Organising future Forum Acusticums

 

Between 8-11th September 2026 Forum Acusticum was hosted by the Austrian Acoustical Society at Graz Convention Centre. During the congress Professor Stephen Dance started the planning for a future Forum Acusticum conference to be held in the UK and of course sessions for Acoustics 27. 

PhD student Antonella Bevilacqua Presents at Forum Acusticum

On the 9th September 2026 former PhD candidate Antonella Bevilacqua presented at Forum Acusticum, in Graz. Antonella presented her work on, "Applications of Air-inflated Latex balloons beyond impulsive sources." Here there was a chance to see the absorption characteristics of balloons in the impedance tube and reverb chamber.  

Class of 2019- Alec's Wedding

 

On the 5th September 2026 the Acousticians from the Masters programme Class of 2019 reconvened for the Wedding of Alec and Ellie in Cheltenham. The Mayor by the Lake was the venue- we had some interlopers from Clarke Saunders (the bosses). Great to see so many of you still in acoustics! 

Free Field Audiometry Calibration at Chear Ltd

On the 2nd September 2026 the first phase of the MRC FERMATA grant was undertaken at Chear Ltd, Cambridge. This involved verification of the Quasi Free Field Room Acoustics of the audiology clinic. Prof Stephen Dance of London South Bank University and Dr Bradford Backus of Audio3 Ltd ran the test procedure to ISO 8253-2. It appears much stuff in the room helps break up the room modes! 

300 Happy Ears for Musicians

This will be the 20th year of Hearing Health Surveillance for the Royal Academy of Music. We had 300 Happy Ears arrive which will protect the classical music students. The problem they needed to be divided into small, medium and large,,,, musicians have small ear canals than the general population!

 

Closing Inter-Noise 2026 on behalf of I-INCE

 

On the evening of 12th August 2026 Professor Stephen Dance stood in for Professor Li Cheng (I-INCE President) to give the speech to formally close Inter-Noise 2026. Thanks were given to the local organising committee for all their hard work over the past 4 years!   

Presenting at Inter-Noise 2026

 

On the 12th August 2026 Professor Stephen Dance presented his research ar Inter-Noise 2026 in Adelaide Australia. His talk was in the Human Factors session and entitled, "A Supplementary method of assessment the hearing health of classical musicians". The talk received excellent feedback from the music community inside acoustics!

I-INCE Board Meeting for Inter-Noise 2026

At Internoise 2026 the 55th I-INCE Conference Professor Stephen Dance took over as Secretary General for the international organisation. He run the CSC, Board of Director Meeting and the General Assembly, all hybrid meetings, with some issues around Zoom passwords and internet connectivity in the Adelaide Convention Centre! It is a successful meeting with 872 delegates with  572 papers!

 

Caroline McKinley wins ANC Best Project Prize

On the 27th July 2026 Ms Caroline McKinley was awarded the ANC Best IOA Project Prize for her dissertation undertaken at London South Bank University. The project was entitled, "Impact of reverberation time and ambient noise levels in school dining rooms". The project was supervised by Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina.during 2024/25. Well done Caroline!  

 

Welcome to the club Dr Alec

On the 14th July 2026 PhD candidate Alec Korchev defended his thesis entitled, "Wind induced noise creak in tall buildings". Alec did his PhD under the supervisory team of Professor Stephen Dance, Mr Ed Clarke and Ms Ottavia Rispoli. We'd like to thank examiners Dr PJ Lee of Liverpool and Federico Rossi of LSBU. Alec was a part-time PhD student working for Clarke Saunders. Well done Alec!

 

Caroline McKinley Wins IOA Best Diploma Student Award

On the 14th May 2026 Caroline McKinley won the Institute of Acoustics Best Performing Student Prize. Caroline was in our 2024/25 cohort of IOA Diploma students. She was working for Anderson Acoustics whilst studying. Well done Caroline! 

 

Prof Shield wins IOA Geoff Kerry Award

On the 14th May 2026 Emeritus Professor Bridget Shield was awarded the Institute of Acoustics Geoff Kerry Medal. The award is for Distinguished Long Service to the Institute, in fact over 45 years! The event was held in York with the President Elect, Paul Shield and Hilary Notley of DEFRA giving the citation. Well done Bridget!

 

Acoustics Group Engagement at ICSV, Istanbul

 

The 32nd International Congress on Sound and Vibration was held in Istanbul 5-9th July 2026. The Acoustics Group engaged through Dr Haydar Aygun (session organiser in Physical Acoustics) and two PhD candidates Ekim Bakirci and Simla Turhan who both presented. The students both had a great time and networked with other early career professionals. Next year ICSV will be held in Thailand!

Ekim Presents at ICSV Istanbul

 

On the 9th July 2026 PhD candidate Ekim Bakirci presented his research at the International Congress on Sound and Vibration held in Istanbul, Turkey. The research paper was entitled, "Development and validation of the IOT AI- integrated noise monitoring terminal using MEMS microphone technology". Ekim had many questions and luckily he had an extra 20 minutes to answer them all. Well done Ekim!

Simla presents at ICSV Istanbul

On the 7th July 2026 PhD candidate Simla Turhan presented her research at the 32nd International Congress on Sound and Vibration, held in Istanbul, Turkey.  Her research was entitled, "Accuracy of 3D printed scale models in acoustic measurement". Discussions followed around low frequency measurements in scaled systems. Well done on your first international conference presentation!

 

Welcome to the Club Dr Antonella!

 

On the 29th June 2026 doctoral candidate Antonella Bevilacqua defended her PhD thesis. The thesis entitled, "Acoustic assessment of Performing Arts Spaces: from Ancient Theatres to Modern Performance Spaces" and was awarded on the basis of Prior Publication. The examiners Dr Raf Orlowski and Dr Shahram Taherzadeh were delighted with her research work, as was the Chair Dr Sevan Harput of London South Bank University. Professor Stephen Dance was impressed that Antonella picked up her ID card at 10am and was awarded a PhD at 3pm! Well done Dr Antonella!

1,000,000 hits in 19 years!

One the 21st June 2026 the LSBU-Acoustics blog achieved 1,000,000 hits! Formed in 2007 it has taken 19 years to reach this achievement. Acoustics is on the map! 

 

Association of Noise Consultants Award 2026

On the 18th June at the Association of Noise Consultants annual conference held in Manchester, UK, the professional body awards for acoustics were handed out. Bickerdike Allen Partners LLC won the Vibration Prediction and Control award.  This was in association with University of Oxford, the National Portrait Galley and London South University. These were represented by David Trew, Catherine Higgitt, Professor Stephen Dance working as a multidisciplinary team from business, academic and governmental sectors. A great team !!

15th ICBEN Meeting in Copenhagen

On the 14-18th June 2026 the University of Copenhagen hosted the 15th International Conference on the Biological Effects of Noise. The largest ever effect saw this multi-disciplinary teams discuss the latest developments. Professor Stephen Dance gave an update to Team 1 "Noise Induced Hearing Loss"  on Music and Hearing Assessment using Otoacoustics Emissions. It was a fantastic few days with highly engaged professionals! Next time it's Auckland's turn :)

 

PhD Candidate Antonella Bevilacqua submits thesis

 

Former IOA Diploma and Masters student Antonella Bevilacqua has submitted her PhD thesis. Her title, "Acoustic assessment of Performing Arts Spaces: from Ancient Theatres to Modern Concert Hall" was undertaken by prior publication, in total 7 papers were selected for assessment. Professor Stephen Dance is the supervisor with the examination date set for 29 June 2026. Good luck Antonella!