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Celebrating Women’s History Month with ASA Gold Medalists

March is Women’s History Month, a time to highlight the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society. In recognition of Women’s History Month, let’s turn our spotlight to the remarkable women who have been honored with the prestigious ASA Gold Medal, awarded by the Society for exceptional contributions to acoustics.

ASA Gold Medalists

Dr. Katherine S. Harris

In 2007, Dr. Katherine Harris received the Gold Medal for pioneering research and leadership in speech production and dedicated service to the Society. Beyond her scientific achievements, Dr. Harris’ global leadership in speech science has served as an inspiration to the next generation of researchers. Dive deeper into Dr. Harris’ remarkable journey in this enlightening encomium, and explore a selection of her noteworthy ASA publications:

H. Betty Kollia, Vincent L. Gracco, Katherine S. Harris; Articulatory organization of mandibular, labial, and velar movements during speech. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 1 September 1995; 98 (3): 1313–1324. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.413468

Susan Nittrouer, Kevin Munhall, J. A. Scott Kelso, Betty Tuller, Katherine S. Harris; Patterns of interarticulator phasing and their relation to linguistic structure. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 1 November 1988; 84 (5): 1653–1661. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.397180

Fredericka Bell‐Berti, Katherine S. Harris; Anticipatory coarticulation: Some implications from a study of lip rounding. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 1 May 1979; 65 (5): 1268–1270. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.382794

Women's History Month - Katherine Harris

Past ASA President Anthony Atchley (R) presents the Gold Medal to Katherine Harris (L). Photo by Kenny Crookston. Image source: https://doi.org/10.1121/1.2776667

Dr. Patricia K. Kuhl

In 2008, Dr. Patricia K. Kuhl received the ASA Gold Medal for contributions to understanding how children acquire spoken language and for leadership in the Society. She made history as the first female ASA President in 1999. Through her commitment to science, she continues to inspire and shape the ASA landscape. Gain insights into Dr. Kuhl’s experiences in this interview and peruse some of her ASA publications:

Fernando Llanos, T. Christina Zhao, Patricia K. Kuhl, Bharath Chandrasekaran; The emergence of idiosyncratic patterns in the frequency-following response during the first year of life. JASA Express Lett. 1 May 2022; 2 (5): 054401. https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0010493

Patricia K. Kuhl, Andrew N. Meltzoff; Infant vocalizations in response to speech: Vocal imitation and developmental change. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 1 October 1996; 100 (4): 2425–2438. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.417951

Paul Iverson, Patricia K. Kuhl; Mapping the perceptual magnet effect for speech using signal detection theory and multidimensional scaling. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 1 January 1995; 97 (1): 553–562. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.412280

Past ASA President Gilles Daigle (R) presents the Gold Medal to Patricia K. Kuhl (L). Image source https://doi.org/10.1121/1.3005559

Dr. Judy R. Dubno

In 2020, Dr. Judy R. Dubno received the ASA Gold Medal for contributions to understanding age-related hearing loss and for leadership in the acoustics community. In her extensive involvement with the ASA, including serving as President and Treasurer, Dr. Dubno’s efficiency, knowledge, and dedication have been exemplary. Discover more about Dr. Dubno’s journey in this encomium and explore some of her ASA publications featured below:

Daniel Fogerty, Judy R. Dubno, Valeriy Shafiro; Perception of interrupted speech and text: Listener and modality factors. JASA Express Lett. 1 June 2022; 2 (6): 064402. https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0011571

Ning-ji He, John H. Mills, Judy R. Dubno; Frequency modulation detection: Effects of age, psychophysical method, and modulation waveform. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 1 July 2007; 122 (1): 467–477. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.2741208

Marjorie R. Leek, Judy R. Dubno, Ning-ji He, Jayne B. Ahlstrom; Experience with a yes–no single-interval maximum-likelihood procedure. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 1 May 2000; 107 (5): 2674–2684. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.428653

Judy R. Dubno. Image source: https://doi.org/10.1121/1.5147426

In celebrating these remarkable women during Women’s History Month, we not only honor their individual achievements but also acknowledge the collective impact of women in shaping the field of acoustics. Their contributions serve as an inspiration for current and future generations, illustrating the vital role women play in advancing our understanding of acoustics.

