On the 21/22nd November 2024 The Paediatric Music based Audiometer was shown for the first time to the general public. The event: The British Academy of Audiology Annual Conference, held in Telford, UK. Dr Bradford Backus of Audio3 presented early research results to conference and demonstrated the new kit on their stand. Feedback was very positive as to the need and use of the new option. Prof Stephen Dance fielded technical questions and the key question: time to market.
On the 5th November 2024 the UK Hearing Conservation Association (UKHCA) held it's 3rd annual conference at the Birmingham Events Centre. UKAN also held an interSIG (Special Interest Group) event involving communication, hearing and immersive audio. Prof Stephen Dance gave an interactive Mentimeter presentation on how UKAN and UKHCA can work together. A great conference was has with presentations from a lawyer, a psychologist, a policymaker, government enforcement, a nurse, an acoustician, an audiologist, an academic, a noise control consultant (see above) and from a marketing expert! The definition of multidisciplinary conference.
The Noise Abatement Society annual John Connell Awards were hosted by Lord Balfe and held at the Palace of Westminster on 16th October 2024. The contribution of London South Bank University was recognised in dispatches for, "A Soundscape intervention for a Police Communication roon" the work was led by Peter Rogers of Sustainable Acoustics with the full collaboration of Thames Valley Police. A very interdiscplinary piece of research around comms, room acoustics, behavioural science and psychology was recognised with the Innovation award. Finally, a great evening was held by all with many thanks once again to Gloria Elliott and Dr Lisa Lavia.
The Acoustics Group welcomed the new cohort of students to the laboratory this week. Masters and Institute of Acoustics Diploma students will study together to learn the mysteries of acoustics! We hope you all enjoy the experience and work as a team!
An article has been published in Building Acoustics published by Sage.
The article is entitled Objective validation of alternative speech test sources for person-to-person speech intelligibility link 10.1177/1351010X241281539
It has been authored by Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina and Dr Rusdy Hartungi. The findings of this study will, for the first time, provide practitioners guidance and reassurance on the applicability and suitability of affordable non-special loudspeakers. This in turn will enable more researchers and practitioners to undertake person-to person speech intelligibility assessments and investigations when special standardized speech sources are not available or other relevant standards allowing non-special loudspeakers as alternative speech sources are adhered to. We hope you enjoy the read.
DR Haydar Aygun presented his research at the Institute of Acoustics 50th annual conference. The meeting was held in Manchester Metropolitan University's Business School on 12/13th September 2024. Haydar presented his mathematical work on perforated and non-perforated concrete with basalt strains. His empirical work (creating the concrete/basalt sample), acoustic measurements of absorption and transmission, analytical and simulation work created a comprehensive acoustic study. This was pitched as on-going work!
On the 13th September 2024 former MSc student Vincent JeeSheng Tham virtual presented his Masters thesis on Acoustics of Choir Rehearsal Room. Vincent was in Malaysia so a video was used to give the presentation. The paper cover a critique of the new ISO 23591:2021 using an example of a refurbishment of a Choir Room (48 to 96 singers) with a size of 1000m3. His conclusion, based on objective acoustic measurements and subjective feedback from 22 vocalists and the conductor, was that it was too loud and sound strength should be the key parameter. Well done Vincent.
At the Institute of Acoustics 50th Annual Conference held 12-13 September 2024 at Manchester Met Business School Professor Stephen Dance chaired the Musical Acoustics session presenting an update to his Face the Music series. This was a 10 year update on his Tyndall Medal winning research. He explained that noise and music have a different physiological affect on our hearing system but more sound definitely leads to more damage. He went on to discuss how education and awareness over the past 18 years has improved musicians hearing. Finally new hearing assessment methods are being developed and are under testing. A very good and diverse session. .
On the 12th September 2024 UKAN held it's annual conference at Manchester Metropolitan University. The future, successes and legacy were discussed with Professor Stephen Dance leading the discussion using Mentimeter for audience feedback. PhD candidate Ruben Vasquez Amos attended the event and participated in the dialogue. EPSRC programme lead Andrew Lawrence was impressed. The best UKAN research poster award went to Julia Tomaszewska of University of West London The new EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training lead by Salford, with Sheffield, Southampton, Bristol was celebrated. Finally the proposed Noise Network+ pitched their ideas at a mock panel. We wish them all the best! .
