bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Volumetric beamforming in real-time using commodity hardware
Authors: Præsius Sebastian K. , Jørgensen Lasse T. , Jensen Jørgen A.
Published: July 2024

Ultrasound imaging is widely used in medicine for its safety and affordability. However, it demands large transducer arrays because the image resolution is proportional to the number of elements, N, typically around 128 for 2D imaging. Three-dimensional imaging requires N2 audio channels (≈350 GB/s of data) if the equivalent 2D matrix array is used, which is practically impossible to process. To solve this issue, row-column arrays (RCAs) aggregate rows and columns of elements, reducing data rate and processing demands by a factor of N. A novel dual-stage beamforming algorithm further lowers the beamforming operations by N/2, with negligible impact on the image quality. For N = 128, the processing is 8192 times faster than with a matrix array, and it is hypothesized the 3D RCA beamforming can be done in real-time using a commodity graphics card. The beamforming rate of an NVIDIA RTX 4090 GPU was measured for in-vivo data from a rat kidney, achieving 1394 full volumes per second, which is over 150 times faster than previous implementations. Combining RCAs with the new beamforming algorithm and GPU processing thus enables volumetric beamforming to be done affordably at the bedside in real-time using a standard scanner and PC.
Tunable liquid-based lenses for ultrasonic beamforming
Authors: Rostami Sina , Mobley Joel
Published: July 2024

Quasi-planar stepped lenses (QSL’s) based on phasing have proven to perform closely to conventional refractive lenses for the generation of both focused and limited diffraction beams. However, since QSLs are passive and made from solid materials, each must be designed with a specific frequency and beam type in mind. In this presentation, we report on a tunable lens with a planar aperture that employs liquid channels to perform phase-based beamforming. The desired phase patterns are produced using specific speed-of-sound profiles and can be flexibly configured for a range of frequencies and beam types without modification. In this talk, we report on the results of both experimental and numerical results for this class of lenses and discuss their potential applications.
Transducer module apodization for reducing bone heating during focused ultrasound uterine fibroid ablation
Authors: Goudarzi Sobhan , Jones Ryan M. , Lee Yin H. W. , Hynynen Kullervo
Published: July 2024

During MR-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) for uterine fibroids, thermoablation of tissue near spine/hips is challenging due to bone heating that can cause patient pain and potentially damage nerves. Here we investigate transducer module apodization for maximizing the focal-to-bone heating ratio (ΔT ;ratio) in silico using a 6144-element flat fully populated phased array operating at 0.5 MHz (Arrayus Technologies, Inc.). Acoustic and thermal simulations were performed using anatomies of ten patients who underwent MRgFUS ablation for uterine fibroids with this device as part of a clinical trial (NCT03323905). Transducer modules (64 elements/module) whose beams intersected no-pass regions were identified, their amplitudes were reduced by varying blocking percentage levels, and the resulting temperature field distributions were evaluated across multiple sonications per patient. For all simulated sonications transducer module blocking improved ΔT ;ratio compared to no blocking. In 42% of sonications, full module blocking maximized ΔT ;ratio, with mean improvements of 97% ± 55% and 47% ± 36% in hip and spine compared to no blocking, at the cost of increased focal thermal volumes and acoustic power levels. In the remaining sonications, partial module blocking provided increased ΔT ;ratio values (39% ± 45% in hip, 19% ± 15% in spine targets) relative to full blocking. The optimal blocking percentage varied depending on the specific treatment geometry.
Experimental and numerical comparison of multiple passive beamformers for separating intra- and extra-canal cavitation activity during transvertebral spinal cord therapy
Authors: Frizado Andrew P. , O'Reilly Meaghan
Published: July 2024

Distinguishing intra-canal cavitation activity during transvertebral focused ultrasound sonication of the spinal cord is a challenge due to the strong prefocal cavitation emissions in the spinalis musculature overwhelming emissions originating in the canal. To achieve mapping of all cavitation sources simultaneously, two methods for enhancing detection sensitivity are investigated: (1) multiple dynamic ranges within a reconstructed volume and (2) utilizing alternative beamformers to delay-and-sum (DAS) during map reconstruction. The performance of DAS beamforming is compared to a delay-multiply and-sum beamformer (DMAS), with and without a paired multiplicative compounding method (pDMAS). Experiments and simulations were performed on a 128-element, dual-aperture transvertebral array, through stacks of ex vivo human vertebra. Numerically and experimentally obtained point spread functions were compared in 3D, producing voxel-wise cross correlation values of 0.84, 0.89, 0.97 (N = 1) for the beamformers listed above, respectively, in water. Experimental, transvertebral localizations of canal sources in isolation produced localization error of 2.8 ± 1.2, 2.9 ± 1.4, 2.7 ± 1.3 mm for a single vertebral target (N = 30 sonications), respectively. A large numerical data set investigating the prefocal cavitation problem (N > 160) is presented and compared with (N = 9) experimental data demonstrating enhancement of intracanal sensitivity in cavitation maps.
Accurate and computationally efficient basis function generation using physics informed neural networks
Authors: Cloud Nathan , Goldsberry Benjamin M. , Haberman Michael R.
Published: July 2024

