IOA Diploma Student Projects & NTI-Audio best project award

 
Three IOA Diploma students will present their own research at the London Branch meeting to be held on 20 January 2021 over Zoom. John Allen will present on, "The Effectiveness of Military Air Crew Helmet Protection"; Courtney Hawkins on, "The Effect of Weather on Building Acoustic Design"; and finally Rory Hendrick on, "Vibration in Fiber-Reinforced Concrete". At the end of the evening Charles Green will present the NTi-Audio award to the best student. Good luck everyone!  

Scotland: Welcomed the reintroduction of music in hospitality venues

 

On the 12^th December 2020 background music was reintroduced to the hospitality sector in Scotland thanks to some fleet footed acoustics research. The Scottish Parliament having banned music in August 2020 to prevent the spread of COVID. In October 2020 Prof Stephen Dance and UKAN supported KSG Acoustics to quickly design and develop a new subjective methodology statement to establish safe amplified indoor audio levels. In November 2020, this methodology was objectively assessed as effective based on multiple field studies. The research was put in-front of ministers in December 2020 where it was agreed to be suitable for implementation by both License Standards Officers and Environment Health Officers. Let's hope the pubs and restaurants open again soon!

Greenwich Foot Tunnel Acoustically Surveyed

 

The Greenwich foot tunnel in London (UK) connects the south and north banks of the river Thames. It runs 15m beneath the river bank and is 370m long. It was inaugurated in 1902, it is a listed building used by a 1.2 million people a year. It has become an interesting London acoustic landmark due to its unusual and interesting acoustic characteristics. In December 2020 for the first time ever, a comprehensive survey was undertaken to characterize the acoustics of this London landmark. It was conducted by Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina and former LSBU MSc Acoustics student Pedro Vazquez-Barrera with the assistance of PhD candidate Doug Shearer. Watch this space for further information on results.

Summary of Acoustics Group Activity: 2020

We thank you all for your support over what can only be described as a difficult year. To summarise links with IOA were further strengthened with branch meetings and virtual seminars given by both staff and students. Presentations were given at various virtual conferences including IOA annual conference, European INCE on Quiet Drones, Reproduced Sound, and of course Inter-Noise 2020.  Six journal papers were published on metadiffusers, lung sounds, recycled glass beads, the UK noise environment under COVID- theQuietProject.co.uk, inflatables as an acoustic treatment and the noise from the operation of London Heliport. Dr Bob Peter’s final book was published on uncertainty. Prizes were awarded to IOA Students: Jakub Hajku (NTi award) and Paul Roberts (ANC Diploma project) and of course Doug Shearer was awarded his doctorate! Sponsorship and support was extended by both the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal Opera House. New equipment was purchased to deliver “Lab in a Box”, Dirac 6 for measurements, and CADNA-A for environmental noise modelling. Research funding was secured to extend the UK Acoustics Network and a new EPSRC UKAN+ grant awarded for 2021-25. Next year will see normality resume and the introduction of the long awaited Apprenticeship in Acoustics! Happy New Year to you all.

 

New Book out: Uncertainty in Acoustic Measurements

 
On the 27th July 2020 the last work by Dr Bob Peters was published by CRC Press. Bob's book on Uncertainty in Acoustics Measurement, prediction and assessment was his personal bugbear. Dr Peters managed to persuade 12 contributors to each write a chapter on their specialist area, one of which was our own Professor Peter Mapp - who covered speech intelligibility. Bob always said he admired the Douglas Adams quote, "I love the sound a deadline makes when it whizzes passed". We all miss you Bob.  

Abstract submitted to Inter-Noise 21 on Teaching under Covid

 On the 10th December 2021 Professor Dance submitted an abstract to Inter-Noise 2021. The 50th anniversary conference will be held in Washington, 1-4th August 2021. The abstract entitled, "COVID Teaching of Acoustics and Noise Control: Lab in a Box for Experiments at Home" in the session on the next 50 years of Noise Control. This year the conference will be hybrid in nature, but I hope to see you in person - it's been a while! 

