Across Acoustics

• 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/10.1121/10.0038959Read 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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• 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/10.1121/10.0039052Read 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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• 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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• 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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• 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/10.1121/10.0036902Read 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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