Acoustical Society of America Announces 2025 Science Communication Award Winners

Melville, March 9, 2026 – The Acoustical Society of America proudly announces the winners of the 2025 Science Communication Awards, recognizing excellence in the presentation of acoustics related topics to a popular audience.

This year’s winners demonstrate the power of storytelling, technology, and creativity to make acoustics accessible, immersive, and unforgettable. Each winner receives a $2,500 cash prize and travel support to attend an ASA meeting, where the awards will be formally presented. The categories and winners of the 2025 ASA Science Communication Awards are as follows:

Short Multimedia Winner
A Cathedral of Sound is a first-of-its-kind interactive New York Times Magazine article that allows readers to experience Notre Dame’s reconstructed acoustics through 3D spatial audio. The collaborative team of Madeleine Schwartz, Malika Khurana, Mika Gröndahl, and Yuliya Parshina-Kottas created a feature that deepens our understanding of restorative aural architecture through a multi-sensory experience.

The short multimedia honorable mention goes to Dr. Brian FG Katz’s app Notre-Dame Whispers: An immersive audio-guide, which artistically blends binaural audio, acoustic simulation, and interactive storytelling to turn heritage research into an immersive sound experience.

Long Multimedia Winner
The Science of Sound two-part series presented by Dr. Laurie Heller from the podcast Where What if Becomes What’s Next, translates the science of hearing into engaging, accessible conversations for broad audiences. The two episodes span topics from auditory health and noise pollution to virtual reality and use of AI, connecting compelling communication of acoustic science to its impact on modern life.

The long multimedia honorable mention also goes to Dr. Brian F.G. Katz, this time for Vaulted Harmonies: Archaeoconcert at Notre-Dame for creatively fusing historical research, music, and reconstructed acoustics into an alluring one-hour cinematic virtual concert.

Long Print Winner
Pistols in St Paul’s: Science, Music, and Architecture in the Twentieth Century from Manchester University Press traces the pioneers who shaped architectural acoustics in 20th-century Britain. Dr. Fiona Smyth’s vivid storytelling and meticulous research reveals how bold experiments and interdisciplinary collaboration transformed buildings into instruments and defined modern concert hall design.

The long print honorable mention, Fantastic Acoustics, was a collaborative effort between artists and research students from Université de Sherbrooke, École de Technologie Supérieure, McGill and Université du Québec à Rimouski and lead by Olivier Robin. This bilingual comics project uses original illustration and storytelling to translate complex acoustics into imaginative, accessible narratives for all ages.

Short Print Winner
The Sonic Soul of Notre Dame in Brandeis Magazine chronicles the effort to preserve and understand the cathedral’s distinctive sound after the 2019 fire. David Levin’s narrative retelling of Dr. Brian F.G. Katz’s research story proves how acoustic science can safeguard history, music, and cultural memory to preserve a shared human experience.

The short print honorable mention, Calling in from the Cold: On vocal communication in the little auk by Dr. Anna Osiecka, transforms seabird acoustics into a visually striking graphic narrative, showcasing the power of collaborative storytelling across art and science.

The 2025 award cycle reviewed content created between 1 March 2023 and 1 October 2025. A total of 65 nominations were received for the ASA Science Communication Awards, showcasing the breadth and depth of acoustics communication endeavors. The ASA extends its congratulations to the winners and honorable mentions for their exceptional contributions to acoustics communication. These projects have successfully bridged the gap between complex scientific concepts and the public, fostering a greater understanding and appreciation for the fascinating world of acoustics. The next award cycle will review content created between 2025 and 2026, with the call for nominations in the spring of 2026.

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ABOUT THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
The Acoustical Society of America 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/.

More Press Releases

Science Communication Awards 2023-2025

Past Recipients

Science Communication Awards 2023-2025

The 2025 awards include content created between 1 March 2023 and 1 October 2025. Each award recipient will receive a cash prize of $2500 and travel support to attend an ASA meeting where the awards will be presented.

Short Multimedia Category
Winner: A Cathedral of Sound
Authors: Madeleine Schwartz, Malika Khurana, Mika Gröndahl and Yuliya Parshina-Kottas
New York Times Magazine online, 3 March 2023

Honorable mention: Notre-Dame Whispers: An immersive audio-guide
Brian FG Katz
Sorbonne University, 2025

Long Multimedia Category
Winner: The Science of Sound, a two-part episode within the “Where What if Becomes What’s Next” Podcast
Presenter: Laurie Heller
BurstMarketing Executive Producer: Rob Simon
BurstMarketing Chief Content Officer: Marisol Murano
BurstMarketing Senior Audio Engineer: Jeremy Brieske
BurstMarketing Podcast Host: Randy Scott
Carnegie Mellon University Co-Producer: Varun Rambhala
Carnegie Mellon University Co-Producer: Jimmy Zackal
Carnegie Mellon University, 17 and 31 July, 2025

