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At a North Carolina beach, researchers have been poking and prodding the sand to study how moisture levels affect sounds as they move across the environment. Over short distances, even moderately wet sand reflects sound more like water does than as a solid surface does. Faith Cobb and her team are looking into if the same is true for long-range sound propagation. Their findings will be presented as a part of the 179th ASA Meeting.

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With the ubiquity of masks due to the coronavirus pandemic, understanding speech has become difficult. This especially applies in classroom settings, where the presence of a mask and the acoustics of the room have an impact on students’ comprehension. Pasquale Bottalico has been studying the effects of masks on communication. He will discuss his findings on the best way to overcome hurdles in classroom auditory perception caused by facial coverings at the 179th ASA Meeting.

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Visual cues can change listeners’ perception of others’ accents, and people’s past exposure to varied speech can also impact their perception of accents. Ethan Kutlu will discuss his team’s work testing the impact that visual input and linguistic diversity has on listeners’ perceived accentedness judgments in two different locations: Gainesville, Florida, and Montreal, Canada. The session will take place Dec. 9 as part of the 179th ASA Meeting.

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A noninvasive method to measure the stiffness parameters along fibrous pathways within the brain is helping researchers explore traumatic brain injuries. The stiffness of these tissues can reveal clues about changes and pathologies within the brain’s gray and white matter. During the 179th ASA Meeting, Anthony J. Romano will describe the method known as waveguide elastography. Waveguide elastography merges magnetic resonance elastography and diffusion tensor imaging with a combination of isotropic and anisotropic inversion algorithms.

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Several acoustic studies have shown that the position of your eyes determines where your visual spatial attention is directed, which automatically influences your auditory spatial attention. Researchers are currently exploring its impact on speech intelligibility. During the 179th ASA Meeting, Virginia Best will describe her work to determine whether there is a measurable effect of eye position within cocktail party listening situations.

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As part of the 179th ASA Meeting, 25 sound scientists summarize their innovative research into 300-500 words for a general audience and provide helpful video, photos, and audio. These lay language papers are written for everyone, not just the scientific community. Acousticians are doing important work to make hospitals quieter, map the global seafloor, translate musical notes into emotion, and understand how the human voice changes with age.

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What if a commercial audio speaker could function like an autozoom projector does for light, and you could deliver the sound people want where they want it? Chinmay Rajguru, from the University of Sussex, will discuss his research team’s work creating a sound projector that can deliver spatial sound at a distance by forming a beam of audible sound at the 179th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, Dec. 7-10.

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Stethoscopes are a ubiquitous and cost-effective tool for medical diagnosis, but they open the door to subjectivity and can experience high levels of environmental noise. This makes it difficult to properly diagnose lung abnormalities, like COVID-19, by listening to sounds from the body. James West, at Johns Hopkins University, has been developing a digital stethoscope equipped with artificial intelligence for accurate lung diagnoses. He will discuss its opportunities and obstacles at the 179th ASA Meeting.

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During tornado formation, sound waves are produced at very low frequencies. And if your name is GLINDA, you do not need to be in Oz to hear them. Brandon White, at Oklahoma State University, is part of an engineering team that developed the Ground-based Local Infrasound Data Acquisition (GLINDA) system for the acoustic measurement of weather phenomena. He will discuss its design and capabilities at the 179th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, Dec. 7-10.

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Using an imitation “ear” modeled on the organs that mosquitos use to hear, researchers have identified a mosquito’s species and sex using sound -- just like mosquitos do themselves. The researchers hope this bioinspired detector could someday be used in the field to save lives by aiding in more selective pesticide use and possibly preventing mosquitos from mating. A presentation of the new research will be given as part of the 179th ASA Meeting.

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Researchers in Poland have created smart road signs that use built-in Doppler radar, video, and acoustic radar and weather stations to monitor road traffic and conditions to warn drivers in real-time of hazards and prevent collisions on highways. During the 179th ASA Meeting, Dec. 7-10, Andrzej Czyzewski will describe his applied research project to develop autonomous road signs with built-in acoustic radar devices.

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Press conferences at the 179th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of American will cover the latest in acoustical research, from the impact of face masks to the beating of mosquito wings, and will be held virtually Dec. 9-11. To ensure the safety of attendees, volunteers, and ASA staff, Acoustics Virtually Everywhere will be hosted entirely online.

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The Acoustical Society of America will hold its 179th meeting Dec. 7-11. To ensure the safety of attendees, volunteers, and ASA staff, the December meeting, “Acoustics Virtually Everywhere,” will be hosted entirely online. The conference brings together interdisciplinary groups of scientists spanning physics, medicine, music, psychology, architecture, and engineering to discuss their latest research -- including research related to COVID-19.

