Across Acoustics

The impact of climate change on the field of acoustics is multifold. Researchers not only use acoustics to better understand changes to the environment, they also must consider how climate change impacts standard research practices. In this episode, we talk to three of the guest editors of the recent Special Issue on Climate Change: How the Sound of the Planet Reflects the Health of the Planet-- Megan Ballard (University of Texas at Austin), Edward Walsh (VA Loma Linda Healthcare), and Lauren Freeman (Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport). 

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. 

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 189th meeting of the ASA and the Acoustical Society of Japan, held in Honolulu in December 2025. Their topics include:

- Perception of the PIN/PEN merger in speakers from the US South (Irene Smith, McGill University)

- Using distance to better inform models for multi-channel sources separation (Rajesh Rameshbabu, University of Illinois, Chicago)

- Designing resin reeds for oboes (Fumihiko Kurosawa, University of Tsukuba)

- Modelling cochlear synaptopathy, or "hidden hearing loss" (Kai Burian, Technical University Munich)

Associated papers:

Irene Smith and Meghan Clayards. "Merged perception of PIN and PEN: Interspeaker variation or partial merger in perception?" Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 60, 060013 (2025) https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0002242

Rajesh Rameshbabu; Rashen Fernando; Ryan Corey. "Learning distance-dependent spatial structure for multichannel source separation." Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 60, 055004 (2025) https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0002298

Fumihiko Kurosawa; Naoto Wakatsuki; Tadashi Ebihara. "Control of characteristics through topological optimization of 3D-printed oboe reeds." Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 60, 035003 (2025) https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0002307

Kai Burian, Ahsan J. Cheema, and Sunil Puria. "Modeling loudness contours to determine human auditory nerve fiber distribution and cochlear nerve degeneration." Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 60, 050006 (2025) https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0002265

Read more from Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics (POMA).

Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications.

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.