Across Acoustics

ASA Publications' Office

The official podcast of the Acoustical Society of America's Publications' Office. Highlighting authors' research from our four publications - The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA), JASA Express Letters, Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics (POMA), and Acoustics Today.

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August 10 · 52 min
Sound Absorption and Diffusion
Anybody who's been in a noisy restaurant can tell you how the acoustics of a built environment can impact individuals in the space. In particular, absorption and diffusion of sounds can greatly affect the acoustics. This episode, the editors of the Special Issue on Sound Absorption and Diffusion: Modeling, Measurement, and Application, Mélanie Nolan (Universidad Politecnica de Madrid), Peter D’Antonio (RPG Acoustical Systems), and Ning Xiang (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), share current research in the field. Find all the articles in the special issue here! Read more from The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA). Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.
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July 20 · 36 min
Popping Pickleballs
The sport of pickleball has become more than a passing fad. The equipment involved in the game, which include a hollow plastic ball perforated with holes, create some pretty unique sounds. In this episode we talk with Kathleen Romito and Jamie Banks (Quiet Communities) about their research into how pickleball noise affects bystanders. Associated paper: Kathleen M. Romito and Jamie Banks. "A survey of the community impact of pickleball noise: A pilot study." Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 60, 040001 (2025) https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0002238. Read more from Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics (POMA). Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.
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June 8 · 52 min
Active and Tunable Acoustic Metamaterials
As the study of acoustic metamaterials has progressed over the past couple of decades, research has shifted from focusing on the creation of materials with fixed structures to ones that are active or tunable. In this episode, we talk to the guest editors of the recent special issue on Active and Tunable Acoustic Metamaterials, Michael Haberman (University of Texas at Austin), Christina Naify (University of Texas at Austin), Bogdan Popa (University of Michigan), and Serife Tol (University of Michigan), about some of the latest research in the area. Find all the articles in the special issue here! Read more from The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA). Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.
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May 25 · 31 min
A Call for Diversity and Inclusion in Soundscape Research
One of the key components of soundscape research is the focus on the perspective of the listener. However, that perspective may shift depending on the listener's personal characteristics, their cultural background, and other factors. In this episode, Katie Chatburn (Manchester Metropolitan University), Kirsten Van Den Bosch (University of Groningen), and Arezoo Talebzadeh (Ghent University) discuss perspectives that may be overlooked in standard soundscape research practice, as well as share ways to ensure that acousticians use more inclusive methodologies in their soundscape studies. Associated paper: K. Chatburn, K. van den Bosch, and A. Talebzadeh. "A critical perspective on inclusion and diversity in soundscape studies." JASA Express Lett. 6, 037201 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0042697. Read more from JASA Express Letters. Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.
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April 21 · 28 min
How Intelligible Are Cloned Voices?
You may have heard of deepfakes—AI clones of people used to create lifelike video and audio to manipulate an audience. AI cloning technology, however, has much broader applications than just subterfuge. In this episode, we talk with Patti Adank (University College London), who studied the intelligibility of voice clones compared to their natural counterparts and sheds light on some potential benefits of this technology. Associated paper: Patti Adank and Han Wang. "Voice clones are easier to understand in noise than their human originals: The voice cloning intelligibility benefit." J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 159 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0043094. Read more from The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA). Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.
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March 30 · 37 min
Acoustic Thermometry to Assess Climate Change
How is climate change impacting the Arctic Ocean? It can be hard to track these changes, but researchers have been using acoustic signals transmitted beneath the ice to learn more. In this episode, we talk with Matthew Dzieciuch and Peter Worcester of Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Hanne Sagen of the Nansen Center about an international effort to use acoustic thermometry to better understand the changing ocean. Associated paper: Matthew A. Dzieciuch, Hanne Sagen, Peter F. Worcester, Espen Storheim, F. Hunter Akins, Stein Sandven, John A. Colosi, John N. Kemp, and Geir Martin Leinebø. "Transarctic acoustic transmissions during the Coordinated Arctic Acoustic Thermometry Experiment in 2019–2020." J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 159, 1071–1085 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0042233. Read more from The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA). Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.
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March 16 · 1 hr 15 min
Assessing Sediment Heterogeneity on Continental Shelves and Slopes
As anyone in ocean acoustics will tell you, sound is essential for much of the work done underwater, whether that be navigation, sensing objects, or passively monitoring wildlife. While much research has been done about sandy ocean floors, scientists still have a lot to learn about muddier regions with mixtures of different types of sediment. In this episode, we talk with two editors and a researcher involved with the recent JASA Special Issue on Assessing Sediment Heterogeneity on Continental Shelves and Slopes: Preston Wilson (University of Texas at Austin), David Knobles (Platt Institute of Nuclear Physics and Cosmology), and Kyle Becker (University of Washington). Read all the articles from the special issue here! Read more from The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA). Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.
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February 23 · 45 min
Should AI tell you how to talk?