Basis functions that can accurately represent simulated or measured acoustic pressure fields with a small number of degrees of freedom is of great use across various applications, including finite element methods, model order reduction, and compressive sensing. In a previous work [B. M. Goldsberry, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 153, A193 (2023)], basis functions were derived for an element in a given mesh using a combination of interpolation functions defined on the boundaries of the element and the Helmholtz-Kirchhoff (HK) integral. This forms a new interpolatory basis set that efficiently and accurately represents the interior of the element. However, the previous analysis was limited to a two-dimensional rectangular element. In this work, physics informed neural networks (PINN) are investigated as a means to generate HK basis functions for general element shapes. PINNs have been previously shown to accurately learn solutions to parameterized partial differential equations. The element geometry parameterization and the boundary interpolation functions are given as inputs to the PINN, and the output of the PINN consists of the physically accurate basis functions within the element. Details on the implementation and training requirements on the PINN to achieve a desired accuracy will be discussed. [Work supported by ONR.]
Educational uses of a microflown p-u probe
Authors: Russell Daniel A.
Published: July 2024

Two of the most useful transducers I have ever purchased for my research lab are a B&K Type 8001 mechanical impedance head and a Microflown p-u matchstick probe acoustic impedance head. This talk will illustrate several educational demonstrations one can perform using a Microflown p-u probe. One demonstration will show the transition from the near-field of a spherical source (where pressure and velocity are in quadrature) to the far-field (where pressure and velocity are in phase). Another demonstration will illustrate the relative phase differences for pressure and velocity upon reflection from an open or closed end of a pipe. A third demonstration will show how a measurement of acoustic impedance can be used to determine the undamped natural frequency of a Helmholtz resonator, which in turn may be used to accurately predict the length correction at the open end of the resonator mouth. Additional demonstrations may be shown if time permits.
Converting acoustical demonstrations into in-class experiments
Authors: Hoffman Kurt R.
Published: July 2024

Teaching acoustical principles to non-science students invites extensive use of classroom demonstrations to help clarify concepts. Ideally, a separate laboratory course opens up many more opportunities for active learning for improved student understanding. However, observing and hearing a demonstration is distinct from performing the activity directly. Moreover, the addition of a laboratory course impacts departmental teaching load and may impact enrollment. In this paper I will discuss laboratory and demonstration activities that have been converted into group activities that are implemented as a classroom activity. The opportunity to add these elements to the course hinge on being able to build or purchase a large number of replicas of equipment needed for the planned activities. The two examples I will discuss in detail are the use of two stringed monochords and pvc trumpets. In addition, I will share a simple mechanical demonstration based on vibrating bars to visualize the location dependent resonances of the basilar membrane.
ROC curve measurements using euro-rack modules (and some DIY)
Authors: Korman Murray S. , Mcilhany Kevin L.
Published: July 2024

Acoustic signal processing projects encourage DIY electronics as well as hardware designed to expose principles found either in nature or from man-made sources. Searching within the Eurorack format of the modular synthesis community, functional equivalents to more common DIY units are identified. Some signal generators and measurements are still underrepresented commercially and require DIY Eurorack modules to be built. One goal is to use existing Eurorack components where DIY modules are designed as necessary in this format. A Receiver Operating Characteristic curve (ROC) is calculated for three cases using analog energy detection and probability density function (pdf) circuitry. The hypothesis for noise (N) is a fixed Gaussian noise distribution. The three hypotheses for the signal plus noise (S+N) have signals characterized as; a constant sinusoid with random phase, a broadband unknown Gaussian signal, and an unknown narrow band Gaussian signal utilizing a narrow band carrier frequency. Our classroom demonstration involves two loudspeakers, one for noise, the other for signal. The detected microphone’s voltage is bandpass filtered, amplified, squared, integrated and then fed into the pdf circuitry where pulses are counted for 4 seconds in each voltage window. Increasing the signal amplitude will increase the detection index.
A concert by Theresa “Bear” Fox
Authors: Fox Theresa. , Braasch Jonas , Conlon Paula
Published: July 2024

