First cohort of Acoustics Apprentices complete the taught part of the programme

The first ever Acoustics Technician Apprenticeship cohort in the UK has completed the taught part of their two year programme. The final semester of the taught programme has been led by Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina. After sitting their last exams in January 2024, the students will start preparing for the Gateway stage which will lead them to the last part of the programme called End Point Assessment. The whole team wish our acoustics apprentices best wishes for the Christmas holidays and for their next final stage in their apprenticeship.

 

Summing Up 2023

 

We thank you all for your support over 2023. We started the year with two new PhD students who were shortly joined by another two, to bring the group to a full complement. Alec Korchev won the Noise Abatement Society John Connell Rising Star award. Masters' students Patrick Spiers and Colin Arden won the Acoustical Society of America Newman Medal. Egith papers/presentation were given by staff and students at various conferences including ICBEN in Belgrade, Inter-Noise in Tokyo, IOA in Winchester, ASA in Sydney. The Art of Being an Acoustician was run at the Little Ships Club in London with Apprentices, Diploma, Masters and PhD students in attendance. Links with the IOA were strengthened with Diploma students presenting to the January London branch meeting, Leo Fernandex winning the NTi-Audio sponsored prize, with the Masters' students presenting at the July meeting. Dr Aygyn also presented his research at the London May meeting. New equipment was purchased: a B&K Lan XI system and a new 3D printer. Enterpirse activities grew with IOA short course run, Royal Academy of Music collaboration continuing, cooperation with Foster + Partners, and St Paul's Cathedral monitoring project continuing. In 2024 we look forward to submitting two significant EPSRC research grants and two PhD completions. Have a great Christmas from all the team!

Former MSc student Ekim Bakirci joins the Acoustics Group

 

Former Masters student  Ekim Bakirci is joining the Acoustics Group as a PhD student next month. His research topic is, "A low carbon AI based engineering system to monitor environmental noise", an extension of his MSc dissertation in Environmental and Architectural Acoustics. We look forward to welcoming Ekim back to London South Bank University.

ASA/AAS Acoustics Conference 2023

The Acoustical Society of America held their 185th conference in Sydney, Australia. Prof Stephen Dance presented his work on onsite hearing assessment of musicians in the pre-clinical session under the audiology theme. As acousticians like muscican audience engagement was high with very focused questions on the sound exposure of different instruments were answered. The Australians were very friendly, helpful and insightful! 
 

Mathematica 2023 Purchased

 

For Black Friday Mathematica 13 was purchased to help with the design of acoustic metamaterials. The software was half priced and would last the entire PhD research programme. A different angle on a Black Friday deal!  

Acoustics Research Chrsitmas Dinner

 

On the 23rd November 2023 to celebrate the successes of the year the Acoustics researchers got together for Christmas dinner at Charing Cross Hotel. We found that old hotels had restaurants with good acoustics so conversations could carry on across the table! Great to see you all:  Rodrigo, Suzana, Alec, Ed and Ruben. Here's to 2024!

PhD Candidate Attends Workshop in Metamaterials

 

PhD candidate  Ruben Vazquez Amos attended the UKAN supported Acoustics and Elastic MetaMaterials  workshop in Valencia 13-17 November 2023. Fifty students attended the week long school at the University Polytechnic of Valencia. A great event was organised for a cross European training event that helped future research leaders in this emerging field! 

University of the Arts Students visit Acoustic Lab

 
On the 16th November 2023 film students from the University of the Arts, London visited the Acoustics Laboratory at Lonfon South Bank University. Prof Dance gave a joint talk to the students with Mike Wyeld on the benefits of good acoustics in film and cinema. We hope the students enjoyed their transcendental time in the anechoic chamebr! 

Professor Dance presents to the Directors of the Royal Opera House

 

On the 8th November 2023 Professor Stephen Dance of London South Bank University was invited to present to the directors of the Royal Opera House on his research on "Acoustics for the Benefit of Musicians = A 30 year plan". Prof Dance outlined the most recent research results on hearing and music exposure, the benefit of acoustic design and how planning strategies can migitate harm to reduce risk, The presentation finished with a tour of the new Choral Rehearsal Room, see above, which benefited from Prof Dance's research results. 