Honorable mention: Vaulted Harmonies: Archaeoconcert at Notre-Dame
Brian F.G. Katz
Sorbonne University, 2025

Long Print Category
Winner: Pistols in St Paul’s: Science, Music, and Architecture in the Twentieth Century
Author: Fiona Smyth
Manchester University Press, September 2024

Honorable mention: Fantastic Acoustics
Olivier Robin
Collaborative effort between artists and research students from Université de Sherbrooke, École de Technologie Supérieure, McGill and Université du Québec à Rimousk, 2025

Short Print Category
Winner: The Sonic Soul of Notre Dame
Author: David Levin
Brandeis Magazine, Summer 2025

Honorable mention: Calling in from the Cold: On vocal communication in the little auk
Ann Osiecka
Self-published zine, January 2025

New Across Acoustics Episode: Student Paper Competition – Sydney

This episode, we talk to a new round of POMA Student Paper Competition winners from the 185th ASA Meeting in Sydney about their exciting research endeavors:

  • An analysis of how drums convey emotion
  • A method to assess stress caused by vibration in acoustic black holes
  • An improved estimator for background noise in underwater signals
  • A model to help remove distortion from the sound fields of parametric array loudspeakers
  • A numerical study of a little-understood phenomenon in bowed-string instruments

Like the episode? Read the associated articles:

  • Zeyu Huang, Wenyi Song, Xiaojuan Ma, and Andrew Brian Horner. “The emotional characteristics of bass drums, snare drums, and disengaged snare drums with different strokes and dynamics.” Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 52, 035005 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001834
  • Archie Keys and Jordan Cheer. “Experimental measurements of stress in an Acoustic Black Hole using a laser doppler vibrometer.” Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 52, 065003 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001829
  • David Campos Anchieta and John R. Buck. “Robust power spectral density estimation via a performance-weighted blend of order statistics.” Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 52, 055006 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001849
  • Wenyao Ma, Jun Yang, and Yunxi Zhu. “Identification of the parametric array loudspeaker system using differential Volterra filter.” Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 52, 055005 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001850
  • Shodai Tanaka, Hiroshi Kori, and Ayumi Ozawa. “A mathematical study about the sustaining phenomenon of overtone in flageolet harmonics on bowed string instruments.” Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 52, 035006 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001835

Congrats to our student winners!

Announcing the Winners of the Acoustics 2023 Sydney POMA Student Paper Competition

Helen Wall Murray

POMA Manuscript Manager

helenwallmurray@acousticalsociety.org

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, the Society hopes 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.

POMA Student Paper Competition

The Proceedings on Meeting of Acoustics (POMA) Editorial Board is pleased to announce the winners of the 4th consecutive POMA Student Paper Competition based on presentations given a the 185th Meeting of the ASA, Sydney, Australia, 4-8 December 2023.

Of the 13 student submissions entered, five papers were chosen from three different technical areas:  Musical Acoustics, Signal Processing and Structural Acoustics.  Five technical committees were represented in total, and, once again, the papers were all of high quality and are now published and available for viewing in POMA Volume 52.

On behalf of ASA and POMA, we congratulate the following students on their winning papers:

Signal Processing

Robust power spectral density estimation via a performance-weighted blend of order statistics
David Campos Anchieta; John R. Buck
Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 52, 055006 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001849

Signal Processing

Identification of the parametric array loudspeaker system using differential Volterra filter
Wenyao Ma; Jun Yang; Yunxi Zhu
Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 52, 055005 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001850

Musical Acoustics

The emotional characteristics of bass drums, snare drums, and disengaged snare drums with different strokes and dynamics
Zeyu Huang; Wenyi Song; Xiaojuan Ma; Andrew Brian Horner
Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 52, 035005 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001834

Musical Acoustics

A mathematical study about the sustaining phenomenon of overtone in flageolet harmonics on bowed string instruments
Shodai Tanaka; Hiroshi Kori; Ayumi Ozawa
Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 52, 035006 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001835

Structural Acoustics

Experimental measurements of stress in an Acoustic Black Hole using a laser doppler vibrometer
Archie Keys; Jordan Cheer
Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 52, 065003 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001829

Each winning student author receives an award of USD $300 and the opportunity to appear on Across Acoustics, the official Podcast of the ASA. Additionally, a special designation is added to the cover pages, articles are featured on ASA social media accounts, and each winner receives a formal certificate signed by the ASA President and the POMA Editor.

Calling all Ottawa Student Presenters!

The current student paper competition commenced after the close of the 186th Meeting of the Acoustical Society in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.  Student presenters are invited to submit a corresponding paper by the competition deadline, which is approximately 30 days after the conclusion of the meeting (in this case, 11:59 pm Eastern Daylight Time, 17 June 2024).  For more information about the POMA Student Paper Competition (PSPC), please contact the POMA Editorial Office – poma@acousticalsociety.org.