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!)

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!

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

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

New Across Acoustics Episode: Student Paper Competition – Chicago

Another meeting, another round of amazing student research! This episode, we talk to winners of the POMA Student Paper Competition from the 184th meeting of the ASA about their research into using machine learning to model concert hall reverberation time, the effect of clear speech on memory, noise from the Atlas-V rocket launch, the bridge force exerted on the string of a bowed instrument, and a new approach to underwater acoustic source localization.

Like the episode? Read the associated articles:

Jonathan Michael Broyles and Zane Tyler Rusk. Predicting the reverberation time of concert halls by use of a random forest regression model. Proc. Mtgs. Acoust.51, 015004 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001751
Nicholas B. Aoki and Georgia Zellou. When clear speech does not enhance memory: Effects of speaking style, voice naturalness, and listener age. Proc. Mtgs. Acoust.51, 060002 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001766
Logan T. Mathews, Mark C. Anderson, Carson D. Gardner, Bradley W. McLaughlin, Brooke M. Hinds, Megan R. McCullah-Boozer, Lucas K. Hall, and Kent L. Gee. An overview of acoustical measurements made of the Atlas V JPSS-2 rocket launch. Proc. Mtgs. Acoust.51, 040003 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001768
Alessio Lampis, Alexander Mayer, Montserrat Pàmies-Vilà, and Vasileios Chatziioannou. Examination of the static and dynamic bridge force components of a bowed string. Proc. Mtgs. Acoust.51, 035002 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001755
Dariush Kari, Andrew C. Singer, Hari Vishnu, and Amir Weiss. A gradient-based optimization approach for underwater acoustic source localization. Proc. Mtgs. Acoust.51, 022002 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001753

And if you’re a student presenting at the latest meeting in Sydney, don’t forget to submit your POMA to the next Student Paper Competition!

Announcing the Winners of the Chicago POMA Student Paper Competition: 184th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America

Helen Wall Murray

POMA Manuscript Manager

helenwallmurray@acousticalsociety.org

The POMA Editorial Board is proud to announce that the 3rd society-wide student paper competition has come to completion with five papers chosen from the largest pool of POMA Student Paper Competition (PSPC) submissions to date. The papers span across ten technical areas, ranging from Architectural to Signal Processing, Musical to Computational to Physical and Psychological Acoustics. The core purpose of the competition is to highlight the relevant and cutting-edge research happening across the many disciplines of the ASA, and to draw attention, specifically, to the achievements of young acousticians. Ultimately, we hope this initiative will continue to increase involvement with POMA across the membership and provide an efficient, speedy and valuable path to publication for many first-time authors.

According to POMA Editor Megan Ballard, “All the papers were quite good and also so different in terms of technical content and style. It was difficult to rank them because they were all high quality and excelled in different ways.”

Each winning student author will receive an award of USD $300 and the opportunity to appear on the ASA publications podcast, Across Acoustics. Additionally, a special designation will be added to the cover pages, articles will be be featured on ASA social media accounts, and the winners will receive a formal certificate signed by the ASA President and the POMA Editor. In the near future, all of the winners from the three competitions and all subsequent competitions will be featured in perpetuity on the POMA Homepage.

We look forward to promoting all of the excellent papers submitted over the next several weeks in upcoming email and social media campaigns.

On behalf of the ASA and the POMA Editorial Board we congratulate the following student authors:

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Speech Communication

When clear speech does not enhance memory: Effects of speaking style, voice naturalness, and listener age
Nicholas B. Aoki and Georgia Zellou
Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 51, 060002 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001766



Architectural Acoustics

Predicting the reverberation time of concert halls by use of a random forest regression model
Jonathan Michael Broyles and Zane Tyler Rusk
Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 51, 015004 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001751



Computational Acoustics

A gradient-based optimization approach for underwater acoustic source localization
Dariush Kari and Andrew C. Singer
Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 51, 022002 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001753



Musical Acoustics

Examination of the static and dynamic bridge force components of a bowed string
Alessio Lampis, Alexander Mayer, Montserrat Pàmies-Vilà and Vasileios Chatziioannou
Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 51, 022002 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001755



Noise

An overview of acoustical measurements made of the Atlas V JPSS-2 rocket launch
Logan T. Mathews, Mark C. Anderson, Carson D. Gardner, Bradley W. McLaughlin, Brooke M. Hinds, Megan R. McCullah-Boozer, Lucas K. Hall and Kent L. Gee
Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 51, 040003 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001768

Calling all Sydney-bound Students!