Virtual Reality Measurements at the Royal Academy of Music

 

Last week PhD students, Eric Ballestero and Doug Shearer went to the Royal Academy of Music to undertaken a series of unusual measurements. They were trying to replicate the feeling of being in the halls using virtual reality. To do this a 360 camera was used along with ambisonic microphones to take recordings and measurements. We hope to test the system in early 2021 on the students to see how close to reality we got! 

Paul Roberts wins the ANC Diploma Project Award

 
On the 1st December 2020 the first virtual recipient of the ANC Diploma Prize was awarded. We are very help to announce that Paul Roberts won for his project, "Sound Propagation from Lightwells". Paul made a short response thanking the ANC for the book and his supervisor Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina. Well done Paul!  

Association of Noise Consultants Awards

On the 1st December 2020 the Association of Noise Consultants held their first on-line awards ceremony. Usually this would be part of the ANC Summer Conference, but COVID had other plans. This year Professor Dance was one of a panel of judges casting on eye over the nominees. We wish them all well, but particular one's that were educated at London South Bank University.  
 

Paper presented at Reproduced Sound 2020 conference

This year the Acoustics Group has been represented at Reproduced Sound 2020 online conference by a paper and presentation by former LSBU IOA Diploma student Chris Adair and Diploma course director Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina. On the second day of the conference, Chris presented to an interested and international audience a summary of their paper entitled “Suitability of Hi-Fi loudspeakers in measurements of Reverberation Time in domestic multi-media rooms”. Luis and Chris hope you enjoyed the presentation and the paper.

 

Acoustics Group and IOA London Branch host Apex talk on Open plan Offices

On 18 Nov 2020 Jack Harvie-Clark presented an excellent talk to the London Branch of the Institute of Acoustics (IOA) entitled  “Open plan offices: Advances in acoustics design”. Jack gave a comprehensive review of the current understanding and challenges in the acoustics design of open plan offices. He unveiled parts of a new ISO standard  on acoustics quality of open office spaces soon to be released. The meeting was organized and hosted by Dr Luis Gomez of the LSBU Acoustics Group and the IOA London Branch. We are grateful to Jack for his time and insights.    

Abstract submitted to ICSV27 in Prague

An abstract has been submitted to the delayed ICSV 27 conference to be held in Prague.  11-15 July 2021. The paper is entitled, "The Quiet Project - The UK Acoustic Community's response to COVID 19". The paper highlights the process and methodology behind the nationwide noise survey created with KSG Acoustics. See you in Prague!

The Quiet Project restarts for Lockdown 2.0

 

The Quiet Project has restarted, just in time for Lockdown 2.0. It was restarted in Scotland on 9th October 2020 when central Scotland reintroduced restrictions. As of 5th November 2020 England will have full restrictions, with the exception of education. This is precisely in line with our predictions, in mid April 2020, when the Quiet Project was started. Anyone who has acoustic instrumentation is welcome to take part by registering here. This will allows us to assess of the effectiveness of Lockdown 2.0. 

Paper accepted for Reproduced Sound Conference

An scientific paper submitted to the Institute of Acoustics (IOA) conference Reproduced Sound 2020  has been recently accepted for the conference proceedings. The paper is entitled “Suitability of Hi-Fi loudspeakers in measurements of Reverberation Time in domestic multi-media rooms”. It was written by former IOA Diploma student Chris Adair with Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina. This national conference focus on all aspects of electro-acoustics and will take place virtually online in the afternoons of 17,18 and 19^th November 2020. Luis and Chris hope to meet you online at the conference.

Masters' Students doing Lab at Home experiments

This year's Masters' students have been taught on-line. They have had access to "The Lab in a Box" so experiments can be taken at home. We welcome them all and hope that we can all meet in person in 2021!
 

Masters studentJosie Nixon presents at International conference on Drones

 
INCE-Europe held the inaugural conference on Drone Noise, Quiet Drones 19-21st October 2020 on-line. Masters student Josie Nixon presented a paper based on her thesis entitled, "Sound of the Drone Uprising- An exploration of the aero-acoustic performance of drone blades". Josie answered questions at the end of her session on Noise Generation and Mitigation on how a 4 dBA reduction was possible through optimisation based on noise rather than of flight performance.    

