The 12th ICBEN (International Commission on Biological Effects of Noise) Congress on Noise as a Public Health Problem was held June 18-22, 2017 in Zurich, Switzerland. The congress targeted everybody interested in the vast field of auditory and non-auditory effects of noise. The “tropical” Zurich?! I arrived on the Sunday in “tropical” Zurich and was […]
research
Blending academia and industry to benefit children with hearing loss
Acoustics is a broad subject and as a researcher, it can be easy to forget to occasionally lift the head, straighten the back, breathe and take in the surroundings. The EU-funded iCARE project (Improving Children’s Auditory Rehabilitation) aims to promote inter-disciplinary research to benefit hard of hearing children and has been running for three years now. In order to […]
Transitions Symposium – Inhabiting Innovative Learning Environments
The first of a series of three worldwide symposiums took place in Melbourne earlier this month. The Melbourne ILETC Transitions Symposium – “Inhabiting Innovative Learning Environments Symposium” was organised by Innovative Learning Environments and Teacher Change (ILETC) research project and occurred the day after the ILETC project Annual Partners meeting. I attended and gained a lot […]
Danish study: 97% of hospital staff are sometimes disturbed by noise
Danish study on healthcare facilities. Presentation day Today I had the pleasure of attending a presentation day at DTU (Technical University of Denmark) arranged by the Electro Department under the title: Acoustic Technology & Centre for Acoustic-Mechanical Micro Systems. The speakers were mainly PhD students and Postdocs and the topics varied from ‘Loudspeaker Array Auralisations […]
The Problem With Acoustic Simulations
Predicting sound absorption is in general troublesome. We have too many definitions; e.g. normal incidence, random incidence, field incidence, angle-dependent absorption coefficient, local-reaction or extended reaction absorption coefficient, etc. Another problem is that there are various standardised methods, but none of them can give an absolute truth. Cheol-Ho Jeong, Associate Professor at DTU, was one […]
Sound and the senses at the centre of the design process
It’s refreshing to see an architectural graduate student who has used sound and the senses as key components that drive the architectural concept. Those of us who work in the industry are far too used to seeing acoustics being considered late in a project or not at all. In this article, we hear from Ashlea […]
Back to school to improve the lives of children with hearing impairment
As many students are enjoying their midterm break, it’s time to take a seat on the school bench for others. A group of European researchers, experts and industry partners is gathering to share insight on children’s auditory rehabilitation for three days as part of iCARE’s third winter school in Linköping, Sweden. The iCARE (improving Children’s Auditory […]
Sensing the space – New podcast episode
In this special edition of the A Sound Effect on People podcast, we join Lauren Kruger and Dr Annemarie Lombard in South Africa and delve into the effect of our senses and so-called sensory intelligence in our daily life. Click and listen This episode gives an insight into how the sensory stimuli affect the way we act within our […]
Sound schools: the importance of good acoustics
When we speak, we push air from our lungs, which continues up through the neck via the vocal chords, which in turn vibrate and create sound. The sound continues on via the nasal cavity and oral cavity, creating sound waves that are released into the room. These sound waves are received by someone’s ears via […]
Future-proofing healthcare with these rules
How do healthcare and hospital management need to adapt in order to future-proofing healthcare businesses? What challenges lie ahead and how can they increase their contribution to both society and a sustainable future? In my work, I have the benefit of listening to and meeting both authorities in healthcare management and healthcare professionals. Based on […]
