Explore the current Sustainable Sound Futures projects which commenced in 2025.
Project outline This research addresses a critical gap in the evaluation of environmental and technical sounds by developing and validating psychoacoustic models for sharpness and impulsiveness within the Sottek Hearing Model (SHM) framework, then optimising these models for real-world complex soundscapes rather than idealised laboratory conditions. Current sound evaluation methods rely heavily on basic frequency-weighted […]
Project outline The rollout of low-carbon technologies is introducing unfamiliar sounds into everyday environments: These technologies bring clear financial and environmental benefits, yet their acoustic footprints are often quite different from the noise sources they replace. Tonal, fluctuating, high-pitched, and sometimes persistent in character – such sounds can alter how people perceive the quality and […]
Project outline Large numerical simulations dominate marine and aerospace industries when performing structural analysis on engineering platforms. These models are computationally intensive, and model updating often requires complete re-simulation. To enable practical real-time sensing applications for noise and vibration, sufficient sensor coverage is needed to acquire the data which characterises the dynamical behaviour for quantifying […]
Project outline Numerical methods for acoustic simulations are well established, but scale poorly to high frequencies and large domains. Important applications include simulation of outdoor noise propagation and room acoustics. Physics-informed machine learning is a new and rapidly developing field that has shown promising early results in other physical sciences, and offers significant potential for […]
Project outline Air source heat pumps (ASHPs) offer a significant opportunity to decarbonise home heating. However, the increasing rate of installations at homes across the UK and Europe may lead to a rise in community noise, impacting public health and wellbeing, and potentially hindering the adoption of heat pumps. Current standards for assessing noise from […]
Project outline A given acoustic environment may consist of numerous individual sound sources with varying acoustic qualities, yet humans can intuitively separate sounds originating from different sources. Prior research has suggested that sources perceived as dominant within a soundscape play a significant role in overall soundscape perception (for example, if the dominant sound sources are […]
Project outline A given acoustic environment may consist of numerous individual sound sources with varying acoustic qualities, yet humans can intuitively separate sounds originating from different sources. Prior research has suggested that sources perceived as dominant within a soundscape play a significant role in overall soundscape perception (for example, if the dominant sound sources are […]
Project outline Noise is highlighted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as the second most harmful environmental pollutant with a growing body of evidence demonstrating its negative impacts on human health. UK policy and guidance prescribes acceptable noise levels, manages noise as a statutory nuisance and regulates noise-intensive activities via licensing. However, there is limited […]
Project outline Cultural venues such as concert halls and opera houses provide significant socio-economic benefits to the communities they serve. They are often landmark buildings for a city or region, offering shared spaces for connection and artistic expression, and supporting the creative economy. The success of such venues is determined in part by the quality […]
Project outline This project aims to develop our understanding of how noise impacts cognitive functioning, for example as measured by the change in a listener’s ability to perform a task in the presence of noise. Of particular interest is how the acoustic properties of noise impact our everyday thinking and productivity by consuming sensory and […]