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The Acoustical Society of America continues its series of virtual talks featuring acoustical experts as part of the International Year of Sound celebration. For the third presentation in the series, Nicole Holliday, an assistant professor of linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania, will examine how our voices convey meaning in their tone and what listeners perceive. Specifically, her virtual talk on Aug. 20 will reflect on what language can tell us about identity and inequality.

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The Acoustical Society of America continues to host virtual events in August as part of the International Year of Sound. The ASA Student Council will host Virtual Student Summer Talks for science students to present their research on topics ranging from acoustical oceanography to speech communication and Andrew Morrison will discuss how the acoustical physics of the steelpan helps machine learning algorithms process large datasets. All events are open to the public, and admission is free.

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The Acoustical Society of America continues to host virtual events in August as part of the International Year of Sound. The ASA Student Council will host Virtual Student Summer Talks for science students to present their research on topics ranging from acoustical oceanography to speech communication and David Carreon Bradley will discuss how sounds in religious spaces are essential to the worship experience. All events are open to the public, and admission is free.

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The Acoustical Society of America is hosting a series of experts to talk about how sounds affect everyone in different ways as part of the celebration of the International Year of Sound. The series features acoustic scientists from a range of backgrounds who will stimulate the understanding of the important role that sound plays in all aspects of our society. Three acoustic experts will be making their presentations virtually, and ASA encourages media, scientists, audio enthusiasts, students, educators and families to tune in. All events are open to the public, and admission is free.

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Ultrasound is probably most associated with a parent’s first glimpse of a baby in the womb. However, a new video from the Acoustical Society of America showcases the technology’s abilities to do more than show images of our insides. This video is the second in a series celebrating the International Year of Sound.

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The Acoustical Society of America is calling on U.S. students to submit acoustics-related art and lyrics as part of the International Year of Sound 2020 celebration. K-12 students across the U.S. can participate in an international competition for primary, middle and secondary students from all over the world. It is also an opportunity to include an element of STEM education for so many students in need of enriching curriculum while being away from school due to coronavirus concerns.

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The International Year of Sound (IYS 2020) is a global initiative to highlight the importance of sound-related sciences and technologies, and the U.S. opening ceremony will be held Thursday, Feb. 13, at the American Center for Physics. Sponsored by the Acoustical Society of America and its Washington, DC Regional Chapter, the ceremony will have presentations about sound-related issues as well as a public showing of a film highlighting how scientists are reducing the impact of noise pollution on the natural world.

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The release of more than 50 floating sensors, called Mobile Earthquake Recording in Marine Areas by Independent Divers (MERMAIDs), is increasing the number of seismic stations around the planet. Scientists will use them to clarify the picture of the massive mantel plume in the lower mantel lying below the South Pacific Ocean. This effort will also establish one of the most comprehensive overviews of seismic activity across the globe. Frederik Simons will discuss this international effort during the marine seismoacoustics session of the 178th ASA Meeting.

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Stormquakes are a recently discovered phenomenon characterized by seismic activity originating at the ocean floor due to powerful storms. Heavy storms, like hurricanes or nor'easters, can create seismic waves as large as magnitude 3.5 quakes. These tremors caused by the effects of storms on the seafloor are what researchers call stormquakes. Catherine de Groot-Hedlin, who was part of the group that first observed stormquakes, will discuss their properties and meteorological significance at the 178th ASA Meeting.

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Fisheries acoustics have been studied for over 40 years to assess biomass and optimize aquaculture applications, and researchers in France have examined the phenomenon of how fish scatter acoustic waves in a dense school of fish contained in an open-sea cage. They developed an approach to help overcome issues encountered in aquaculture relating to the evaluation of the total biomass of dense schools of fish. They will discuss their work at the 178th ASA Meeting.

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Workplaces are full of sound, most of which is not helpful to workers trying to do their jobs. Scientists are using physics to understand how conversation, music and other ambient noise is experienced by individuals in a variety of work situations. Takeshi Akita, of Tokyo Denki University, will present a talk on “Effects of sound source and its direction on subjects’ impression of soundscape in workplace” at the 178th ASA Meeting.

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Music is an art, but it is also a science involving vibrating reeds and strings, sound waves and resonances. The study of acoustics can help scientists produce beautiful music even with musical instruments fashioned with high-tech methods, such as 3D printing. Researchers studied the sound quality of a 3D-printed ukulele and compared it to a standard wooden instrument, and will present the group’s results at the 178th ASA Meeting.

