Spotlight on Women’s Voices in Acoustics Today

Women's Voices Alex Tolstoy

Acoustics Today (AT) articles have been written by women, but Volume 14, Issue 3 was special because it was the first issue where all the senior authors were women. One of the founders of the ASA Women in Acoustics (WIA) Committee, Alex Tolstoy, painted the cover artwork to accompany her co-authored article “In Her Own Words: An Acoustic Story.” Pictures of each of the senior authors from the issue can be found within the painting. In honor of Women’s History Month, let’s look at some AT articles featuring women’s voices and that have been published since.

Women's Voices Allison B. Coffin

First up is Allison B. Coffin, author of “Communicate Your Science: Engaging Public Audiences with Acoustics.” Allison is an associate professor of neuroscience at Washington State University Vancouver. Her research interests include cell signaling regulation of hearing loss and regeneration and hormonal modulation of auditory plasticity. She is a passionate science communicator and communication trainer and cofounded Science Talk, the science communication professional society, where she serves as the president.

Women's Voices Bonnie K. Lau

Next is Bonnie K. Lau, the author of “Pitch Perception in a Developing Auditory Brain.” She is a research assistant professor at the University of Washington (Seattle). Her research investigates auditory brain and perceptual development and how that relates to language acquisition. She combines neurophysiological measures, including electroencephalography and magnetoencephalography, psychophysics, and clinical assessment methods, in her research. Bonnie is a member of the WIA Committee as well as the Psychological and Physiological Technical Committee of the ASA.

Women's Voices Delilah E. A. Gates

Then we have Delilah E. A. Gates, author of “The ‘Sounds’ of Black Holes.” Delilah is an associate research scholar at Princeton University. She is a theoretical physicist whose research focuses on studying observational signatures of spinning black holes by leveraging features of the space-time geometry and lensing of light around them. Outside of physics, Delilah enjoys poetry, board/card games, and decorating cakes.

Women's Voices Meaghan A. O’Reilly

Last, but not least, is Meaghan A. O’Reilly, author of “Incisionless Brain Surgery: Overcoming the Skull with Focused Ultrasound.” Meaghan is a senior scientist in Physical Sciences at Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, an associate professor of Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto, and the Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Biomedical Ultrasound. Her research interests include ultrasound therapy in the central nervous system, with a focus on delivery, monitoring, and control of microbubble-mediated therapies in the brain and spinal cord through the intact bone.

Celebrate the collective achievements of extraordinary women in acoustics and discover more articles written by WIA committee members on the AT Collections page at https://acousticstoday.org/at-collections-women-in-acoustics/. For a deeper dive into the WIA committee, visit womeninacoustics.org.

Spring Issue of Acoustics Today now out!

The spring issue of Acoustics Today is now out! The cover features close up images of mud from the New England Mud Patch. The related article talks about why the acoustics of mud are interesting and important (pg. 37). (Fun fact, the image is actually adapted from a figure in this POMA article!)

Other topics in this issue:

  • The ways acoustical oceanographers use underwater ambient sound to measure the complex internal structure of the ocean,
  • The unprecedented changes in the world’s acoustical environments that people observed during the pandemic
  • Changes to soundscapes as the world enters a postpandemic era
  • Jim Simmons’ career studying bat echolocation
  • The unique acoustics of large venues like arenas, stadiums, and ampitheaters

Plus there’s an interview with Karl Grosh of University of Michigan, an overview of the International Liaison Committee’s Excellence in Acoustics Around the World session during the most recent ASA meeting, and look at how students are fostering inclusion in the field of acoustics.

If you don’t want to wait for your print copy to arrive in the mail, you can check out the entire issue online!

 

Spring Acoustics Today

Resonating Legacies: James E. West’s Impact on Acoustics

We recently posted about past recipients of the James E. West Fellowship which provides funding to minority students in their pursuit of graduate-level degrees in acoustics. Today, we’d like to highlight some of the publications of the man who the award is named in honor of: inventor and past ASA President, James E. West.

Besides being President of the ASA from 1998 to 1999, he’s also a recipient of the Silver Medal in Engineering Acoustics and the Gold Medal. After a retiring from a career at Bell Labs, he went on to start a second career as a research professor at Johns Hopkins University. Over the years, his research has helped not only the acoustics community, but the world at large.

Perhaps West’s most well-known work is his 1966 publication with G. M. Sessler about the development of foil-electret microphones. This Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA) article revolutionized the microphone industry; these types of microphones have been used in everything from hearing aids and phones to GPS devices and underwater instruments. This invention actually got him inducted into The National Inventors Hall of Fame (You can read more about the impact of the electret microphone in this Reflection!)