Paper published in Applied Acoustics on Treating a Music Rehearsal Space with Airbed

 On 21st October 2020, the scientific journal Applied Acoustics published a paper by PhD candidate Douglas Shearer on his research on low frequency acoustic treatment for music spaces. The paper entitled, "Flexible control of acoustic conditions in a music rehearsal space using airbeds" can be read here until December 2020. 

New Path Medical - Hearing Coach OAE Hearing Test

 

The new method of testing hearing has arrived! Path Medical with Hearing Coach have created a system which can assess personal hearing damage objectively using Otoacoustic Emissions. This system will be used in parallel with traditional health surveillance to provide greater understanding of the hearing acuity of musicians. In 2021 Prof Dance with the full cooperation of the Royal Academy of Music will undertake a pilot study to demonstrate the new technology. 

Former Masters student Nick Brown at IOA 2020

 
During the Speech, Hearing and Biomedical session of the IOA Virtual Acoustics Conference chaired by Dr Haydar Aygun a former Masters student Nick Brown presented his dissertation research. The paper was entitled, "Development of auscultation smartphone app: an investigation into the feasibility of replicating the mechanical auscultation procedure on a smartphone app". Nick now part of the BDP team answered many questions on COVID, sensor position and methodoloy. Well done Nick! 

Steve presents at IOA 2020

 
On the 9th October 2020 Professor Stephen Dance presented at the Institute of Acoustics Virtual Conference. The research was undertaken by PhD candidate Doug Shearer using the techniques developed by Georgia Zepidou in late 2019. The paper was entitled, "Sound exposure of staff at a conservatoire". Many questions were asked over chat which he hoped were answered clearly.

Luis presents at IOA 2020

On 8th October 2020 Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina presented a paper to IOA ACOUSTICS 2020 online conference.The accepted paper for the proceedings is entitled “Repeatability of the balloon pop as a sound source in a room” written in collaboration with MSc Acoustics student Pedro Vazquez-Barrera. Luis enjoyed the opportunity to answer several questions posed from the interested virtual audience and the chair of the session

 

Welcome to the 2020-21 IOA Diploma Course

The 2020-21 IOA Diploma course at LSBU has successfully commenced. Course director Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina welcomed students and introduced the course remotely online. This is seventh time that LSBU runs the IOA Diploma course since it was reinstated in Sept 2013. Eleven students have joined this  2020-21 intake.  This cohort has a varied composition of students from diverse professional and academic background comprising of Music Technology, Audio Engineering, Environmental Science and Architecture students. Due to the current COVID19 pandemic and following official guidance and restrictions,  this year will be the first time we’ll run the Diploma in hybrid mode. This means that’s a large part of teaching and learning will be online with some on-campus lab experiments carried out face to face. We wish you a great learning experience and enjoyable time at LSBU

LSBU Diploma Student awarded Best Diploma Project by the ANC

 

he Association of Noise Consultants (ANC) has recently announced the best IOA Diploma final project Prize winner for the 2028-19 cohort. The winner is LSBU 2018-19 Diploma ex- student Paul Roberts. Paul’s final project was entitled Sound Propagation from Lightwells. The well deserved  award consists  of a book of choice,  prize money and an invitation to attend and present at the  ANC award ceremony. The project supervisor Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina and the IOA Diploma committee and are delighted for Paul’s achievement. Well done Paul.

Reimagining the Orchestra Pit at the Royal Opera House

A Ricoh Theta V 360 degree camera has been purchased for use on the Royal Opera House project. The 360 camera together with the Oculus Rift will be used to recreate a virtual orchestra pit by PhD candidate Eric Ballestero. Eric has written scripts for the Unity engine to reimagine the pit for the musicians to enjoy and state a preference.  
 

Nature in Lockdown at the Natural History Museum

 

The work of the Quiet Project has been included in a new exhibit at the Natural History Museum. The exhibition is entitled, "Nature in Lockdown", and Nature: liberated by Lockdown. We hope in the fullness of time the work becomes part of a permanent exhibit.

