New Technical Area Picks

Every three months, we ask four Technical Committee (TC) chairs to select one article from the past nine months that they think is a representative of their TC’s published work over that time period. The newest round of Technical Area Picks have been selected and will be free to read from September 1st to November 30th. Read on to find out which articles the chairs selected, along with a little insight from each chair about why they chose the article they did.
Biomedical Acoustics
Monitoring cavitation dynamics evolution in tissue mimicking hydrogels for repeated exposures via acoustic cavitation emissions,” by Scott C. Haskell, Ning Lu, Greyson E. Stocker, Zhen Xu, and Jonathan R. Sukovich.

TC Chair Julianna Simon says, “In the last few years, there has been significant discussion over how to relate measured acoustic cavitation signals to the desired bioeffects. This paper compares optical imaging to broadband hydrophone and narrow-band receive signals from a dedicated histotripsy therapy array in three common tissue-mimicking hydrogels. Stiffness was varied for each hydrogel composition and bubble radii, lifespan, and shock wave amplitudes were compared for each of the three cavitation monitoring mechanisms. Results from this and other papers in the last year will help determine which cavitation features best map to the desired bioeffect for different tissue types.”

The sample high-speed bubble image series of histotripsy cavitation generated in a 1% agarose hydrogel. From Monitoring cavitation dynamics evolution in tissue mimicking hydrogels for repeated exposures via acoustic cavitation emission

Musical Acoustics
Timbral cues for learning to generalize musical instrument identity across pitch register,” by Stephen McAdams, Etienne Thoret, Grace Wang, and Marcel Montrey.

TC Chair Jonas Braasch says, “Stephen McAdams, Etienne Thoret, Grace Wang, Marcel Montrey (2023) Timbral cues for learning to generalize musical instrument identity across pitch register is an interesting study investigating how novices can learn to identify individual musical instruments in an orchestra,  even though each of them sounds different throughout their range of over two octaves. The study used a listening test with non-musicians to learn what features they would use to learn to identify orchestral instruments over time. The results show that listeners predominantly used those parameters that remained stable over the whole range of the instrument while paying lesser attention to cues that vary with pitch. The paper provides insight into how we listen to orchestras, a topic that is of interest to a wider readership.”

Instrument playing ranges and the range of stimuli used. From Timbral cues for learning to generalize musical instrument identity across pitch register.

Noise
A perception-based study of the indoor and outdoor acoustic environments in India during the COVID-19 pandemic,” by A. Mimani and S. Nama.

TC Chair Alexandra Loubeau says, “There were several good papers, but this one stood out with a topic of the most general interest.  As part of the special collection on COVID-19 Pandemic Acoustic Effects, this paper discusses the indoor and outdoor acoustic environments in communities across India, and how various lockdowns affected the public’s perception of the environment and their well-being.  An online survey was used to gather responses, and analyses shed light on current preferences for remote education and work.”

Responses to survey questions from A perception-based study of the indoor and outdoor acoustic environments in India during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Psychological and Physiological Acoustics
Why is the perceptual octave stretched? An account based on mismatched time constants within the auditory brainstem,” by Alain de Cheveigné.

TC Chair Christopher Stecker says, “This paper reconceptualizes the nature of peripheral auditory channels (they are not ‘filters’ but in fact complex dynamic systems) to explain a fundamental mystery in the perception of concordant pitches: Specifically, why do perfect octaves (2:1 frequency relationship) sound less natural than slightly stretched octaves (>2:1)? And why is it harder to detect positive mistuning (>2:1) than negative mistuning (<2:1) of the octave?  The paper is important not only for answering those questions using a simple mechanism [cancelation filtering, see de Cheveigné 2023 JASA 153(6):3350], but for also for challenging the obsolete conceptualization of auditory channels as simple ‘filters.’”

Detection of mistuning with a neural cancellation filter from Why is the perceptual octave stretched? An account based on mismatched time constants within the auditory brainstem.

Congratulations to all the authors whose work has been highlighted by the TC chairs!

August 2023 JASA Cover

The August cover of JASA is now available and it features exciting new research from this past month!

The cover image was inspired by “Addressing diversity in speech science courses,” by Melissa Baese-Berk and Paul E. Reed.  Editor-in-Chief Jim Lynch says about the feature article:

The “Editors Pick” for a JASA cover article is decided by the EIC on the basis of being an article that would have broad appeal to the Acoustical Society and beyond. So articles that have social relevance, topics of current interest, or topics that are just fun to consider in general tend to get some preference. This month’s cover article, “Addressing Diversity in Speech Science Courses,” addresses topics that most certainly are of broad interest these days: Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Education. The article is of the “Forum” category in JASA, meaning it is a peer-reviewed opinion article. Any facts quoted must be referenced, and any opinions made must be stated as such, and also be deemed reasonable by the review process. This helps to ensure that any debate that the article poses is a reasoned one. I think this month’s Editor’s Pick article is a great example of this, and whether you agree or disagree with the authors, their article will stimulate thought about an important topic, not just for our Speech Technical Committee, but for society in general. We hope you enjoy it!

Some other research was also highlighted on the July JASA cover:

All the articles from the cover are free to read for a month after the cover is released, so be sure to check them out! You can find the whole issue at https://pubs.aip.org/asa/jasa/issue/154/2.

Popular Publications Posts – August

Popular Facebook - Aug

We’re coming to the end of the month, which means it’s time to review popular posts from our Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn pages.

Facebook users were quick to click on the post about a book review of Spatial Sound—Principles and Applications, Second Edition. If you would also like to find out more about how this book introduces principles and methods of spatial sound, access the review directly at https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0020656.