Sound Art students from London College of Communication visit Acoustics Lab

 

On 7th November 2023 Sound Art undergraduate students from the London College of Communications attended a talk on Acoustics delivered by Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina. The students and their course leader were delighted by the experiential learning and auditory demonstrations taken place at different locations of the LSBU Acoustics Laboratory. We hope that both institutions and sound related courses become better known to each other.

Abstract submitted to Inter-Noise 2024 on the Choristers of St Paul's Cathedral

 

Professor Stephen Dance has submitted an abstract to the Inter-Noise 2024 conference, to be held in Nantes 20-24 August 2024. The abstract is entitled, "Sound exposure of St Paul's Cathedral choristers including unusual events". Looking forward to seeing you all in France!

Campaign launch for Make Listening Safe

 

On the 1st November 2023 the UK Acoustic Network (UKAN) sponsored the launch event of the Make Listening Safe campaign. The event was co-sponsored by Sky eSports and held at their Guild eSports centre in Shoreditch, London. The campaign was supported by the World Health Organisation with the lead for Hearing, Dr Shelly Chadha giving the opening address. Professor Stephen Dance gave a demonstration of how hearing can change with time using music and explained how hearing damage could become an eSports injury. The event was pulled together by Stephen Wheatley who also compered. Many thanks to all 50 delegates, to Sky eSports and to the WHO. 

MSc Acoustic student presented with ASA Newman Medal

 

Patrick Spiers, student of the 2022-23 MSc in Environmental and Architectural Acoustics at London South Bank University (LSBU) has been awarded the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) Robert Bradford student medal. The Robert Bradford Newman Student Medal for Merit in Architectural Acoustics, recognizes excellence in the study of acoustics and its application to architecture throughout the world. The judging panel based their decision on Patrick’s MSc Final project dissertation. He was presented the medal on the day of his MSc graduation, 1st Nov 2023, by the final project supervisor and current course leader Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina and the Associate Dean for Student experience Dr Alex Paurine. Many congratulations Patrick !

Alec Korchev wins Noise Abatement Society Award

On the 25th October 2023 at the Palace of Westminster LSBU PhD candidate Alec Korchev was awarded the Noise Abatement Society Rising Star award. Alec won for leading the Association of Noise Consultants mentoring scheme and the newly formed Institute of Acoustics Student body. Well done Alec and of course to Clarke Saunders Acoustics.
 

Professor Dance at the Listen for Life Campaign Launch

 

On the 18th October 2023, Professor Stephen Dance was especially invited to the launch of the Night Time Industries Association Listen for Life Campaign. The event was held at the Palace of Westminster and hosted by Jeff Smith MP for Manchester, and a former DJ. Dr Rob Shepheard presented the work on hearing surveillance using Otoacoustic emissions and the importance of awareness, assessment and protection. Unfortunately it was a breakfast meeting so only coffee and pastries were available! 

Steve presents on speech intelligibility at National conference

 

On the 16th October 2023, Professor Stephen Dance presented the  results of the Masters' students experiment at the Institue of Acoustics annual conference. The paper was entitled, "The effect on speech intelligibility of source direction in rooms". This was an objective and subjective study which showed that you may need double the absorption to keep the same level of speech intelligibility if you are not facing the loudspeaker, such as on a subway station. The students then stood up to took the applause! 

MSc and PhD students at IOA Annual Conference

 

The Masters and PhD students attended the annual Institute of Acoustics Conference this year held in the beautiful city of Winchester. In total seven students enjoyed the Early Career event, sponsored by Getzner. Although the event  coinsided with the Rugby World Cup Quarter Finals, Then they enjoyed the two day conference providing many insightful questions to the speakers!  

Haydar presents on new absorption measurement techniques

 

On the 16th October 2023 Dr Haydar Aygun presented his very latest research results at the Institute of Acoustics Annual Conference held this year in Winchester. His paper on, "Spatial Fourier transform method incorporated with Johnson Champoux-Allard model to determine absorption coefficient of materials". Theory and practical results were shown.