Acoustic kit available for collection for Masters students

 Under COVID conditions new instrumentation has been purchased for "Lab at Home" style experiments for the Masters students. The kit is now ready for collection from the Acoustics Laboratory Faraday Wing FW09. We hope the kit does the job, as this is the first time ever this has been tried!

Paper accepted for the IOA Virtual Conference - Acoustics 2020

 

The Institute of Acoustics is going on-line for Acoustics 2020. On Friday 9th October Professor Stephen Dance will present the work of PhD candidate Doug Shearer and former PhD student Georgia Zepidou  during the Speech and Hearing Session in the afternoon. The paper is entitled, "Sound exposure of staff at a conservatoire". This work was undertaken last autumn when people could meet- so it should bring back happy memories!

Paper accepted for IOA Virtual Conference- Acoustics 2020

 

A paper submitted to the Institute of Acoustics (IOA) conference ACOUSTICS 2020  has been recently accepted for the conference proceedings. The paper is entitled “Repeatability of the balloon pop as a sound source in a room”. It has been written by Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina and LSBU MSc Acoustics student Pedro Vazquez-Barrera. The national conference will take place virtually online on 5,6, 8 and 9^th October 2020. Luis and Pedro hope to meet you online at the conference.

Professor Peter Mapp awarded IOA Engineering Medal

 

On the 16th September 2020 Professor Peter Mapp was awarded the Institute of Acoustics Engineering Medal. The ceremony took place for the first time during a Zoom meeting where IOA President Stephen Turner gave the citation for Professor Mapp. The award is specifically for contribution to acoustical engineering where the winner is normally a Chartered Engineering. Peter's contribution has been on electro-acoustics particularly public address systems, but his seminar was on Ultrasonics!

Doing acoustics COVID style

 

Professor Peter Mapp has been busy investigating the effect on speech intelligibility whilst wearing masks. Something usually only important whilst under going surgery but now... Not sure how much the Binaural Observers (Bobs) have got to say but lets how clear it is! 

Inter-Noise presentation by Dr Haydar Aygun

 

On the 25th August 2020 Dr Haydar Aygun presented his research to the Inter-Noise 2020 eCongress via Zoom. His paper entitled, "Scattering of acoustic waves in air and water filled 3D printed porous rigid materials", was pre-recorded and available to view until 6th September 2020.

PhD candidate presents her research at Inter-Noise 2020

 

On the 25th August 2020 PhD candidate Suzana Zekic presented at the first ever Virtual Inter-Noise eCongress. She presented her work entitled, "Measurement Methods of Acoustics Properties for Alternative Ventilation Ducts". Suzana did this live which was impressive as the session was very early in the morning as the conference was hosted in South Korea! Questions were through the Chair using the chat option in Zoom. A novel experience for all!

Acoustics Kit for Home Use: All Ready for 20/21

 The Acoustics Group has purchase more audio kit for home use by the incoming  2020/21 students. The additional kit consists of Behringer omni-directional measurement microphones and two channel USB 192 kHz 24 bit sound cards. This kit will be used with Windows based measurement software for calibrated data acquisition. Finally, we have identical mechanical music boxes as a simple sound devices. We hope this 'lab in a box' will give the students plenty to experiment with over the coming autumn term!  

Ultrasonic Devices & Audibility – Hearing the Inaudible Lecture

 In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in Ultrasonic sounds & emissions, culminating in a special addition of JASA dedicated to the topic in 2018. Ultrasonic devices have a wide range of application ranging from ultrasonic tape measures and car proximity warning systems to pest deterrents and the safety surveillance monitoring of public address and sound systems used for emergency purposes. Other uses include ultrasonic cleaning and medical applications as well as antisocial behaviour deterrent devices, wind speed indicators and ‘inaudible’ ringtones. The talk will take a brief look at a number of typical applications and discuss the human sensitivity to ultrasound and the potential audibility, typical levels and issues that some of these devices and applications produce. Visiting Professor with the Institute of Acoustic London Branch will present his lecture on-line at 6pm on 16th September 2020.