Folks over on Instagram really liked this post featuring a figure from “Ventilated acoustic metasurface with low-frequency sound insulation” published in JASA Express Letters. To read more about how this metamaterial could aid in maintaining natural indoor ventilation while effectively insulating against external noise, read the article at https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0020133.

Rounding out the social media highlights, here is an engaging POMA post from LinkedIn. If the figure of the tetrahedral mesh elements for numerical simulation makes you want to learn more about “Coupled simulation of vibration and sound field of Stradivari’s violin,” read the open access article at https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001776.

If you enjoyed these post highlights, consider liking and following us on all our social media accounts so that you don’t miss any publications news!

Popular instagram - aug

popular instagram - aug

Call for Papers for JASA and JASA Express Letters

As announced in the Editorial in the April 2023 issue of The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA), JASA Express Letters is now partnering with JASA for joint Special Issues.

Authors now have the option to select which journal they would like to submit a paper to for a Special Issue. Accepted papers will be published in the next available regular issue of the selected journal and identified as belonging to the Special Issue. After all papers have published for the Special Issue, they will be included in a cross-journal online collection at the JASA and JASA Express Letters websites.

The following are open call for papers for joint Special Issues. Information on current call for papers are always available here: JASA and JASA Express Letters

Verification and Validation of Source and Propagation Models for Underwater Sound
This Special Issue invites papers on the verification (model-model comparison) and validation (model-measurement comparison) of marine sound source and propagation models, as well as papers on metrics for calculating the dose on marine species. …Read More!
Guest Editors: Kathleen J. Vigness-Raposa, Michael Ainslie, Michele Halvorsen, Klaus Lucke, Stanley Labak, and Christ de Jong
Deadline: October 2, 2023

Acoustic Cue–Based Perception and Production of Speech by Humans and Machines
This Special Issue invites interdisciplinary submissions on modeling human speech perception and production in difficult and varying conditions, papers that aim at bridging the gap between speech science and engineering by attempting to improve machine-based systems, and especially welcome submissions in the spirit of Stevens’ approach to accounting for and/or integrating articulatory, acoustic, and phonological theory, and studies that address fundamental unsolved issues in human speech processing. …Read More!
Guest Editors: Stefanie Shattuck-Hufnagel, Maria-Gabriella Di Benedetto, Abeer Alwan, Mark Hasegawa-Johnson, Ann Bradlow, Jody Kreiman
Deadline: December 31, 2023

Wave phenomena in periodic, near-periodic, and locally resonant systems
This Special Issue presents recent advances on periodic, near-periodic, and locally resonant vibroacoustic systems, covering fundamental aspects of the theory of multiple wave scattering to experimental studies that demonstrate performance and potential applications of the systems. …Read More!
Guest Editors: Vladislav Sorokin, Luke Bennetts, Nicole Kessissoglou, Alex Skvortsov
Deadline: December 31, 2023

Iconicity and Sound Symbolism
This Special Issue aims to advance our understanding of the rich and complex nature of sound symbolism. We invite interdisciplinary contributions that go beyond the investigation of dichotomous phonological categories and embrace sound symbolism as a continuous phenomenon of acoustic and/or articulatory properties in human and non-human communication and their resemblance with all kinds of properties. …Read More!
Guest Editors: Aleksandra Ćwiek, Susanne Fuchs, Jody Kreiman
Deadline: February 1, 2024

Advances in Soundscape: Emerging Trends and Challenges in Research and Practice
This Special Issue invites submissions that focus on the human perception of sounds in built or natural environments, or the impacts that human activities can have on those, and help advancing the field either theoretically or methodologically. …Read More!
Guest Editors: Francesco Aletta, Bhan Lam, Cynthia Tarlao, Tin Oberman, Andrew Mitchell
Deadline: February 29, 2024

Assessing Sediment Heterogeneity on Continental Shelves and Slopes
This Special Issue presents recent advances in experimental measurements, theoretical models, and application of information-based signal processing and machine learning to assess the degree to which seabed heterogeneity can be characterized. …Read More!
Guest Editors: David Knobles, Preston Wilson, Tracianne Neilsen, Ying Tsong Lin
Deadline: April 01, 2024

Climate Change: How the Sound of the Planet Reflects the Health of the Planet
Recognizing the urgency of the climate crisis, this Special Issue invites papers investigating efforts to monitor and mitigate the environmental, economic, and social disruption threatened by an increasingly warm planet. …Read More!
Guest Editors: Megan S. Ballard, Edward J. Walsh, Lauren A. Freeman, Daniel T. Blumstein, Ying Tsong Lin
Deadline: June 30, 2024

July 2023 JASA Cover

The July cover of JASA is now available and it features exciting new research from this past month!
The cover image was inspired by Figure 1 of “Acoustic scattering by smooth elastic cylinders insonified by directional transceivers: Monostatic theory and experiments,” by Miad Al Mursaline, Timothy K. Stanton, Andone C. Lavery, and Erin M. Fischell.  (Cover image courtesy of Natalie Reiner, Woods Hole Oceanography Institution.) The Coordinating Editor for Physical Acoustics, Likun Zhang, says about the feature article:

While acoustic scattering by cylinders has applications in various fields (underwater acoustics, medical imaging, and nondestructive testing), the prior models are only suitable for predictions under idealized conditions and do not account for realistic aspects encountered during laboratory and field measurements. This article presents a theoretical model accounting for these realistic effects (spherical spreading and directivity of the incident waves, and oblique insonification) for acoustic scattering by an elastic cylinder insonified by a transceiver.

Some other research was also highlighted on the July JASA cover:

All the articles from the cover are free to read for a month after the cover is released, so be sure to check them out! You can find the whole issue at https://pubs.aip.org/asa/jasa/issue/154/1.