The Hearing Conservation Association will host their annual conference on 5th November 2024 at Birmingham Event Centre. This is a UKAN supported event. This year will include a research update fromn Professor Stepheh Dance who will also host a discussion between the Communication, hearing and Immersive Audio Special Interest Groups. See you in Birmingham
On the 5th September 2024 the Acoustics Group started the 19th round of hearing assessments for the Royal Academy of Music. This year PhD candidate Ruben Vazquez Amos is assisting Professor Stephen Dance in the audiometric and otoacoustic emission testing. This year we should reach 5500 audiograms and 1000 OAE results!
On the 2nd September 2024 Professor Stephen Dance has been awarded £5000 from the UK Acoustics Network (UKJAN) to help support the campaign to Make Listening Safe and the annual Hearing Conservation Association conference. Lets hope that the campaign raises public awareness of the risks associated with using headphones for gaming and music listening..
The British Academy of Audiology is holding it's annual conference in Telford 21/22nd November 2024. At this meeting Audio3 will unveil the first music based audiometer design, built and tested in cooperation with Chear, St Thomas's Hospital and London South Bank University. A paper will be presented entitled, "Music Audiometer: Can we use music stimuli to measure the hearing of children with social and communication disorders?". In addition, an exhibition booth will allow audiologists to see and experience the prototype!
The 4th and 5th papers by the Acoustics Group have been accepted to be presented at the IOA 50th Anniversary Conference, Manchester 12/13th September 2024. The first is the PhD work of Alec Korchev entitled, "Wind induced creaking in tall buildings", and second by Dr Haydar Aygun on "Sound transmission through rigid porous materials with and without perforations". See you all in Manchester!
It is a pleasure to announced that Dr Haydar Aygun, Associate Professor of Acoustics at London South Bank University has been elected a Fellow of the Institute of Acoustics. Dr Haydar Aygun is the current Course Lead for Acoustics at London South Bank University incorporating the Masters programme in Environmental and Architectural Acoustics and the IOA Diploma in Noise Control. Well done Haydar!
On the 10th July 2024 three Masters students from the MSc in Environmental and Architectural Acoustics course presented their dissertations to IOA London Branch hosted by London South Bank University. Starting with Vincent Tham on "Acoustics of Choral Rehearsal Room" (dialing in from Malaysia at 1am). This was followed by Ruben Vazquez Amos on, "The Effect of Face Coverings on Speech Intelligibility and Speech Transmission". The finale was Sam Toone presenting on, "Automated Sound Classification on Construction and Non-construction Events". The hybrid meeting was attended by 26 people, not bad for the evening of the Euros semi-final which we wathced in our local pub's beer garden!
Eight Svantek SV200 Class 1 environmental noise monitoring stations has been kindly donated to the Acoustics Group from the Hinkley Point C construction site. These will be used to PhD candidate Ekim Bakirci as part of his research comparing the on-site performance of Norsonic, NTi and Svantek noise monitoring kit with his proposed solution. Many thanks go to Turnbull UK.
On the 14th June 2024 the work with the National Gallery was published in News in Conservation Issue 102 June-July 2024News in Conservation Issue 102 June-July 2024 undertaken in the Acoustics Laboratory of London South Bank University. This work was supported by UKANUKAN and was a collaboration with BickerdikeAllen Partners. It covers how very high sound levels might damage paint in paintings.
On the 13th June 2024 Mike Clatyon defended his doctoral thesis entitled, "UAV Sound acquastition system design and its applications" at Queen Mary University of London. Professor Stephen Dance and Dr George Fazekas acted as the examiners for the five hour defence. Dr Clayton passed with multiple minor corrections. Well done Mike and his supervisor Dr Lin Wang.
On the 10th June 2024 architects from Foster + Partners together with acousticians from London South Bank University enjoyed a back stage tour of the Royal Opera House. Thanks to Alex Lucas for looking after us, and showing us the really big stuff!
On the 10th July 2024 three former MSc Environmental and Architectural students will present their Masters dissertations at the London South Bank University Hub. This is a long established annual event for the Institute of Acoustics London Branch. At 6pm Vincent Tham Sheng will give a virtual presentation on the Acoustics of a Choral Rehearsal Room, followed by Sam Toone on Automated Sound Classification of Construction and Non-construction Sound Events. The final presentation by Ruben Vazquez Amos is on, The Effects of Face Coverings on Speech Intelligibility and Speech Transmission. We hope you can all make it!
The final UKAN+ event will be held on 12th September 2024 at Manchester Met University Business School. Each Specialist Interest Group will present a poster, the history of UKAN will be covered, the results of the funded risky research projects, and the future discussed. This full day event is free to all UKAN members through this form.
