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!

High School Brilliance in ASA Publications

In this post, we invite readers to look back at a few ASA articles that were written and/or co-written by authors who were still in high school at the time of publication, proving that age is merely a number in the pursuit of scientific excellence.

High School Dougherty-sqr

The author and her siblings (left to right) Brooke, Ross, and Morgan Dougherty

First up is Brooke Dougherty who reached out to the editor of Acoustics Today (AT) to pitch her article idea. Her passion and initiative resulted in the AT Sound Perspective piece, “The Sound Journey of a Future Acoustician” (DOI: 10.1121/AT.2021.17.4.70) where Brooke writes about Perfect Pitch Fluency—an accessible resource to master perfect pitch, delve into sound concepts, and explore the hidden world of frequency in music and beyond.

High School Lee-Park

Experimental setup for testing the benefit of the metamaterial structure.

Next up, Joonyoung Lee and Mincheol Park, who received the ASA Second Award at the 2019 International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), also presented at the 2019 International Congress on Ultrasonics. Co-authored with Jong-Rim Lee, Younho Cho, and Young H. Kim, the Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics (POMA) publication, “Optimize ultrasound condition for water treatment by coiled-up space metamaterial” (DOI: 10.1121/2.0001123) explores the efficiency boost of ultrasonic waves for cleansing.

High School Cayanan-Gozun-Tongol

Flowchart of Making the Sound Absorption Materials

The 2019 ISEF ASA Honorable Mention team made up of Neil David C. Cayanan, Shaira C. Gozun, and E’van Relle M. Tongol presented their project at the 178th Meeting ASA Meeting and then published their work in POMA. Their publication, “Hibla: Acoustic fiber” (DOI: 10.1121/2.0001264), showcases their innovative thinking in creating high-performance sound absorption panels from Abacá, Bamboo, and Water hyacinth.

High School Hillier

Spectrograms of the same utterance of “I know because I will” spoken by an adult female native English speaker.

After presenting their work at the Washington State Science and Engineering Fair in 2017, Adeline F. Hillier, Claire E. Hillier and their mentor, David A. Hillier, published in The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA). “A modified spectrogram with possible application as a visual hearing aid for the deaf” (DOI: 10.1121/1.5055224), describes how enhanced frequency resolution, optimized information clarity, and the elimination of distracting details is paving the way for a more intuitive and efficient interpretation of acoustic patterns.

The next time you come across a scientific publication, remember – it might just be the work of the next generation of acousticians, who penned their groundbreaking insights while still navigating the halls of high school!

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.

High school students win special awards for acoustics science projects

High school students win special awards for acoustics science projects

The Acoustical Society of America presented four special awards at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair 2023

Melville, May 19, 2023 – The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) announced that four projects are the winners of the ASA Special Awards presented at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (Regeneron ISEF). The top three finalists have been awarded cash prizes for their research and all four project finalists are invited to attend an ASA Meeting.

Shodai Tanaka of Sapporo Kaisei Secondary School located in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan was awarded the ASA First Award of $1,500 for the project titled “A Mathematical Study About the Sustaining Phenomenon of Overtone in Flageolet Harmonics on Bowed String Instruments,” In addition, their school will be awarded $200, and their mentor will be awarded $500.

Anton Bulancea of Alexandr Pushkin Lyceum located in Chisinau, Republic of Moldova, was awarded the ASA Second Award of $1,000 for the project tilted “Developing a New Acoustic Levitation Platform Design for Non-Contact Handling in Electronics Assembly,” In addition, their school will be awarded $100, and their mentor will be awarded $250.

Michelle Hua of Cranbrook Kingswood School located in Troy, MI, USA, was awarded the ASA Third Award of $600 for the project tilted “3D Acoustic Simulation and Optimization Algorithms for Transcranial Focused Ultrasound Delivered With Robotic Systems,” In addition, their Mentor will be awarded $150.

The ASA Honorable Mention went to Anu Iyer of Little Rock Central High School located in Little Rock, AR, USA for the project titled “VAST (Voice and Spiral Tool): A Novel Multimodal Machine Learning Method To Detect Parkinson’s Disease and Assess Severity.”

To read the project abstracts, visit https://exploresound.org/isef-asa-winners/

Shodai, Anton, Michelle, and Anu were finalists in at Regeneron ISEF, the world’s largest international pre-college STEM research competition. Owned and produced by the Society for Science, Regeneron ISEF provides a platform for the best and brightest young scientists to showcase their science, technology, engineering or math research. This year, more than 1,600 finalists from 64 countries, regions and territories competed for more than $9 million in awards and scholarships.

The ASA has participated at ISEF since 1978 to promote acoustics and recognize the accomplishments of high-school students. ASA’s long-time participation in Regeneron ISEF recognizes the importance of promoting STEM education and generating interest in acoustics among all students. This year, the ASA judging team was led by Peter Assmann (University of Texas at Dallas) and included Christopher Ainley (Wrightson, Johnson, Haddon & Williams, Inc.), Satwik Dutta (University of Texas at Dallas), Nursadul Mamun (University of Texas at Dallas), and Abbey Thomas (University of Texas at Dallas). The Society looks forward to seeing future accomplishments from the many talented youth who participated in the Regeneron ISEF!

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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 worldwide membership represents 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, and standards on acoustics. The society also holds two major scientific meetings each year. See https://acousticalsociety.org/.