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One of the first things viewers of “Rick and Morty” might notice about Rick is his penchant for punctuating his speech with burps. Brooke Kidner has analyzed the frequency and acoustics of belching while speaking, and by zeroing in on the specific pitches and sound qualities of a midspeech burp, aims to find what latent linguistic meaning might be found in the little-studied gastrointestinal grumbles. Kidner will present her findings at the 178th ASA Meeting.

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Combined with networks of sensors and controllers, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Collaborative Research Augmented Immersive Virtual Environment Laboratory Lab provides its users new modes of interactions between humans and virtual worlds, with experiences ranging from the familiar to the otherwise remote or downright imaginary.

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National Park Service scientists analyzed nearly 1 million 10-second audio recording samples from national parks across the country and discovered a small increase in bird sound detection when an aircraft sound is also detected. During the 178th ASA Meeting, Kurt Fristrup will present the findings and how human responses to noise might be studied.

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As harmful effects of noise are becoming more widely known, popular internet websites are increasingly being used as resources of information. For the International Year of Sound 2020 (#IYS2020), the Acoustical Society of America and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, part of the CDC, took the lead in designing the online event Wiki4YearOfSound2020. The event will facilitate the improvement of Wikipedia content in topics related to acoustics, communication, music, noise and soundscapes.

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Ultrasound can be used to examine cervix tissue and improve diagnostics, which is essential for predicting preterm births, and ultrasound data is used to compare two techniques for evaluating changes in cervical tissue throughout pregnancy. Researchers are looking at ultrasonic attenuation coefficients that can help scientists characterize cervical changes throughout pregnancy and in preparation for birth before other symptoms, such as contractions or dilation, occur. They will discuss their work at the 178th ASA Meeting.

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Killer whale pods each have their own set of calls they use to communicate, sometimes referred to as the pod’s “dialect.” By characterizing a pod’s calls, researchers can track its seasonal movements, gaining a better understanding of the whales’ lives. Jessica Sportelli at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography studies a pod of relatively unknown killer whales in Pond Inlet, Nunavut, Canada and she will describe their repertoire of calls at the 178th ASA Meeting.

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Despite improvements in drug delivery mechanisms, treating brain tumors has remained challenging. Researchers have studied the processes affecting therapeutic drug penetration into brain tumors and will present two strategies for improving the delivery of therapeutic agents during at the 178th ASA Meeting. One approach is to use microbubbles to help overcome vascular barriers within the tumors and improve nanoparticle penetration across the vessel wall. The second method uses ultrasound in combination with temperature-sensitive nanoparticles.

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Press conferences for the 178th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America will be held Tuesday, Dec. 3, in Hospitality Suite 3103 of the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego. They will focus on research into sounds from virtual reality to the deep ocean and making music from tiny atoms and 3D printing. In addition, 2020 will be celebrated as the International Year of Sound, and a kickoff event will take place during the meeting.

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The Acoustical Society of America will hold its 178th meeting, Dec. 2-6, at the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego. This major scientific conference brings together interdisciplinary groups of researchers spanning many fields, including physics, medicine, music, psychology, architecture and engineering, to discuss their latest research. Reporters are invited to attend the meeting for free and participate in a series of press conferences featuring a selection of newsworthy research.

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Acoustics consultant Klaus Genuit says that new ISO guidelines for defining, measuring and evaluating soundscapes are a big step forward in guiding the creation of audibly fine restaurants. "A soup might be delicious or not, but you can't answer this by knowing the temperature of the soup. It is the same with restaurant soundscapes -- you need a lot more information than just noise level," he said. He will present an application of the new ISO restaurant soundscape standards at the 177th ASA Meeting, May 13-17.

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Current treatments of Type 2 diabetes can help the body use insulin at various stages of the disease, but they can also be expensive and subject patients to lifelong medication regimens and side effects. Thanks to new therapeutic ultrasound technology, one promising alternative looks to reshape how early Type 2 diabetes is managed. A group of researchers has used ultrasound therapy to stimulate insulin release from mice on demand. The team will present their findings at the 177th ASA Meeting, May 13-17.

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Every year, bald and golden eagles are killed when they inadvertently fly into wind turbine blades. One possible way to prevent these deaths is to chase the birds away with acoustic signals. To determine what types of sounds are most effective in deterring the birds, researchers tested the behavioral responses of bald eagles to a battery of both natural and synthetic acoustic stimuli. Auditory neuroscientist JoAnn McGee will present the results of those tests at the 177th ASA Meeting, May 13-17.