With the development of automatic speech recognition has come a new type of technology, designed to give the user advice on how to speak better. In this episode, we talk with Nicole Holliday (University of California, Berkeley) about some of the issues that can arise with the use of these technologies, from their nebulous definitions of "good communication" to the impact they could have at businesses that use these technology to evaluate employees. Associated paper: Nicole R. Holliday. "Socially prescriptive speech technologies: Linguistic, technical, and ethical issues." J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 158, 4361–4369 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0039685. Read more from The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA). Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.
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February 9 · 19 min
Slurping, Snuffling, and Crunching: Assessing Misophonia Symptoms
Do you find the sound of people chewing unbearably annoying? Or perhaps you can't stand to be near folks who are typing on noisy keyboards, fidgeting with their pens, or rustling a plastic bag of chips. The term for this sort of aversion is misophonia. Even if you don't personally deal with this issue, you may know someone who does. In this episode, we talk with Benjamin Kirby (Wichita State University) and Olivia Zant (University of North Texas), whose recent JASA Express Letters article, “Psychoacoustic Assessment of Misophonia,” touches on this topic. Associated paper: Benjamin J. Kirby, Alaina Cunningham, and Olivia Montou Zant. "Psychoacoustic assessment of misophonia." JASA Express Lett. 5, 094401 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0039238. Read more from JASA Express Letters. Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.
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January 19 · 28 min
Wave Phenomena in Vibroacoustic Systems
Manipulating the scattering of waves can allow engineers to achieve numerous goals, like reducing unwanted noise or eliminating potentially destructive vibrations in structures. In this episode, we talk to Vladislav Sorokin (University of Auckland) and Luke Bennetts (University of Melbourne), two guest editors of the recent Special Issue on Wave Phenomena in Periodic, Near-Periodic, and Locally Resonant Systems about recent advances in research regarding vibroacoustic systems. Read all the articles from the special issue here! Read more from The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA). Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.
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January 5 · 58 min
POMA Student Paper Competition: New Orleans
In this episode, find out what the next generation of acousticians is researching! In this episode, we talk to the latest round of POMA Student Paper Competition winners, from the joint 188th meeting of the ASA and the 25th International Congress on Acoustics held in New Orleans in May 2025. Their topics include: - Using the spatial decomposition method to parameterize acoustic reflections in a room (Lucas Hocquette, L-Acoustics) - Visualizing nonlinearities in a bolted plate system with digital image correlation (Nicholas Pomianek, Boston University) - Analyzing the how people pronounce the word "just" in casual speech (Ki Woong Moon, University of Arizona) - Modeling strings of historical instruments that no longer make sound (Riccardo Russo, University of Bologna) - Improving automatic music mashup generators (Yu Foon Darin Chau, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) Associated papers: Lucas Hocquette, Philip Coleman, and Frederic Roskam. "Acoustic reflection parameterization based on the spatial decomposition method." Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 56, 055004 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0002037. Nicholas Pomianek, Trevor Jerome, Enrique Gutierrez-Wing, and J. Gregory McDaniel. "Visualizing contact area dependent nonlinearity in a bolted plate system through digital image correlation." Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 56, 065001 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0002099. Ki Woong Moon and Natasha Warner. "Realization of just: Speech reduction in a high-frequency word." Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 56, 060005 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0002080 Riccardo Russo, Craig J. Webb, Michele Ducceschi, and Stefan Bilbao. "Convergence analysis and relaxation techniques for modal scalar auxiliary variable methods applied to nonlinear transverse string vibration." Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 56, 035007 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0002073. Yu Foon Darin Chau, Andrew Brian Horner, Joshua Chang, Chun Yuen Chan, and Harris Lau. "Retrieval-based automatic mashup generation with deep learning-guided features." Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 56, 035006 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0002071. Learn more about entering the POMA Student Paper Competition for the Fall 2025 meeting in Honolulu Read more from Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics (POMA). Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications.
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Dec 22, 2025 · 19 min
A New Way to Measure Bat Hearing
Studying bats' hearing can be tricky due to their small size, making certain styles of measurement used for larger echolocating mammals unavailable to researchers. In this episode, we talk to Victoria Fouhy and Michael Smotherman (Texas A&M University) about their work to develop a noninvasive method to study cortical auditory evoked potentials in bats, thereby allowing scientists to better understand how these animals process echolocation information. Associated paper: - Victoria Fouhy, Sam Ellis, and Michael Smotherman. "Subcutaneous cortical auditory evoked potentials in echolocating bats." J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 158, 3390-3399 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0039659. Read more from The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA). Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.
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Dec 8, 2025 · 15 min
Sonic Deception in World War II
You may have heard of the "ghost army" of World War II—a set of rubber tanks used by the US Army to mimic active battlefields in Europe. What you may not know was the tanks were accompanied by an equally fake soundtrack of battle noises. Even more surprising? This "sonic deception" was developed by a team of the ASA's founding members whose contributions were almost lost to history. In this episode, we talk with Walter Montano (ARQUICUST Argentina Peru) about the innovations that helped save thousands of lives during the war. Read the associated article: Walter A. Montano and Gary W. Elko. (2025) “Sonic Deception During the Second World War,” Acoustics Today 21(2). https://doi.org/10.1121/AT.2025.21.2.38 Learn more about the ASA Committee on Archives and History. Read more from Acoustics Today. Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Intro/Outro Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.