An ANC hybrid meeting was held on the 21st May 2024 in London. PhD Candidate Alec Korchev presernted his latest research results on, "Wind Induced Noise Creakk in Tall Buildings". There is an increasing trend in noise complaints from residents in particularly slender designs. Alec has been measureming and recording the sound that induces the complaints and compares that to the weather conditions and cross-correlates to rate of noise complaints. The next step is finding a solution!
On the 22nd May 2024 London Southn Bank University hosted the Institute of Acoustics London Branch all day meeting on "AI in Acoustics". This international event consisted of ten presentations with 103 delegates in attendance. Professor Mark Plumbley of Surrey and Professor David Waddington of Salford were the chairs for the monrnig and afternoon sessions. Professor Stephen Dance then lead the delegates for refreshments at the Student Union Bar.
London South Bank University PhD candidate Ruben Vazquez Amos attended the Young Researhers in Acoustic Metamaterials workshop. The event which is student organised takes place each year. This year it was held in Aegina, Greece between 14-18 May 2024. We hope the networking activities were both helpful and enjoyable.
The work of Prof Stephen Dance and former PhD candidate Georgia Zepidou has been published by the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. The paper summarises the research results of 17 years with the Royal Academy of Music and is entitled, "Face the (unamplified) Music: Key findings for Musicians". We hope you enjoy the read!
The Acoustics Group welcomed 14 students on to the Institute of Acoustics Certificate for Environmental Noise Measurement. The largest cohort ever taught joined us for 5 days to take a short course. We hope they enjoyed the experience and learnt something about noise! Good luck all in the assessments.
A doctoral thesis by Mike Clayton of Queen Mary University, London is to be examined by Prof Stephen Dance. The thesis title, "UAV Sound Acquisition System
Design and its Applications" investigates how drone noise can be mitigated. Should be interesting?
Alec Korchev a PhD candidate has submitted an abstract to the IOA 50th Conference to be held in Manchester 12-13 September 2024. The paper, "Wind induced creak in tall buildings" is part of his doctoral studies with Clarke Saunders and London South Bank University. This is a collaborative project between architects, strcutural engineers and acousticians to address this increasing issue. See you in Manchester!
For the 14th year the Royal Academy of Music sent it's final year Jazz, Woodwind, and Brass students to the Acoustics Laboratory of London South Bank University for hearing tests. Now we test using both audiometry and otoacoustic emissions tests to give the best possible advice to the students.
An abstract has been submitted to the Institute of Acoustics 50th Anniversary conference 12-13 September 2024 in Manchester. The Quiet Project - Analysis of the Lockdown average noise levels as measured in Urban, Suburban and Rural environments will be presented. In addition, these results will be compared to previous national noise surveys and recent WHO guidance. Looking forward to seeing you all at Manchester Met.
A KTP with Flexsea started on 25th March 2024 with associate Kola Alabi. Kola is working on a cross-disciplinary project combining structural engineering, 3D printing and acoustics to delivery a new more sustainable material manufactured from processed seaweed. Welcome to London South Bank University.
Two abstracts have been submitted to the Institute of Acoustics 50th Anniversary conference in Manchester 12-13th September 2024. The first abstract updates the 40th Anniversary Tyndnall medal on acoustics for the benefit of musicians. The second abstract is written by curretn MSc student Vincent Jee Sheng Tham on the acoustics of a choral rehearsal room. See you all in Manchester!
The second Art of Being an Acoustician was held jointly with the Art of Being a Consultant on 21/22 March 2024. The venue was the National Oceanographic Centre in Southampton. Nine presenters mixing experience, management, research, consultancy, academia and product development provided a broader picture of the acoustics. We are again grateful to the IOA and UKAN who suppored this networking event. Spring 2025 will be in the Manchester area!
Once again the Association of Architects have visited the LSBU Acoustics Laboratory. The 4th year students talked to PhD students about how acoustics influents life. Lots of experiments were undertaken with balloons and loudspeakers. We hoped the students remember their time with us!
The National Gallery visited the LSBU Acoustics Laboratory, 19-21 February 2024, to undertaken testing of oil paintings. The testing was to establish if very high levels of air-borne sound affected the painting. This involved hiring a Polytec Laser Vibrometer and a very large loudspeaker! Many thanks to Bickerdike Allen Partners and the support of UKAN. Lots of analysis now needs to be undertaken!