ASHRAE President visits the Acoustics Laboratory

 

On the 10th October 2023 the ASHRAE President, Ginger Scoggins lead  CIBSE delegates on a visit to London South Bank University. This is now a near annual event to launch an ASHRAE sponsored prize for student work on Climate Change Challenge Accepted!

UK Acoustic Network Conference 2023

 

On the 13/14th September 2023 the UK Acoustics Network held their annual conference up in Sheffield. An excellent event was held with talks on the future of UKAN, maximising funding for acoustics, and technical talks on loudspeaker optimisation to MRI scanners. Industrial engagement through both the IOA and ANC was fruitful, so now we have a plan for 2024/25! See you all next year!

UKAN: Basic Auditory Science Conference

 

The UK Acoustics Network sponsored this year's Basic Auditory Science conference, held at Imperial College, Londonn 21-22 September 2023. The conference was anything but basic! Professor Stephen Dance presented his latest research in otoacoustic emissions and hearing assessment of classical musicians. A Poster/Coffeee room was used to present the latest research results with aural presentation given to the 100 delegates. At the end the Early Career Researchers connected the Spatial Audio, Hearing and Communication discussing future Health and Wellbeing challenges and opportunities in a 5=10 year timeframe. A great meeting - I learnt a lot!

Judging the Awards for the Association of Noise Consultants

On the 20th September 2023 the Association of Noise Consultant held their annual conference up in Birmingham. Professor Stephen Dance and Professor David Waddington were both invited to act as judges at the event. The guest speaker was the science writer/comic Robin Ince who did Brian Blessed - very gustly!. 

 

17th Year of Royal Academy of Music Hearing Assessments

On the 7th September 2023, Professor Stephen Dance commenced the 17th year of hearing tests for the Royal Academy of Music with the help of Ruben Vazquez Amos. Three hundred students will be measured over the next three weeks using audiometric screening and otoacoustic emission tests. As ever we are very grateful to the Royal Academy.  

UKAN Annual Conference 2023

 

On the 13/14th September 2023 the UK Acoustic Network held it's annual conference at Univetsity of Sheffield. Eight presenters gave their thoughts on innovation, consultancy, research and technology transfer. The future of UKAN looks bright with Professor Stephen Dance and many others offering advice as to the futute direction of the network!

Inter-Noise 23 Closes- Professor Dance presents research on the Opera House

 

On the 22nd August 2023 Professor Stephen Danc presented his research at Inter-Noise 2023, Tokyo. His presentation and paper entitled, "Acoustics of Sitzprobe Rehearsals (at the Royal Opera House)". He thanked the Masters' students who helped with the measuremenet at 7am and showed how analysis assisted in designing noise control solutions. 

Inter-Noise 2023 Opens!

 

The 52nd Inter-Noise was officially opened in Chika, Tokyo. Professor Stephen Dance attended the International Institute of Noise Control Engineering (I-INCE) Conference Selection Committee representing Europe/Africa. The committee determines the host for future conferences, updates on plans for Nantes 2024 and Sao Paulo 2025 were presented, and bids considered for the venues in 2026 and 2027. At the I-INCE General Assembly he was again nominated to represent Europe for 2024-2026.  So, job one done... now to enjoy the Football!

Abstract submitted to UK Hearing Conservation Association Conference

 

Professor Stephen Dance has been invited to the 2nd UK Hearing Conservatiion Association conference, to be held in Sheffield on the 8th November 2023. He will present a poster on the latest results from the research on the hearing assessment of musicians. See you in Sheffield!

PhD candidate attends UKAN Summer School

 

UKAN organised a Metamaterials focused Summer School at Manchester University 31-4 August 2023. New PhD candidate, Ruben Vazquez Amos, attended the workshops, enjoyed the Escape room and the conference dinner. Welcome to research! We hope you also learnt something! 

IOA Annual Conference Programme Released

 

The Insittute of Acoustics has just released the programme for the 2023 Annual Conference, to be held 15-17 October 2023 in Winceshter Guildhall. The London South Bank University Acoustics Group is  represented in Enviroment Sound, Physical Acoustics, Speech and Hearing and Musical Acousics sessions: for staff Luis Gomez-Agustina, Haydar Aygun, and Stephen Dance; and students Patrick Spiers and Daniel Hagan. We hope to see you there!