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Referees and others using whistles on the job need a simple way to determine whether it’s harmful to their hearing, so researchers set out to put it to the test and to provide some clarity and damage risk criteria for impulse noise exposures. To do this, the group carefully measured and analyzed the acoustic signature of 13 brands of whistles identified as the “most commonly used” by 300 sports officials -- both indoors and outdoors. They will present their findings during the 177th ASA Meeting.

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Screaming is well-studied in animals, but much less is known about how human screams function in communication, or how similar or different human screams are from those of other species. To help unlock the secrets of human screaming, researchers at Emory University have studied human vocal sounds, representing a broad acoustical range and array of emotional contexts, and studied what makes a sound a scream or not. They will describe the work in a presentation at the 177th ASA Meeting, May 13-17, in Louisville.

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Wind turbines are a critical component in the strategy for energy independence, but these massive structures are also killing bats. Now, researchers from Texas A&M University are exploring a unique passive acoustic whistle mounted on turbine blades to warn bats of the deadly turbines using a sound they can easily hear and recognize. They will present the team’s research findings at the 177th ASA Meeting.

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The different soundscapes of NICUs has recently attracted interest in how changes in what we hear in our earliest days might affect language development in the brain. One ongoing study is hoping to better understand these differences by painting a clearer picture of what kinds of sounds full-term infants are exposed to in the womb. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are conducting one of the first studies on how often full-term fetuses hear spoken language before birth. They will present their preliminary findings at the 177th ASA Meeting, May 13-17.

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Conversation is an important part of what makes us human. Previous research has shown that children begin to develop this skill at a young age. While many assume that mothers instigate communication with their children, new research suggests that children are the ones who get the conversation started. “I was surprised that kids were drivers of conversation,” said Mark VanDam, who will present his team’s research findings at the 177th ASA Meeting, May 13-17.

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The quickest way to decide if a watermelon is ripe or not is by tapping on it. And if you’re having trouble detecting the subtleties of the sound, listen to some Nigerian traditional music to get your ears attuned. Nigerian researcher Stephen Onwubiko has found a link between the sounds of drumming in traditional Nigerian music and the sound of fingers drumming on watermelons in the markets. His team will present the findings at the 177th ASA Meeting, May 13-17.

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Children glean all kinds of information from the people around them. In particular, children mimic and learn speech patterns from their family. Previous work has shown that infants attend selectively to their mother’s voice over another female’s voice. But new research suggests that children learn new words best from other children. Yuanyuan Wang will present research findings from a collaborative work with Amanda Seidl from Purdue University at the 177th ASA Meeting, May 13-17.

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If you’ve ever wished for a quieter commute, you may be in luck: The low-emission electric vehicles of tomorrow are expected to lower noise pollution as well as air pollution. The prospect of a future powered by environmentally friendly electric vehicles is leading experts to consider the benefits -- and the risks -- of quieter traffic. Two acoustics experts, Klaus Genuit and Rene Weinandy, will present their work studying acoustic vehicle alerting systems, or AVAS, at the 177th ASA Meeting, May 13-17.

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Excessive noise is widely known to have negative effects on health, and children in neonatal intensive care units are among the most vulnerable. Researchers have conducted one of the first studies linking the quiet time soundscape inside NICUs with infant health. The study examined the effects of quiet time implementation in multiple NICUs on infants up to 18 months after implementation. They will present their findings at the 177th ASA Meeting, May 13-17.

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Militaries have worked hard to develop technologies that simultaneously protect soldiers' hearing and aid in battlefield communication. However, these don’t help if a soldier takes it off to assess the location of incoming gunfire. A French researcher has developed a proof of concept that uses the microphones in a TCAPS system to capture a shooter’s acoustic information and transmit this to a soldier’s smartphone to display shooter location in real time. He will present his shooter location research at the 177th ASA Meeting, May 13-17.

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During WWI, William Lawrence Bragg led the development of an acoustic method to locate enemy artillery, work that was so successful that it was soon used widely throughout the British army. The method, known as sound ranging, was also adopted by the U.S. Army when they joined the war, and earned Bragg a military decoration from the British armed forces. Bragg's story will be presented at the 177th ASA Meeting, May 13-17.

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Press conferences for the 177th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America will be held Tuesday, May 14 in the Laffoon Room at the Galt House. The morning and afternoon press conferences will focus on research into human sounds and language learning, protecting wildlife from man-made obstacles and potentially helping authorities respond faster in an active shooting situation, as well as other discoveries in acoustics.