Newswise — Reporters interested in the upcoming Acoustics '08 Paris meeting in France are invited to visit the ASA World Wide Press Room (http://www.acoustics.org/press). On this site are posted dozens of lay language papers selected from among the 3,500 talks and posters, which relate to fields as diverse as architecture, speech science, oceanography, meteorology, psychology, noise control, physics, marine biology, medicine, and music.
Lay-language papers detail some of the most newsworthy results at the meeting. They are roughly 500-word summaries written for a general audience by the authors of individual presentations with accompanying graphics and multimedia files. They serve as starting points for journalists who are interested in covering the meeting but cannot attend in person.
For more information, please visit the lay language papers on the ASA World Wide pressroom: http://www.acoustics.org/press/155th/lay_lang.html.
Some specific highlights:
PROTECTING UNDERWATER ARCHEOLOGICAL SITES "Since prehistoric times, many populations have used vessels for transportation and trade and built harbors and it is now estimated that there are about a million antique wrecks that lie underwater and still waiting to be discovered. What we designed is aimed to protect these sites from unauthorized access..." http://www.acoustics.org/press/155th/akal.htm
HOW SOUND FROM HUMAN ACTIVITIES AFFECTS MARINE MAMMALS"Vision is the best way to sense distant objects in air, but sound is the best way to sense objects that are far away under the sea..."http://www.acoustics.org/press/155th/tyack.htm
ULTRASOUND IN THE DAIRY Scientists use ultrasound to keep filters clear when reclaiming the whey left over from cheesemaking.http://www.acoustics.org/press/155th/muthukumaran.htm
LISTENING TO ANTARCTIC ICE BREAKING FROM AUSTRALIA"The rate of ice break up, or ice calving, from the Antarctic ice shelves is one of the major indicators of global climate change..."http://www.acoustics.org/press/155th/gavrilov.htm
MOVEMENTS AND GRIP INFLUENCE FORCE AND SOUND IN DRUMMING"To investigate the effect of movements and grip on the sound, force and contact duration between stick and drumhead during drumming were recorded by a motion capture system that measured the position of infra-red light emitting diodes attached as markers to the hand and arm of professional players."http://www.acoustics.org/press/155th/dahl.htm
WE CAN'T HELP IMITATING THE TALKERS WE HEAR - AND SEE "While previous research has shown how this imitation can be based on the speech we hear, new research suggests that we also unconsciously imitate talkers based on the speech we see -or lipread..."http://www.acoustics.org/press/155th/rosenblum.htm
IS A RED CAR LOUDER THAN A GREEN ONE?"The sound associated with the red car was perceived as being approximately 5% louder than the same sound combined with a light-green car."http://www.acoustics.org/press/155th/menzel.htm
ACOUSTIC EMISSIONS FOR THE PREDICTION OF AVALANCHES"Recent natural disasters such as cyclones and earthquakes remind us how nature can be cruel and above all unpredictable, or at least difficult to control..."http://www.acoustics.org/press/155th/guibert.htm
SPEAK TO YOUR TV, IT CAN UNDERSTAND YOU."The main objective of the DICIT project is the voice-enabled remote control of a TV as a complement to the use of handheld remote controls in interactive TV systems."http://www.acoustics.org/press/155th/omologo.htm
WHAT DO THE SPOTTED HYENA'S GROANS MEAN?"As in all intelligent social species, the hierarchy and bonds between animals in the clans require sophisticated communication skills. And indeed, the nocturnal spotted hyena has an incredibly rich vocal repertoire of calls that they use in communication..."http://www.acoustics.org/press/155th/theunissen.htm
HOW TO PLAY THE FIRST BAR OF 'RHAPSODY IN BLUE' "By skillfully coordinating their fingers to smoothly uncover the clarinet finger-holes and simultaneously using their vocal tracts to fine-tune the pitch, expert players are able to facilitate the smooth trombone-like glissando that opens the famous jazz song."http://www.acoustics.org/press/155th/chen.htm
THE MUSIC OF GIGANTIC VOLCANIC BUBBLES"The magic and the strength of erupting volcanoes have always been perceived by people, who have developed many tales for coping with their danger... "http://www.acoustics.org/press/155th/vergniolle.htm
PLEISTOCENE HEARING"Using virtual 3D CT reconstructions of the outer and middle ear to study the hearing capacities in human specimens from the Middle Pleistocene, the results show that these ancestors already could hear in a frequency range similar to those of living humans (which chimps and other close relatives cannot perceive)."http://www.acoustics.org/press/155th/mendizabal.htm
DISTINGUISHING MAN-MADE OBJECTS IN THE OCEAN."Currently there is a desire to be able to find and classify man-made objects in the ocean without having to waste time analyzing rocks, or scanning every inch of the ocean bottom. This is possible by using sound, which travels extremely well in the ocean... http://www.acoustics.org/press/155th/anderson.htm
IMPROVING CLASSROOMS FOR HEARING-IMPAIRED CHILDREN"Ridding a classroom of reverberations can help hearing impaired students, and students with normal hearing."http://www.acoustics.org/press/155th/iglehart.htm
***********************MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ACOUSTICS '08 PARISThe science of acoustics is a cross-section of diverse disciplines, including fields such as architecture, speech science, oceanography, meteorology, psychology, noise control, physics, marine biology, medicine, and music. Acoustics'08 Paris is the world's largest meeting devoted to this range of topics. It incorporates the 155th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), the 5th Forum Acusticum of the European Acoustics Association (EAA), and the 9th Congrès Français d'Acoustique of the French Acoustical Society (SFA) integrating the 7th EUROpean conference on NOISE control (euronoise), the 9th European Conference on Underwater Acoustics (ecua) and the 60th Anniversary of the SFA.
Journalists are invited to cover the upcoming meeting either onsite in Paris (registration is required) or online through ASA's World Wide Press Room.
MEETING WEBSITES OF INTEREST- Main meeting web site is http://www.acoustics08-paris.org/. - Complete meeting program: http://asa.aip.org/paris/program.html. - Meeting abstract search form: http://www.intellagence.eu/acoustics2008/output_directory/cd1/data/index.html. - Hotel and other travel information can be found at: http://www.acoustics08-paris.org/venue/accommodation. - A schedule of press conferences is posted at http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/542173/
PRESS REGISTRATION INSTRUCTIONSJournalists are welcome to attend the Acoustics '08 conference for free. We will grant free registration to any credentialed full-time journalist or professional freelance journalist working on assignment for a major publication or outlet. If you are a reporter and would like to attend, please contact: Manell Zakharia ([email protected]), andJason Bardi ([email protected]), andAnne-Laure Milhe ([email protected])
Meeting staff will be onsite to help you set up interviews with presenters, obtain background information on a story, and provide any other resources you may need.
ABOUT THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICAThe Acoustical Society of America is the premier international scientific society in acoustics devoted to the science and technology of sound. Its 7,500 members worldwide represent a broad spectrum of the study of acoustics. ASA publications include The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America-the world's leading journal on acoustics, Acoustics Today magazine, books and standards on acoustics. The Society also holds two major scientific meetings each year. For more information about the Society, visit our Web site, http://asa.aip.org.
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