James E. West Tuning Fork

ASA President Lawrence Crum (R) presents President-Elect James E. West (L) with the ASA President’s Tuning Fork. (June 1998)

But, of course, West continued to research and impact the acoustics community after this seminal work. More recently, he coauthored this JASA paper about noise in hospital emergency rooms with Douglas Orellana and Ilene J. Busch-Vishniac. He and Busch-Vishniac also wrote an early Acoustics Today article about attracting more undergraduate students to studying acoustics.

Want to learn more about this pioneer of acoustics research and his contributions? Check out “A History of Consumer Microphones” and “Being a Black Scholar” in Acoustics Today!

James E. West Silver Medal

ASA President Robert Apfel (L) presents the Silver Medal in Engineering Acoustics to James E. West (R). (Nov 1995)

James E. West Gold Medal

ASA President William Yost (R) presents the Gold Medal to James E. West (L). (June 2006)

Unlocking the Sounds of Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras, renowned for its vibrant parades in New Orleans, brings to life the spirit of celebration with music and revelry leading up to Ash Wednesday. While the sound of parades may appear commonplace, research has uncovered fascinating nuances in the soundscape. A paper published in the Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics (POMA) introduces an automated classification algorithm capable of discerning crowd reactions at a Mardi Gras parade from those at a basketball game. Explore the fascinating findings here: https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001327.

For those who haven’t experienced the magic of a Mardi Gras parade in-person, the question lingers – what is it like? The prospect of virtually attending such events is on the horizon, prompting curiosity about whether the auditory experience can be replicated. In an insightful article published in Acoustics Today, the creation of dynamic virtual soundscapes is explored, offering a glimpse into the potential future of immersive virtual Mardi Gras experiences. You can read more in the article here: https://doi.org/10.1121/AT.2020.16.1.46, or listen to the Across Acoustics podcast episode featuring the author: https://acrossacoustics.buzzsprout.com/1537384/9601986-virtual-sounds

Mardi Gras - Basketball

Cluster distribution of crowd noise for basketball and Mardi Gras data. https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001327

Mardi Gras - Virtual

Left: watching Mardi Gras on a TV set; right: being literally “inside” Mardi Gras, in a virtual acoustic environment. Original photo of marching band by Prayitno, used under the Creative Commons license with attribution (CC BY 2.0). https://doi.org/10.1121/AT.2020.16.1.46

Excitingly, ASA is set to return to the vibrant city of New Orleans for the 188th Meeting, jointly held with the International Congress on Acoustics from May 19-23, 2025. Having last convened in the city in 2017, the conference yielded a treasure trove of proceedings papers spanning a myriad of acoustics topics. For those captivated by the fusion of sound and science, immerse yourself in the 174th ASA Meeting proceedings here: https://pubs.aip.org/asa/poma/issue/31/1, or check out the Lay Language Papers (LLP) here: https://acoustics.org/lay-language-papers/new-orleans-louisiana/. We hope to see and hear you back in New Orleans in 2025!

Mardi Gras - NOLA Meeting

174th ASA Meeting held in New Orleans in 2017

Popular Social Media Posts – January

The first month of 2024 has flown by, which means it’s time to review January’s most popular social media posts. The following posts got people to like, share, and perhaps most importantly, read the published research!

On the ASA Facebook page, a JASA Express Letter post featuring “Sound power of NASA’s lunar rockets: Space Launch System versus Saturn V” had really good engagement. You can visit the post first or read the article at https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0022538.

Facebook-January Social MediaFacebook

Next, a Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics (POMA) paper presented at the most recent ASA Meeting did well on Twitter (X). See the original tweet or read the paper at: https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001812.

Twitter-January Social MediaLinkedIn

Next, a Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics (POMA) paper presented at the most recent ASA Meeting did well on Twitter (X). See the original tweet or read the paper at: https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001812.

Instagram-January Social MediaInstagram

Finally, folks on LinkedIn enjoyed a post featuring an article from the 3D Sound Recognition Special issue of JASA. View the post and read the article at https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0024159.

LinkedIn-January Social MediaLinked In

In fact, many of our upcoming social media posts will be about 185th Meeting, Acoustics 23 and will contain #Acoustics23. If you will be attending, be sure to include the hashtag so that we can follow along! We are especially looking forward to the POMAs that come after the meeting!