An array of four microphones ready for noise measurements. Credit: Kent Gee
WASHINGTON, Feb. 14, 2023 – When the Artemis 1 mission was launched by NASA’s Space Launch System, SLS, in November, it became the world’s most powerful rocket, exceeding the thrust of the previous record holder, Saturn 5, by 13%. With liftoff came a loud roar heard miles away. In JASA Express Letters, published on behalf of the Acoustical Society of America by AIP Publishing, researchers from Brigham Young University and Rollins College in Florida reported…click to read more
The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is pleased to present the names of the recipients of various awards and prizes. Congratulations to the following recipients…click to read more.
MELVILLE, NY., Jan. 27, 2023 – The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) offers Science Communication Awards in Acoustics to recognize excellence in the communication of acoustics-related topics to a popular audience. Click here to nominate examples of excellent acoustics communication by March 15, 2023.
The 2023 award cycle will accept content created between January 1, 2021, and December 31, 2022. If you have seen, heard, or created something acoustics-related during this time frame, please nominate it! Each nominated entry will be judged according to its general accessibility, relevance to acoustics, accuracy, and quality. Eligible media formats include newspaper and magazine articles, videos, podcasts, TikTok or YouTube content, books, and websites. The ASA will consider self-nominations and nominations from creators who are ASA members and non-members alike. All non-ASA-member recipients will receive a cash prize of $2500 and a travel stipend to attend an ASA meeting for award presentation. ASA Member recipients will receive a $1000 cash prize.
These awards were known as the “Science Writing Award,” however, in the 2010s, videos and other multimedia content began to be submitted for consideration. So, the Public Relations Committee renamed and restructured the award to recognize that good science communication can happen through many kinds of media. Check out past recipients here.
———————– MORE MEETING INFORMATION ———————– ASA PRESS ROOM ASA’s Press Room is regularly updated with newsworthy stories at https://acoustics.org/asa-press-room/.
ABOUT THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is the premier international scientific society in acoustics devoted to the science and technology of sound. Its 7,000 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), JASA Express Letters, Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, Acoustics Today magazine, books, and standards on acoustics. The society also holds two major scientific meetings each year. See https://acousticalsociety.org/.
The pups possess an innate control of their voice and an understanding of rhythm.
Media Contact: Ashley Piccone AIP Media 301-209-3090 media@aip.org
NASHVILLE, Tenn., Dec. 9, 2022 – Humans appear to be one of the only animals capable of speech, which requires a range of skills and mental abilities. Among them, vocal learning — the ability to learn to produce new sounds —is critical for developing language. Only a handful of animals possess this trait, including humans, bats, whales, seals, and elephants.
Andrea Ravignani studies the vocal learning of seal pups. Credit: Connie Edwards/Kleve Zoo
However, simply possessing the ability to create new sounds is not enough to unlock language. Studying whether animals possess additional language-related skills can help us understand what it takes to learn speech and reveal the history of its evolution.
Andrea Ravignani of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics will discuss his work linking vocal learning with vocal plasticity and rhythmic capacity in his session, “Vocal learning, chorusing seal pups, and the evolution of rhythm.” The presentation will take place on Dec. 9 at 9:50 a.m. Eastern U.S. in Grand Hall A, as part of the 183rd Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America running Dec. 5-9 at the Grand Hyatt Nashville Hotel.
Ravignani and colleagues studied seal pups’ vocal plasticity, or how well they can adjust their own voices to compensate for their environment. They found that seal pups can change the pitch and volume of their voices, much like humans. The ability to change volume is common, but changing pitch, or fundamental frequency, is rare in animals.
“Seals may have this capacity due to convergent evolution: vocal plasticity may be a trait which evolved independently in multiple lineages due to similar evolutionary pressures,” said Ravignani. “For the case of humans and seals, plasticity and vocal learning may be associated with either advanced breathing control or singing abilities in both species.”
The team also tested the ability of seal pups to identify rhythmic sounds using recordings of other seals. They altered some of those recordings by changing tempos and adding rhythms to see how the young seals would react. Seal pups paid significantly more attention to recordings with regular rhythms and fast tempos.