 

Acoustics Group Activity Reported by IOA Bulletin

The May/June 2020 issue of the  Institute of Acoustics (IOA) Bulletin reports on a prize giving ceremony for LSBU IOA Diploma students which took place at the IOA London Branch in January 2020. The new annual prize competition is sponsored by NTI Audio to award the best IOA Diploma final project undertaken at LSBU.  https://www.ioa.org.uk/sites/default/files/Acoustics%20Bulletin%20May-June%202020.pdf

The July /August 2020 issue of the Bulletin summarises the successful and pioneering educational exchange between LSBU Acoustics students and Architecture students of Architectural Associates which took place in Feb 2020.

Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina,  IOA Diploma course director, also appears in the new  promotional video https://www.ioa.org.uk/watch-our-students-video-diploma-acoustics-noise-control on the  IOA Diploma course (run at LSBU) as ex alumni and current course director. We hope you enjoy these latest new stories.

Teaching Preparation for 20/21

The Acoustics Group have implemented plans to deliver teaching in 20/21 using a hybrid model. Lectures will be on-line / experiments at home/labs. Students will be given kit (not to keep) to undertake experiments at home using the ARTA measurement system, as well borrowing Class 1 sound level meters for environment assessments. In addition, a few laboratories will be run at Uni at monthly intervals to cover specialist areas and run in accordance with current government guidance. We hope to see you after the summer break - one way or another! 

Professor Dance gives inaugural lecture

On the 2nd July 2020 Professor Stephen Dance, Chair of Acoustics at London South Bank University was invited to give his inaugural lecture. For the first time ever this was achieved through virtual conferencing with the support of the Institute of Acoustics, the Hearing Conservation Association and the UK Acoustics Network.  There were 77 participates for the 1 hour lecture with a Q&A session which plenty of insightful questions. Enjoy the video!

Dr Aygun joins Editorial Board

Dr Haydar Aygun has been invited to join the editorial board of the Elsevier publication, "Applied Acoustics". This is a prestigious UK scientific journal for the application of acoustics. 

Observer article on the Quiet Project

Yesterday the Sunday paper the Observer published an article featuring our work on the Quiet Project. The article was in the New Review under the Science-Tech section pages 19-20  Please have a read here.  If you are an acoustician and would like to join the project we can assist by supplying a sound meter to make the measurements and observations.

Journal paper published in Construction and Building Materials

The Journal of Construction and Building Materials was pleased to inform Dr Aygun and Dr McCann that their article, “Structural and acoustical performance of recycled glass bead panels” has been published online.   Construction and Building Materials Volume 258, 20 October 2020, 119581, pages 1-13. Enjoy reading this interesting article.

URL:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2020.119581 or on research gate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342051507_Structural_and_acoustical_performance_of_recycled_glass_bead_panels

Inaugural Lecture moved on-line - Acoustics of Music and Hearing

Professor Stephen Dance has spent the past 14 years collaborating with leading music organisations on acoustic solutions. Initially with the Royal Academy of Music when the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 were introduced. This was followed in 2009 by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Henry Wood Hall. More recently the Royal Opera House and St Paul’s Cathedral have been supportive. The research focused on providing education, raising awareness, and producing designs which would allow these extraordinarily talented and dedicated professionals to continue to performance to the very highest standards.

The lecture will combine architectural acoustics, audiology, product design, material science, education, noise control, and functional art. This was necessary as there is no golden bullet to solve the issue of, “music, is it noise?” Join us on Zoom on 2nd July 4-5pm. See Institute of Acoustics, UK Acoustics Network, Hearing Conservation Association for details.

Abstract submitted on acoustics of light wells accepted by Internoise 2020

An abstract of an research article submitted to InterNoise 2020 International E-Congress has been recently accepted by the congress reviewing panel. The article is entitled “Classical acoustics approach to the prediction of sound propagation from residential building light-wells” and has been written by former student of the IOA Diploma at LSBU Paul Roberts and Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina. The international acoustics e-congress will take place virtually online and will be hosted in Seoul, Korea between 23 and 26 August 2020. We hope we can meet there virtually and enjoy this modern format of congresses.

