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  5. Kettle sounds

Kettle sounds

Kettle Sounds

Below are sample sounds of ten different kettles, the recordings were made in a typical kitchen (in this case a small kitchen within the University was used) and in a semi-anechoic chamber to compare the room effect on the sounds. In the case of the kitchen, the kettle was placed in a typical position on a worktop near some cupboards, and in the case of the semi-anechoic chamber it was placed on a table. A height of 1.5m was chosen for the microphone as a typical standing height, and a distance of 1m from the kettle was selected as a typical listener’s distance (and also a standard test distance in acoustics). The background noise level of the kitchen was low. Both monaural and binaural recordings were made.

For each recording the kettle contained one cup of water, the minimum fill, because it boiled quickest and was more energy efficient. Before recording the kettle was filled with cold water and the element was used from cold. The kettles had been used a number of times before.

Kitchen Recordings

The monaural recordings were made with a half inch diaphragm microphone placed at a distance of 1m from the kettle, and 1.5m height; this was considered to be typical standing height. The binaural recordings were made with a B&K 4100 dummy head in a similar position.

  • Download zip file of kitchen binaural sounds (29Mb)
  • Download zip file of kitchen monaural sounds (29Mb)
  • Download excel spreadsheet of subjective results
  • Download excel spreadsheet of objective results

Semi-Anechoic Chamber Recordings

The monaural recordings were made with a half inch diaphragm microphone placed at a distance of 1m from the kettle, and 1.5m height; this was considered to be typical standing height. The binaural recordings were made with a B&K 4100 dummy head in a similar position.

  • Download zip file of anechoic binaural sounds (33Mb)
  • Download zip file of anechoic monaural sounds (33Mb)
  • Download excel spreadsheet of subjective results
  • Download excel spreadsheet of objective results

Seminars

  • Webinar 11/6/25: Future Homes Project: Acoustics research to facilitate Net Zero targets
  • Webinar 28/5/25: An Introduction to NERIC: The People, Projects and Practical Considerations
  • Webinar 14/5/25: Soundscapy: Open Source Software in Soundscape

Contact Us

Head of Acoustics Research
Professor David Waddington
d.c.waddington@salford.ac.uk

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