“We can conclude that very young and untrained seals can discriminate between other seals’ vocalization based on their rhythmic properties,” said Ravignani. “Another mammal, apart from us, shows rhythm processing and vocalization learning; perhaps these two skills coevolved in both humans and seals.”
ASA PRESS ROOM In the coming weeks, ASA’s Press Room will be updated with newsworthy stories and the press conference schedule at https://acoustics.org/asa-press-room/.
LAY LANGUAGE PAPERS ASA will also share dozens of lay language papers about topics covered at the conference. Lay language papers are 300 to 500 word summaries of presentations written by scientists for a general audience. They will be accompanied by photos, audio, and video. Learn more at https://acoustics.org/lay-language-papers/.
PRESS REGISTRATION ASA will grant free registration to credentialed and professional freelance journalists. If you are a reporter and would like to attend the meeting or virtual press conferences, contact AIP Media Services at media@aip.org. For urgent requests, AIP staff can also help with setting up interviews and obtaining images, sound clips, or background information.
ABOUT THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is the premier international scientific society in acoustics devoted to the science and technology of sound. Its 7,000 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), JASA Express Letters, Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, Acoustics Today magazine, books, and standards on acoustics. The society also holds two major scientific meetings each year. See https://acousticalsociety.org/.
Improving Child Development by Monitoring Noisy Daycares #ASA183
Noise levels can negatively impact children and staff but focusing on the sound environment can help.
Media Contact: Ashley Piccone AIP Media 301-209-3090 media@aip.org
NASHVILLE, Tenn., Dec. 8, 2022 – During some of their most formative years, many children go to daycare centers outside their homes. While there, they require a supportive, healthy environment that includes meaningful speech and conversation. This hinges on the soundscape of the childcare center.
Understanding the soundscape in a daycare center can improve childhood development. Credit: George G. Meade Public Affairs Office
In his presentation at the 183rd Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, Kenton Hummel of the University of Nebraska – Lincoln (UNL) will describe how soundscape research in daycares can improve child and provider outcomes and experiences. The presentation, “Applying unsupervised machine learning clustering techniques to early childcare soundscapes,” will take place on Dec. 8 at 11:25 a.m. Eastern U.S. in the Summit A room, as part of the meeting running Dec. 5-9 at the Grand Hyatt Nashville Hotel.
“Few studies have rigorously examined the indoor sound quality of childcare centers,” said Hummel. “The scarcity of research may deprive providers and engineers from providing the highest quality of care possible. This study aims to better understand the sound environment of childcare centers to pave the way toward better childcare.”
The goal of the research is to understand the relationship between noise and people. High noise levels and long periods of loud fluctuating sound can negatively impact children and staff by increasing the effort it takes to communicate. In contrast, a low background noise level allows for meaningful speech, which is essential for language, brain, cognitive, and social/emotional development.
Hummel is a member of the UNL Soundscape Lab led by Dr. Erica Ryherd. Their team collaborated with experts in engineering, sensing, early childcare, and health to monitor three daycare centers for 48-hour periods. They also asked staff to evaluate the sound in their workplace. From there, they used machine learning to characterize the acoustic environment and determine what factors influence the child and provider experience.
“Recent work in offices, hospitals, and schools has utilized machine learning to understand their respective environments in a way that goes beyond typical acoustic analyses,” said Hummel. “This work utilizes similar machine learning techniques to build and expand on that work.”
ASA PRESS ROOM In the coming weeks, ASA’s Press Room will be updated with newsworthy stories and the press conference schedule at https://acoustics.org/asa-press-room/.
LAY LANGUAGE PAPERS ASA will also share dozens of lay language papers about topics covered at the conference. Lay language papers are 300 to 500 word summaries of presentations written by scientists for a general audience. They will be accompanied by photos, audio, and video. Learn more at https://acoustics.org/lay-language-papers/.
PRESS REGISTRATION ASA will grant free registration to credentialed and professional freelance journalists. If you are a reporter and would like to attend the meeting or virtual press conferences, contact AIP Media Services at media@aip.org. For urgent requests, AIP staff can also help with setting up interviews and obtaining images, sound clips, or background information.
