, and Gizem - a PhD student. The definition might have been stretched a tat :)

Christina Higgins presents at IOA 40th Conference

On the 15th October 2014, Christina Higgins and Raf Orlowski presented Christina's Masters thesis at the 40th Institute of Acoustics Conference. The thesis was supervised by Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina and the paper entitled, "An investigation into Helmholtz resonators of the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London". Christina did extremely well answering questions from the audience.

Nick Durup presents at 40th IOA Conference

PhD candidate, Nick Durup, gave a presentation at the 40th Institute of Acoustics conference at the Birmingham NEC on his research project. The title of his paper was, "Vocal Stress and Acoustics in School - an online survey for teachers". The on-line survey is still on-going and can be found here.www.survey.bris.ac.uk/lsbu/voicesurvey

IOA 30th Reproduced Sound Conference

On the 15th October 2014, the students, staff and associates of the Acoustics Group met at the 30th Anniversary of Reproduced Sound organised by the Institute of Acoustics and held at the NEC. In the photograph, we have Glenn - PhD supervisor, Lorenzo - ex PhD student, Luis - Research Fellow, Steve - Lecturer, Paul - IOA student, Tammy - Masters student, Bob - Lecturer and Christina - ex Masters student.

IOA 40th Poster on Speech Reinforcement in Classrooms

On the 14th October 2014, at the Institute of Acoustics Reproduced Sound Conference held at the NEC, Birmingham, a research poster was erected describing the work on speech reinforcement. The poster was created by Dr Brad Backus, Dr Stephen Dance and Dr Lorenzo Morales and outlines how a Phonak system re-enforcing speech under combinations of background noise levels and reverberation times.

Anne Kyyro Quinn at Illy Coffee Shop

On the 13th October international designer and alumni Anne Kyyro Quinn Design Ltd, in collaboration with the Acoustics Group, installed six beautiful panels in to the Illy Coffee Shop at Clarence House for Enterprise and Innovation at London South Bank University. These sustainable sourced textile panels have significantly improved the coffee drinking environment for all whilst providing an artistic backdrop for all. Thank you Anne!

Graduation 2014

On the 6th October 2014 the Masters and Doctoral students graduated at the splendid location of the Royal Festival Hall: Mr Nicolas Williams, Ms Christina Higgins together with Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina and Dr Peter Mapp. The venue was particularly relevant to Christina as her project was on the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Congratulations to all the graduands!

2014 Postgraduate Acoustics Students

Here are this year's crop of Institute of Acoustics Diploma and Masters students for 2014. I think we were missing a few who were obviously camera shy. We hope they all have a great time at London South Bank University! Now Luis, Bob and Steve have to learn all their names.

Institute of Acoustics Certificate Students

For the second time the Acoustics Group is running the Institute of Acoustics Certificate of Competence in Environmental Noise Measurement. This year Dr Luis Gomez Agustina, Dr Stephen Dance and Dr Bob Peters are teaching on the course. It seems to be the year for Crossrail measurements.

Dr Gomez becomes an Associate of the Higher Education Academy

On the 22nd September 2014 Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina became an Associate Member of the Higher Education Academy. The award came from the work currently being undertaken as part of the Post-Graduate Certificate of Teaching and Learning programme. Now, he has to finish his dissertation!

Lorenzo aces his doctoral defence!

On the 19th September 2014 doctoral candidate Lorenzo Morales defended his thesis, "Validation and optimisation of the Speech Transmission Index for the English Language". Dr Francis Lee and Dr Bob Peters were the examiners and were highly complimentary on the quality and inclusiveness of the research. No changes were recommended to the work! Well done Lorenzo.

Students present at the IOA London branch

On the 17th September 2014 two former Masters students gave a presentation on their dissertations to the Institute of Acoustics London Branch. Christina Higgins, now off Ramboll, started with her work on Helmholtz resonators. This was followed by Eugenie St Cluque on her work on whole body vibration from bicycle riding. Both answered in depth questions on their research projects. New students and old then went to the Duke of York for am informal catchup!

Gizem Okten presents at Forum Acusticum

 

PhD Candidate, Gizem Okten, presented her paper at Forum Acusticum 2014 in Krckow, Poland. On the 11th September 2014 Gizem  presented  her research topic on vocal loading of classically trained vocalist from the Royal Academy of Music in rehearsal spaces. She had a fantastic time in a beautiful city!

8th year of Hearing Tests for the students of the Royal Academy of Music

On the 15th September 2014 the London South Bank University started their 8th year of audiological health surveillance for the students of the Royal Academy of Music. Just 300 students to go!

Dr Dance gives lecture to the Royal Academy of Music students

On the 10th and 11th September 2014 Dr Dance gave a series of lectures to the students of the Royal Academy of Music. Four lectures were given to the four main instrument groups on the Musicians' Hearing and the Noise of Performance : Strings, Keyboard, Brass/Woodwind and Vocal. As ever the students were very enthusiastic, but they were all Freshers!

Dr Dance give an ISVR Advanced Course Lecture

On the 12th September 2014 for the 12th year Dr Stephen Dance gave a lecture to the ISVR Advanced Course on Noise Control, held at Southampton University. The international course delegates enjoyed a lecture on room acoustics and computer modelling. Let's hope they invite me back next year!

Fellowship for Dr Stephen Dance

On the 10th September 2014 Dr Stephen Dance, Director of the Acoustics Group at London South Bank University was given the honour of becoming a Fellow of the Institute of Acoustics. Steve has been in acoustics for more than 25 years and has been going to IOA Conference since Windemere 1990!

Making Music at LSBU

A joint presentation on behave of Making Music will be made by the Acoustics Group and JEM Safety on the benefit of reducing the risk of excessive music exposure on performers hearing. The evening meeting will be held at London South Bank University on Thursday 27th November 2014 at 6pm. We hope to see many acousticians and musicians at the meeting to be held at CEREB.