Read about acoustics

Do you want to learn about past research or ongoing projects? Check out these free resources and read about acoustics!

Acoustics Today

This quarterly magazine contains tutorials, technical articles, ASA news, and more. The pieces in the magazine are aimed at people with a general background in acoustics, but might not be versed in the particular featured subject. Read about acoustics from any issue here.

Lay Language Papers

Lay language papers are short versions of papers and talks presented at Annual Meetings of the Acoustical Society of America. Please keep in mind that some of the research described in the lay papers may not have yet been peer reviewed. See all papers here.

How Long Do Females Really Listen? Assessment Time for Female Choice in the Gray Treefrog

Joshua J. Schwartz - jschwartz2@pace.eduDepartment of Biological SciencesPace UniversityPleasantville, NY 10570 Popular version of paper 2pAB10 presented at the First Pan-American/Iberian Meeting on Acoustics, Cancun, Mexico When animals are searching for a mate they...

Ground Squirrels Have Voices that Are Similar to Those of Their Relatives

We recorded chirps and trills from adult and juvenile Belding’s ground squirrels at multiple distinct locations in Yosemite National Park.

Ants Have an Acoustic World of Their Own

It is well known that ants do not respond to sound on a human scale. You can shout at an ant and it doesn’t seem to notice. Yet many ant species communicate by means of squeaking sounds from a stridulatory organ on the ant’s body, consisting of a washboard-like set of ridges and a scraper. The squeaking sounds are usually very faint but they pervade ant colonies. The amplified sound of a colony of black fire ants (Solenopsis richteri), disturbed by a microphone probe pushed into their mound, is given in the attached recording.

Mothers and Their Children Hear a Musical Illusion in Strikingly Similar Ways

This paper reports new research indicating that a child’s perception of music may be influenced by the speech patterns of his or her mother. Previous findings by the author and colleagues had provided evidence that speech characteristics can have a strong influence on how we perceive music.

Modes of Vibration and Directivity of Percussion Instruments

When the membrane is struck, many different modes or patterns of vibrations are excited, including the six important ones […]. Each of these modes of vibration has its own pattern of radiation.