Abstract submitted on acoustics of ventilation ducts accepted by Internoise 2020

An abstract of an article submitted to InterNoise 2020 International E-Congress has been recently accepted by the congress reviewing panel. The abstract has been written by PhD candidate Suzana Zekic and supervisory team lead by Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina. It is entitled “Review of existing test procedures for the determination of acoustic properties of alternative ventilation ducts”. The international acoustics e-congress will take place virtually online and will be hosted in Seoul, Korea between 23 and 26 August 2020. We hope we can meet there virtually and enjoy this modern format of congresses.

Covid19 Noise and Soundscape Survey Completed

A Quiet Project noise and soundscape survey in Essex has recently been completed for the Quiet Project. This could only happen with the kind support of Campbell Associates. Along with the 2 weeks of measurements, daily weather observations were made plus  notes on the soundscape. So far 100+ users have signed up to the scheme creating 200+ measurement locations across the UK. Why not join in - particularly if you are near a trunk road or motorway as Highway England is collecting this noise data to validate transportation models!

Dr Aygun joins Editorial Board

Dr Haydar Aygun recently joined the editorial board of on-line publisher Science Publishing Group for the publication - America Journal of Physics and Application.

Luis awarded Fellowship of the Institute of Acoustics

The UK Institute of Acoustics  (IOA) have recently awarded Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina the grade of corporate Fellow member of the institute.  The grade of Fellow is the senior professional class for members who have made a significant contribution to acoustics or to the profession of acoustics. We congratulate Luis on this achievement and expect to celebrate it with him face to face soon.  

BioAcoustics Specialist Interest Group goes On-line!

Dr Haydar Aygun, MSc Course Director, is organising an online seminar for Biomedical Acoustics Special Interest Group (https://acoustics.ac.uk/sigs/biomedical-acoustics/) on Friday 26 June 2020 between 13:00-17:00. Online seminar will include a mixture of talks, discussion about acoustics and COVID-19, online networking during the event. Dr Aygun hopes to see you on ZOOM for the event. Details of the event are given on https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ukan-biomedical-acoustic-special-interest-group-webinar-tickets-105659975832?utm_campaign=post_publish&utm_content=EBLinkEvent&utm_medium=email&utm_source=eventbrite&utm_term=fullLink

Inter-Noise 2020 Abstract : Scattering of waves in porous rigid materials

The scattering of acoustic waves propagating in porous rigid 3D stereolithographical materials that are made of resin, has been investigated. 3D stereolithographical materials were obtained using a form of rapid prototyping that allows complex solid objects to be manufactured directly from3D computer models in the form of successive layers of light-cured resin. Relative variation of velocity and attenuation of 3D materials in air filled and water filled media has been predicted at normal and oblique directions.The scattering perturbation is similar to diffusion waves at low frequency while dispersion velocity and attenuation change with respect to square root of angular frequency and with respect to angular frequency at high frequency respectively. Dr Haydar Aygun hopes to see you on-line for Inter-Noise 2020

Abstract submitted to international virtual congress Internoise 2020

An abstract of an research article has been recently submitted to Inter-Noise 2020 International E-Congress. The article is entitled “Noise Hazard From Small Volumes of Hydrogen-Air Mixture Blasts” and has been written by Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina of the Acoustics Research Group and Dr Anthony Averill and Dr James Ingram  of the LSBU Hydrogen Hazard unit. The international acoustics e-congress will take place virtually online and will be hosted in Seoul, Korea between 23 and 26 August 2020. We hope we can meet virtually and enjoy this innovative eCongress.

PhD candidate Doug Shearer submits his thesis

On the 11th May 2020 PhD candidate Douglas Shearer submitted his doctoral thesis. He thesis is entitled, "Case studies in the Absorption of Low Frequency Sound in Music Rooms". The work was supported by the Royal Academy of Music over the past 4 years. Well done Doug!