The next student paper competition will commence after the close of the 185th Meeting of the Acoustical Society in Sydney, Australia. Student presenters are invited to submit a corresponding paper by the competition deadline, which is 30 days after the conclusion of the meeting. In this case, 8 January 2024. For more information about the POMA Student Paper Competition (PSPC), please contact the POMA Editorial Office – poma@acousticalsociety.org or review this recent blog post that details the qualifications and guidelines – https://acoustics.org/poma-captures-meeting-momentum/.

We look forward to receiving your Sydney submissions!

Outstanding Student Authors

The Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics (POMA) serves as a platform for showcasing acoustics research presented at Acoustical Society of America (ASA) Meetings. With the winners of the POMA Student Paper Competition from the 184th ASA Meeting soon to be announced, we would like to highlight some past winners. These outstanding papers delve into diverse areas of acoustics, ranging from directional acoustic structures and computational fluid dynamics to array deformations and transfer functions.

Lara Díaz-García, Andrew Reid, Joseph Jackson-Camargo, and James Windmill. “Directional passive acoustic structures inspired by the ear of Achroia grisella.” Proc. Mtgs. Acoust 50, 032001 (2022) doi: https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001715

This paper explores the fascinating concept of developing small and directional microphones inspired by the ear of the moth, Achroia grisella. The researchers employ bio-inspiration to overcome the challenge of achieving directional hearing in miniature microphones. By combining analytical equations, finite element modeling, 3D-printing, and experimental measurements, they demonstrate the feasibility of creating innovative microphones with improved directional hearing capabilities.

Mara Salut Escarti-Guillem, Luis M. Garcia-Raffi, Sergio Hoyas, and Oliver Gloth. “Assessment of Computational Fluid Dynamics acoustic prediction accuracy and deflector impact on launch aero-acoustic environment.” Proc. Mtgs. Acoust 50, 040001 (2022) doi: https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001716

This paper focuses on the assessment of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in predicting acoustic environments during launch activities. The researchers investigate the accuracy of CFD simulations in predicting the aero-acoustic environment and the impact of deflectors on noise reduction. Through their study, they provide valuable insights into the use of CFD for optimizing launch vehicle design and reducing noise emissions.

Kanad Sarkar, Manan Mittal, Ryan Corey, Andrew Singer. “Measuring and Exploiting the Locally Linear Mapping between Relative Transfer Functions and Array deformations.” Proc. Mtgs. Acoust 50, 055001 (2022) doi: https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001707

This paper delves into the measurement and utilization of the locally linear mapping between relative transfer functions and array deformations. The researchers propose a novel approach to exploit the relationship between acoustic transfer functions and array deformations, enabling improved understanding and control of the acoustic field. Their findings have implications for various applications, including acoustic imaging, sound source localization, and beamforming.

Stay tuned for the announcement of winners from the 184th ASA meeting in Chicago!

To all the students reading this post, make sure to submit your abstracts by July 24, 2023, so that you can participate in the upcoming POMA Student Paper Competition for the 185th ASA Meeting in Sydney, Australia! Up to five student papers will receive an award of USD $300 and the opportunity to appear on the ASA publications podcast, Across Acoustics. Submitting to POMA is not only a chance to win recognition but also a great opportunity to boost a CV or resume with an editor-reviewed proceedings paper. For complete competition information, visit the ASA meetings page.

We encourage you to listen to all the student paper competition episodes on the podcast. These episodes offer valuable insights into cutting-edge research and highlight the achievements of young acousticians like yourself.