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Acoustics

Salford Innovation Research Centre (SIRC)

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Psychoacoustics

The goal of psychoacoustics is to understand how people perceive and experience sound. This can be at a low level; for example, we might want to understand how accurately you can locate a sound source, or we might want to measure the smallest change in sound level you can detect. We can also work at a higher level; for example, we might want to understand the emotional response to sound in your everyday environment, or we might want to evaluate annoyance due to noise pollution. We carry out mainly high-level applied psychoacoustic research aimed at solving practical problems. The results of our research are used in designing better environments, more appealing products and more effective regulation. We have done significant work on soundscapes, where we led a large project to characterise human perception of everyday sound and develop ways of improving the sound of the built environment. We have also worked to understand product sound quality: what makes one kettle sound more pleasant than another?

Below are examples of some of the projects we have worked on and areas in which we carry out research:

Soundscapes

  • The positive soundscapes project
  • Policy applications of soundscapes
  • Sound around you

Environmental noise and vibration

  • Railway noise and vibration
  • Low frequency noise
  • A noisy future
  • Hearing loss in the built environment
  • Noise from pubs and clubs

Perception of sound in rooms

  • Low frequencies in small critical listening spaces
  • Perception of reverberation time in small listening rooms
  • Subjective perception of seat dip attenuation
  • The sensitivity of listeners to early sound field changes in auditoriums

Audio

  • S3A: Future Spatial Audio for Immersive Listener Experience at Home
  • Measuring auditory spaciousness in reproduced sound
  • Improving Television Sound for the Hard of Hearing
  • Difference Limen for level of music
  • Perception of 3D ambisonic audio
  • Making sense of sound

Product sound quality

  • Making products sound better

Psychoacoustics contact

Please contact Bill Davies at w.davies@salford.ac.uk.

Contact Us

Head of Acoustics Research
Prof Trevor Cox
t.j.cox@salford.ac.uk
Tel: (0044) 0161 295 5474

Links

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Research at the University of Salford

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