Masters students present at IOA London Branch

 

On the 12th July 2023 at the final Instittue of Acoustics London branch evening meeting of the year, the London South Bank University students studying on the Masters course in Environmental and Architectural Acoustic presented their research projects. Dr Haydat Aygun hosted the event at the London Hub introducing James Green, Edward Croxton-Martin and David Kendal. The hybrid meeting had 35 in attendance with discussion continuing over drinks. A good end to the yeat! 

John Bernays of the Royal Opera House presented to the LSBU PhD Summer School

On the 3rd July 2023 for the LSBU PhD Summer School Mr John Bernays of the Royal Opera House, a tenor, together with Professor Stephen Dance presented on Oratory- tricks and technques to presenting in public. A two handed presentation covering multiple aspects of presenting including: know your audience, breathing technqiues, voice warm-up and telling a story whilst giving a performance. We hope all the staff and students enjoyed the event as much as we had presenting our thoughts!  
 

Ecophon, DfE, and 3BM visit the Acoustics Lab

 
On the 30th June 2023 Ecophon, 3BM and the Department for Education visited the Acoustics Laboratory of London South Bank University. Professor Stephen Dance gave an experiental lecture on sound and vibration and the long-term value of your hearing. Demostrations were enjoyed and experiences shared. Many thanks to Shane of Ecophon for co-organising the multi-displinary event. 

Article published in Acoustics - an MDPI publication

 

An article has been recently published in Acoustics, an Open Access publication produced by MDPI. 

The article is entitled  Acoustics | Free Full-Text | Non-Special Loudspeakers as Speech Test Sources in Natural Acoustics Speech Intelligibility Investigations (mdpi.com).  The work has been authored by Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina and co-authored by Dr Haydar Aygun and Ms Liji Suseela Thankom Mohan. The authors expect that the novel findings of this study will inform practitioners on the suitability of affordable loudspeakers when standardized special test loudspeakers are not available. We hope you enjoy the read.

Paper presented at ICBEN, Belgrade

 

The tri-annual International Conference on the Biological Effects of Noise was held in Belgrade, Serbia, 18-22 June 2023. Prof Dance presented research on, "The hearing assessment of classical music students" using both audiometry and otoacoustic emissions, with a demonstration of reproducibility and reboustness of the two hearing assessment methods. Lots of discussion by a multidisplinary audience over coffee and later over drinks!

Abstract submitted to Basic Auditory Science 23

 

On the 21/22nd September 2023 the UK Acoustics Network has organised a 2 day conference on Basic Auditory Science  at be hosted by Imperial College, London. The event has been organised by three specialist group (SIG) to cover all aspects of hearing, communication and immersion. This has resulted in 12 sessions each led by a world expert. Professor Stephen Dance has submitted an abstracy on the hearing assessment of music conservatoire students. At the end of the second day there will also be a multi-SIG event for focusing on early career researchers. This happens to be a Friday, so excellent planning!

Eric Ballestero receives his award!

 

On the 13th June 2023 Dr Eric Ballestero, former PhD candidate, received his 2021 Institute of Acoustics Early Career award for Innovation in Acoustics - it took so long they renamed the award! We all hope he enjoyed his first Le Mans 24 hours race!  

ioA Diploma students finish their exams!

 

On the 9th June 2023 our LSBU Diploma students celebrated the end of their exams! Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina led the delivery of the course with the support of Dr Hyun Agyun, Professor Stephen Dance and Dr Hyun Lim. We all very much enjoyed teaching you and hope you will come back in 2024 to join the Masters programme in Environmental and Architectural Acoustics!

Annual UK Hearing Conservation Meeting Held at Casella

 

On the 25th May 2023 at the invitation of the UK Hearing Conservation Association Professor Stephen Dance presented to their annual meeting, held at Casella Headquarters in Bedford. The presentation covered non traditional uses for hearing protection and the work of the UK Acoustics Network. Plans are now afoot for the annual conference to be held on 8th November 2023 up in Sheffield.