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Nov 24, 2025 · 24 min
The Unique Acoustics of Traditional Chinese Interlocked Timber-Arched Covered Bridges
The traditional Chinese structure of the interlocked timber-arched covered bridge serves multiple purposes within Chinese culture—both as a physical connection between communities, but also as a function space for various rituals and performances. Because of these structures multiple uses, the acoustics are different from other bridges or event spaces. In this episode, we talk with Dongxu Zhang (Guangzhou University) and Jian Kang (University College London) about their work to better understand the unique acoustics of these structures. Associated paper: - Dongxu Zhang, Guanyu Ren, Fei Cheng, Dong Xiao, Mei Zhang, and Jian Kang. "Sound field characteristics and influencing factors of traditional Chinese interlocked timber-arched covered bridges." J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 158, 1156-1176 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0038959 Read more from The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA). Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.
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Nov 10, 2025 · 27 min
The Eras of Taylor Swift's Changing Dialect
Longitudinal studies of how an individual's accent changes over the course of their life are hard to come by. Fortunately, Taylor Swift's decade-plus career-- and the numerous interviews she's given over those years-- has opened a window into our understanding of how and why dialect changes may occur on an individual level. We talk to Miski Mohamed and Matthew Winn (University of Minnesota) about their work analyzing the shifts in Taylor Swift's speech over the years. Associated paper: - Miski Mohamed and Matthew B. Winn. "Acoustic analysis of Taylor Swift's dialect changes across different eras of her career." J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 158, 2278–2289 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0039052 Read more from The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA). Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.
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Oct 20, 2025 · 52 min
The Acoustic Impacts of Marine Energy Converters
In an effort to develop renewable energy, scientists have turned to the sun, the wind, and now the ocean. With these new forms of energy harvesting, considerations need to be made about how the new technologies will impact the surrounding environments. In this episode, we talk with Joseph Haxel (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory), Christopher Bassett (University of Washington), Brian Polagye (University of Washington), and Kaus Raghukumar (Integral Consulting) about their research related to the noise produced by marine energy converters. Read the associated article: Joseph Haxel, Christopher Bassett, Brian Polagye, Kaustubha Raghukumar, and Cailene Gunn. (2023) “Listening to the Beat of New Ocean Technologies for Harvesting Marine Energy,” Acoustics Today 19(4). https://doi.org/10.1121/AT.2023.19.4.23. Read more from Acoustics Today. Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Intro/Outro Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.
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Sep 29, 2025 · 50 min
Advances in Soundscape
A lot has changed in the twelve years since JASA's first special issue on soundscape research. This episode, we talk to the editors of the recent special issue on Advances in Soundscape: Emerging Trends and Challenges in Research and Practice, Francesco Aletta (University College London), Cynthia Tarlao (McGill University), Tin Oberman (University College London), and Andrew Mitchell (University College London), to discuss these changes, which range from developments in understanding indoor soundscapes, cultural dimensions of soundscape assessment, perceptual assessment tools, and the use of virtual technologies. Read all the articles from the special issue here! Read more from The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA). Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.
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Sep 8, 2025 · 28 min
A New Way to Diagnose Osteoporosis
Ultrasonic tomography has been applied in many fields, from geophysics to engineering, and now to medicine. In this episode, we talk with Aaron Chung-Jukko and Peter Huthwaite (Imperial College London) about their work to develop an ultrasonic tomography algorithm that can be used to assess fracture risk in bones, and, as a result, be used as a noninvasive way to diagnose osteoporosis. Associated paper: - Aaron Chung-Jukko and Peter Huthwaite. "Virtual initialised ray tomography: Towards contact-free realistic ultrasonic bone imaging." J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 158, 276-290 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0036902 Read more from The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA). Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.
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Aug 11, 2025 · 1 hr 13 min
Iconicity and Sound Symbolism
For a long time, it was believed that words were mostly arbitrary symbols. However, with advances in our ability to study speech, it has become clear that we must reconsider the fundamental relationship between words' sounds and their meanings. In this episode, we talk to two of the editors of the Special Issue on Iconicity and Sound Symbolism, Aleksandra Ćwiek and Susanne Fuchs (Leibniz-Centre General Linguistics), about research in the issue that examined these connections. Read all the articles from the special issue here! Read more from The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA). Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.
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Jul 7, 2025 · 31 min
Reproducing Soundscapes with the AudioDome
Recreating the natural hearing experience has long challenged researchers who study auditory perception. Recently, ambisonic panning has been developed as a method to accurately reproduce soundscapes. In this episode, we talk with Nima Zargarnezhad and Ingrid Johnsrude (Western University) about their research testing the accuracy of the "AudioDome," a device that using ambisonic panning to simulate soundscapes in the lab. Associated paper: - Nima Zargarnezhad, Bruno Mesquita, Ewan A Macpherson. and Ingrid Johnsrude. "Focality of sound source placement by higher (ninth) order ambisonics and perceptual effects of spectral reproduction errors." J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 157, 2802–2818 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0036226. Read more from The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA). Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications. Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.
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