ABOUT THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is the premier international scientific society in acoustics devoted to the science and technology of sound. Its 7,000 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), JASA Express Letters, Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, Acoustics Today magazine, books, and standards on acoustics. The society also holds two major scientific meetings each year. See https://acousticalsociety.org/.
Whispers from the Deep Sea: The Subtle Sounds of Hydrothermal Vents #ASA183
Passive acoustic monitoring can characterize the sounds of hydrothermal vents, informing the environmental impacts of deep-sea mining and possibly locating similar sites throughout the solar system.
Media Contact: Ashley Piccone AIP Media 301-209-3090 media@aip.org
NASHVILLE, Tenn., Dec. 8, 2022 – Deep-sea hydrothermal vents host unique life that survives without sunlight, and they play a significant role in the cycle of heat, water, and chemicals within the ocean. But long-term monitoring of these vents is difficult because of their hot and caustic characteristics.
Ocean Networks Canada’s hydrophone and the Deep Acoustic Lander are used to monitor hydrothermal vents. Credit: Ocean Networks Canada
In his presentation, “The soundscape of two deep-sea hydrothermal vent sites,” Brendan Smith will describe how hydrophones can listen to the sounds of these vents, informing the environmental impacts of deep-sea mining and assisting with interplanetary exploration. The 183rd Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America will run Dec. 5-9 at the Grand Hyatt Nashville Hotel, and Smith’s session will take place on Dec. 8 at 9:30 a.m. Eastern U.S. in the North Coast A room.
Smith and his PhD supervisor Dr. David Barclay used hydrophones operated by Ocean Networks Canada in the Pacific Ocean and the European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and water column Observatory in the Atlantic Ocean to monitor two vents on the seafloor. Barclay also developed a custom autonomous device that helps determine the source of a sound, which Smith will deploy during a research cruise in 2023. Both are noninvasive ways to study the vents, and both are sustainable in the long term because they work from a safe distance.
Hydrothermal vents produce subtle sounds near the low end of the human hearing range. These noises fluctuate with the flow and temperature of the vent, and biological sources nearby can also contribute to the soundscape.
“Ultimately, our objective is to find the relationship between vent parameters such as flow rate or temperature and the sound they produce,” Smith said. “It is also important to understand all of the contributions to the soundscape at hydrothermal vents, not just the sounds produced by the vents themselves. Surface weather, marine life, and anthropogenic sources such as shipping all contribute to the soundscape.”
Proposed industrial use of hydrothermal vents through deep-sea mining would alter their soundscape and impact the surrounding organisms. Understanding the acoustics in the vicinity could help predict and prevent environmental impacts.
“Characterizing the sound produced by hydrothermal vents can also help us locate new, unexplored vent sites from a long distance,” said Smith. “This could be used to help find new vent sites on Earth, but also elsewhere in the solar system, such as Saturn’s moon Titan or Jupiter’s moon Europa.”
ASA PRESS ROOM In the coming weeks, ASA’s Press Room will be updated with newsworthy stories and the press conference schedule at https://acoustics.org/asa-press-room/.
LAY LANGUAGE PAPERS ASA will also share dozens of lay language papers about topics covered at the conference. Lay language papers are 300 to 500 word summaries of presentations written by scientists for a general audience. They will be accompanied by photos, audio, and video. Learn more at https://acoustics.org/lay-language-papers/.
PRESS REGISTRATION ASA will grant free registration to credentialed and professional freelance journalists. If you are a reporter and would like to attend the meeting or virtual press conferences, contact AIP Media Services at media@aip.org. For urgent requests, AIP staff can also help with setting up interviews and obtaining images, sound clips, or background information.
ABOUT THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is the premier international scientific society in acoustics devoted to the science and technology of sound. Its 7,000 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), JASA Express Letters, Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, Acoustics Today magazine, books, and standards on acoustics. The society also holds two major scientific meetings each year. See https://acousticalsociety.org/.