Abstract submitted to ASA/AAS Sydney 2023

 

On the 19th May 2023 an abstract was submitted to the joint Acoustical Society of America and Australisan Acoustical Society meeting to be held in Sydney 4-8 December 2023.  The abstract entitled,"Higher Education Audiometric Research (HEAR) - An on-site assessment of conservatoire students" has been written by Professor Stephen Dance, Ruben Vazquez Amos and Georgia Zepidou based on the research with the Royal Academy of Music. See you downunder!  

Dr Haydar Aygun Presents to IOA London Branch

 

On the 11th May 2023 Dr Haydar Aygun  gave a talk at the Institute of Acoustics (IOA) May 2023 London Branch held at London South Bank University.  The talk was delivered in person and simultaneously streamed online to a remote audience. Haydar’s talk was entitled Acoustic wave propagation through natural and conventional porous materials and covered his past and present research work.

Last Day of the Year 22/23

 
We have come to the end of another year! We hope all the Apprentices, Diploma and Masters students enjoyed their time at LSBU. Lots of extra-cirruculum events were held which helped you all bond and network: F+P Architects, Royal Opera House visit, Henry Wood Hall measurements and working with the Association of Architect students. More to come next year! 

IOA Certificate Students 2023

 

On the 9th May 2023 for the 9th year LSBU welcomed this year's cohort of IOA Certificate of Competence in Environmental Noise Assessment students. Dr Luis Gomez Agustina lead the team to deliver the one week short course involving Professor Stephen Dance, Dr Hyun Lim and Dr Haydar Aygun. We hope they enjoyed their first taste of acoustics and will come back for more!

Loudspeaker Testing for new Childrens' Audiometer

 

On the 4th May 2023 the first acoustic tests of a prototype Paedratic Audiometer were undertaken in the Acoustics Laboratory of London South Bank University by Dr Bradford Backus of Audio-3.com and Professor Stephen Dance. The project is funded by InnovateUK and will result in better diagnosis of the hearing of toddlers.  

New PhD student: Ruben Vazquez Amos

 

On the 3rd May 2023, Ruben Vazquez Amos signed up to a joint PhD in architectural acoustics. The PhD is funded jointly with the Royal Academy of Music. Ruben studied on our Masters course in Environmental and Architectural Acoustics, graduating in October 2022. He will be supervised by Professor Stephen Dance. Welcome back Ruben!

UKAN Webinar: Dr Orchi Das of SONOS

 
On the 3rd May 2023, after a 2 year delay Dr Orchisama Das presented her latest research into, "Modellng room acoustics for audio immersion in Extended Reality". The Feedback Delay Network method was compared to Scattered Delay Networks to create a realistic aural experience in Virtual Reality. Apple's work on personalised HRTF would aid the perception in artificial reality. But still lots of work to do! Many thanks Orchi    

Royal Academy of Music Hearing Assessment: Higher Education Audiometric Research

 

On the 26th April 2023 Professor Stephen Dance and Ruben Vasquez run a pilot study on on-site hearing assessment at the Royal Academy of Music. The Patron's Room was the venue and 20 students were tested using our new Kudawave audiometer and Path Medical's Otoacoustic Emissions kit. Things didn't quite work out but solutions were found! 

IOA London Branch meeting on porous materials

 

On Thursday 11th May 2023 6pm LSBU Hub will host the Institute of Acoustics London Branch evening meeting. Dr Haydar Aygun will present his research on, "Acoustic wave propagation through natural and conventional porous materials". We hope you can all make it. 

Part II of AOB: Art of Being an Acoustician

On the 21st April 2023 Part 2 of the Art of Being series was held at the Little Ship Club, London. Nine presenters: senior, current and new acousticians gave their career path and some stories of interesting project and challenges. Professor Stephen Dance organised and hosted this inaugural event. The idea was to bring together early career consultants and researchers. Presentations on consultancy, the workings of government, research, enterprise and product development were given. The theme was their was no set path into acoustics and half of acousticians were musicians! 

Part 1 of AOB: Art of Being a Consultant

On the 20th April 2023 the Little Ship Club, London hosted the UKAN supported IOA event the Art of Being a Consultant. This Early Career Event was attended by 21 delegates and presented by 8 senior acousticians. Professor Stephen Dance gave the final address: an open invitation to attend the follow-up inaugural event - The Art of Being an Acoustician.