 Eligibility Requirements

To qualify for the award, an author must:

  • be enrolled as a student at least half-time (graduates are eligible if the presented work was performed as a student within one year of the meeting). *Note that the student author does not need to be a member of the ASA to qualify.
  • be listed as the first author on the submitted abstract and POMA manuscript and present the paper at the meeting.
  • submit the POMA manuscript by the competition deadline, which is 30 days after the conclusion of the meeting.

Instructions for Consideration

  • Indicate your paper is part of the POMA Student Paper Competition by selecting this article type during the POMA submission process.
  • Ensure the article passes the initial quality check: Please use either the MS Word or LaTeX manuscript templates and follow all manuscript preparation and submission instructions. *Articles that do not pass the initial quality check are ineligible for the competition. See the submission checklist at the POMA Author Resources
  • The competition deadline is 11:59 pm 30 days post meeting. Any manuscripts received after this will be considered for publication in POMA but will be ineligible for the competition.

 

Selection Process

  • The papers will be rated by the POMA Associate Editor corresponding to the technical area in which the paper was presented. The top related papers will be evaluated by the POMA Editor, POMA Assistant Editor, and POMA Manuscript Manager and up to five winning papers will be selected. *Note that the paper judging will take place concurrently with the ordinary editorial review of a POMA submission; each judged paper will be returned with comments and a publication decision.
  • Regardless of the competition outcome, the opportunity to publish an editor-reviewed proceedings paper will enhance your CV/resume and help you take an important intermediate step toward a peer-reviewed publication.

Congratulations again to our Sydney winners! Ottawa attendees, we look forward to receiving your submissions!

ASA Spring Award Recipients Publications

Let’s take a moment to celebrate the outstanding achievements of the recent ASA spring award recipients. These individuals have not only showcased unparalleled dedication to their respective fields but have also significantly propelled the boundaries of acoustics through their groundbreaking contributions. To further honor these awardees, let’s look at just a couple of their ASA publications:

ASA Gold Medal awardIngo R. Titze received the ASA Gold Medal for contributions to understanding human voice production and the development of clinical applications.

How can vocal folds oscillate with a limited mucosal wave?
https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0014359

Regulation of laryngeal resistance and maximum power transfer with semi-occluded airway vocalization
https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0005124

Silver medal awardStan Dosso received the ASA Silver Medal in Acoustical Oceanography for contributions to Bayesian inference methods in ocean acoustics and marine geophysics.

Trans-dimensional inversion for seafloor properties for three mud depocenters on the New England shelf under dynamical oceanographic conditions
https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0025176

Joint trans-dimensional inversion for water-column sound speed and seabed geoacoustic models
https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0019706

Keith Wilson received the Helmholtz-Rayleigh Interdisciplinary Silver Medal in Computational Acoustics, Physical Acoustics, and Engineering Acoustics for contributions to computational acoustics, atmospheric acoustics, and national defense and security.

Phase-preserving narrow- and wide-angle parabolic equations for sound propagation in moving media
https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0024460

Influence of ground blocking on the acoustic phase variance in a turbulent atmosphere
https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0020152

Wallace Clement Sabine Medal awardPeter D’Antonio received the Wallace Clement Sabine Medal for contributions to theory, design, and application of acoustic diffusers.

A cloud-based 3D BEM framework for predicting the diffusion coefficient
https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001645

Optimizing the signal to noise ratio in speech rooms using passive acoustics
https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4801407

Christopher M. Kube received the R. Bruce Lindsay Award for contributions to the understanding of ultrasonic propagation and nonlinearity in polycrystalline materials.

Interaction of elastic waves in solids with quadratic and cubic nonlinearity
https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0022381

In-process volumetric sensing of defects in multiple parts during powder bed fusion using ultrasound
https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0020739

Scott D. Sommerfeldt received the Rossing Prize in Acoustics Education

Solving one-dimensional acoustic systems using the impedance translation theorem and equivalent circuits: A graduate level homework assignment
https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0008932

Selecting a new textbook for a graduate level course on vibration and fluid acoustics
https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001425

Julien Bonnel received the Medwin Prize in Acoustical Oceanography

Broadband properties of potential and kinetic energies in an oceanic waveguide
https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0019545

Machine-learning-based simultaneous detection and ranging of impulsive baleen whale vocalizations using a single hydrophone
https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0017118

Christopher Shera received the Hartmann Prize in Auditory Neuroscience

Crucial 3-D viscous hydrodynamic contributions to the theoretical modeling of the cochlear response
https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0016809

Overturning the mechanisms of cochlear amplification via area deformations of the organ of Corti
https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0014794

While we have highlighted a couple publications from each awardee, it’s important to note that their bodies of work extend far beyond these selections. We encourage everyone to explore the extensive contributions of these remarkable individuals, whose work continues to shape and advance the field of acoustics in profound ways.