Measurement of Peak Insertion Loss of Hearing Protection Systems

Friday, October 7, 2011 4:00 p.m. in ETC 4.150 Jeff G. Schmitt, P.E. President, ViAcoustics Austin, Texas http://www.viacoustics.com The measurement of the peak insertion loss of hearing protection systems, when exposed to impulsive acoustic events, is of interest to manufacturers and users of hearing protection systems employed in industrial applications, while using firearms, or when…

Harnessing the Power of Bubbles in Biomedical Ultrasound

Friday, September 23, 2011 3:30 p.m. in ETC 4.150 Professor Tyrone M. Porter Department of Mechanical Engineering Associate Director, Center for Nanoscience and Nanobiotechnology Boston University http://www.bu.edu/me/people/faculty/pz/porter/ In the Nanomedicine and Medical Acoustics Laboratory (MedAL) at Boston University, we are engineering gas- and liquid-based particles for biomedical ultrasound applications. First, we are using microfluidic technology…

Acoustic Modeling of the Southeast Florida Continental Shelf and Slope in Three Dimensions

Friday, September 16, 2011 4:00 p.m. in ETC 4.150 Dr. Megan S. Ballard Applied Research Laboratories The University of Texas at Austin www.arlut.utexas.edu An acoustic propagation model is applied to predict measurements of three-dimensional (3-D) effects recorded off the southeast coast of Florida.  The measured signal is produced by a low frequency source which is…

Design of Hydrophone Acoustic Baffles and Supporting Materials

Friday, September 9, 2011 4:00 p.m. in ETC 4.150 Steven T. Embleton Department of Mechanical Engineering The University of Texas at Austin http://www.me.utexas.edu One key element of SONAR transducer design is the acoustic baffle. Acoustic baffles isolate noise and vibration produced by a structure, such as a submarine hull, from the sound sensing and radiating…

Modeling Three-Dimensional Rough Surface Scattering Using Numerical Methods

Friday, April 29, 2011 4:00 p.m. in ETC 4.120 Sumedh Joshi Applied Research Laboratories The University of Texas at Austin http://www.arlut.utexas.edu Understanding the scattering of sound energy from rough surfaces is important in modeling sound propagation underwater. The rough boundaries at the air-water and water-sediment interfaces randomly scatter incident sound energy in all directions; over…

Three-Dimensional Sound Field Visualization in a Moving Fluid Medium

Friday, April 15, 2011 4:00 p.m. in ETC 4.120 Professor Yong-Joe Kim Director, Acoustics and Signal Processing Laboratory Department of Mechanical Engineering Texas A&M University http://tinyurl.com/YJKim Recently, many ground and air vehicles operate at high speeds, which results in high-level noise.  Acoustic measurements made on the high-speed vehicles also require considering significant airflow effects.  One…

Time Reversal Acoustics

Tuesday, April 12, 2011 9:00 a.m. in ETC 4.120 Professor Brian E. Anderson Acoustics Research Group Department of Physics and Astronomy Brigham Young University http://www.physics.byu.edu/faculty/anderson/ Time Reversal (TR) is a method, applicable to classical wave systems of physics, used to locate and reconstruct unknown wave sources or to locate and image target scatterers. TR relies…

Performance and Modeling of a Fully Packaged MEMS Optical Microphone

Friday, April 8, 2011 4:00 p.m. in ETC 4.120 Michael Kuntzman Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering The University of Texas at Austin http://www.ece.utexas.edu A microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) optical microphone that measures the interference of light resulting from its passage through a diffraction grating and reflection from a vibrating diaphragm (JASA, v. 122, no. 4,…

The Effect of Heat on Turbulent Mixing Noise in Supersonic Jets

Friday, March 25, 2011 4:00 p.m. in ETC 4.120 Woutijn Baars Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics The University of Texas at Austin http://tinyurl.com/WBaars The most prominent component of turbulent mixing noise in jets is associated with Mach wave radiation. Large-turbulence structures in the jet flow radiate Mach waves efficiently when they convect at…

The Challenges and Possibilities of a Truly Quiet Helicopter

Thursday, March 24, 2011 3:30 p.m. in WRW 113 Professor Frederic H. Schmitz Department of Aerospace Engineering The University of Maryland http://www.aero.umd.edu/facstaff/fac-profiles/schmitz-fredric.html A short history of the successes and the failings of Vietnam era efforts to reduce helicopter noise are briefly reviewed and the major sources of noise ranked.  A movie showing the typical in-flight…

Demystifying the Success of Cochlear Implants

Friday, March 11, 2011 4:00 p.m. in ETC 4.120 Professor Douglas P. Sladen Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders The University of Texas at Austin csd.utexas.edu/faculty/doug-sladen Cochlear implants are an effective means of treatment for individuals with severe-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss. The implant system is comprised of an externally worn sound processor and a surgically…

Multi-Modal Acoustics-Based Imaging of Atherosclerosis

Friday, March 4, 2011 4:00 p.m. Dr. Iulia M. Graf Department of Biomedical Engineering The University of Texas at Austin http://www.bme.utexas.edu Despite the advancements in diagnosis and treatment of atherosclerosis, the risk of plaque rupture cannot be accurately assessed with current ultrasound imaging techniques. The combination of ultrasound, strain rate and photoacoustic imaging may improve…

Studio Classroom Design for Education in Audio Technology

Friday, February 25, 2011 4:00 p.m. in ETC 4.120 Prof. Mark J. Sarisky The Art Institute of Austin Austin, TX, USA http://www.artinstitutes.edu/austin/media-arts/audio-production-bs-167312.aspx The design of a studio classroom facility for education in the fields of applied audio and recording technology must address a number of unique challenges. These include both visual and auditory considerations that…

Parametric Acoustic Arrays: Reflections on the Formative Science and Technology Evolution at the University of Texas at Austin

Friday, February 18, 2011 4:00 p.m. in ETC 4.120 Dr. Thomas G. Muir ARL Director’s Fellow Applied Research Laboratories The University of Texas at Austin http://www.arlut.utexas.edu The nonlinear interaction of two high frequency acoustic waves can generate a highly directive, wideband sound at their difference frequency and this fascinating radiation has had significant engineering applications. …

Improvement of Vibro-Acoustic Belt Tension Monitoring in a Belt-Driven Automated Material Handling System

Friday, February 11, 2011 4:00 p.m. in ETC 4.120 Marcus Musselman Department of Mechanical Engineering The University of Texas at Austin http://www.me.utexas.edu Belt-driven automated material handling systems are ubiquitous in modern semiconductor manufacturing systems.  The current vibro-acoustic technique used to monitor belt tension and misalignment yields low precision relative to the acceptable range of belt…

Turbulent Pressure Signature Reduction Using Turbulent Boundary Layer Suction Control

Friday, January 28, 2011 4:00 p.m. in ETC 4.120 Craig Dolder Applied Research Laboratories The University of Texas at Austin www.arlut.utexas.edu Turbulent boundary layers exert a dynamic pressure signal on nearby surfaces which can adversely affect the performance of sonar arrays. These pressure fluctuations contain a broad spectrum of scales that convect downstream at different…

Anatomy of the Audio Analyzer

Friday, October 22, 2010 4:00 p.m. in ETC 2.108 Dr. Thomas D. Kite Audio Precision, Inc. Beaverton, Oregon Home Audio analyzers are used by consumer and professional audio equipment manufacturers, broadcast studios, and recording studios to measure the quality and integrity of the audio signal chain. Modern audio analyzers are sophisticated computer-controlled machines that combine…