Theresa “Bear” Fox is a prolific singer and songwriter from the Mohawk Nation at Akwesasne. During this concert, she will present songs from her eight CD albums highlighting Akwesasne culture. The ancestral land of the Akwesasne community of about 12,000 people spreads across both banks of the St. Lawrence River and intersects Quebec, Ontario, and New York State. Bear Fox's music is deeply rooted in her living indigenous tradition. Following Akwesasne culture, Bear Fox's songs often have a specific function. Some songs are healing songs, and others are provided as gifts to family members. Bear Fox writes her lyrics in both Mohawk language and English, which will give the audience the opportunity to listen to the authentic sound of the Akwesasne music tradition and directly experience the meaning of words in the larger context of Native American songs. During the concert, Bear Fox will explain how each song has a story that is grown from a planted seed. Songs are often written to honor Mother Earth, mothers, water, wind, Grandmother Moon, and our newborns. Bear Fox believes in the positive message that can come from songs, which is a central part of the Mohawk culture.
Unveiling the impact of auditory salience and sources identification on perceived pleasantness in environmental soundscapes
Authors: Misdariis Nicolas , Bouvier Baptiste , Marquis-Favre Catherine , Susini Patrick
Published: July 2024

On the basis of initial results related to modulations of auditory salience— the ability to capture attention—by timbre attributes (especially, brightness and roughness), the present study investigates auditory salience as a predictor of perceived pleasantness in environmental sound scenes. A new paradigm was set up to measure continuous pleasantness while observing the impact of specific events, in a corpus of 11 various soundscapes. Specific events were found to affect perceived pleasantness, in a source-dependent direction in line with the literature. In addition, causality analyses examined the impact of temporal salience predictions on pleasantness ratings, along with other indices (equivalent sound level, loudness, or timbre attributes). They showed that salience was the best predictor of pleasantness, ahead of loudness, level or brightness and roughness. Nonetheless, the last two turned out to play, as well, a significant role in the pleasantness percept. Therefore, auditory salience is confirmed as a relevant indicator for assessing the perception of soundscapes, and the identification of sound sources that compose them is also confirmed to be crucial in this assessment.
Towards soundscape management of protected natural areas using the ISO 12913: A field study
Authors: Oberman Tin , Torresin Simone , Latini Arianna , Gozzi Giacomo , Aletta Francesco , Kang Jian
Published: July 2024

Human perception of soundscapes in protected natural areas like national parks is crucial for their protection. At popular scenic spots, visitors themselves often contribute to noise pollution. Decibel-based systems (such as LAeq or Lden) do not fully explain human reactions to this phenomenon, necessitating a more holistic approach to allow for an effective management strategy. A mixed-methods soundscape approach based on the ISO 12913 series, developed mostly in urban soundscape studies, was tested in four protected natural ex-urban areas in the Dolomites (Italy) and Cairngorms (United Kingdom). During five soundwalks (7-12 km long), conducted by adopting the Method A of ISO/TS 12913-2, a total of 443 questionnaire responses were gathered across 28 evaluation points, alongside corresponding binaural measurements. A range of acoustic environments as quiet as LAeq = 31 dBA and as loud as LAeq = 76 dBA were observed, eliciting perceptions ranging from very calm to chaotic. A Linear Mixed-Effects Model was computed to analyse the impact of sound source dominance, psychoacoustic and environmental acoustic indices on perception. Presence of human sounds proved to be a major factor driving the perception of chaotic soundscapes.
Resonant ultrasound spectroscopy experimental design and optimization
Authors: Ward Joshua , Obstalecki Mark , Cherry Matthew
Published: July 2024

Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy (RUS) is a nondestructive material characterization technique that utilizes solid body resonances to estimate elastic moduli. This method is advantageous over traditional mechanical testing due to the significantly lower number of required samples to estimate the same number of moduli. The goal of this project is to develop a high-throughput RUS system capable of measuring experimental resonances and mode shapes in a fraction of the time of traditional RUS measurements. A new system was designed which leverages data/image analysis algorithms to aid in sample alignment and data collection. A standardized sample geometry was also analyzed by performing a geometric sensitivity study and optimizing the aspect ratio of lengths of a parallelepiped. The results show that the optimized sample geometry is consistent between materials with varying elastic properties. In order to validate the design of the new RUS system a comparative study to an existing system was conducted. The results show that the newly designed system produces comparable resonant frequency and mode shape measurements.
Convergence properties of eigenfrequencies in RUS
Authors: Farzbod Farhad , Holycross Casey
Published: July 2024

An in-depth exploration of the asymptotic behavior of resonant frequencies in Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy (RUS), a non-destructive method for material property evaluation, is presented in this work. This work delves into the asymptotic analysis using Legendre polynomials for cuboid samples and examines the impact of increasing elements on eigenfrequencies. In this examination, we noted various elements concerning the computational boundaries and the influence of diagonal components on the asymptotes. The presence of a boundary for the asymptotes indicates limited information beyond a certain point. Additionally, how elastic constants influence these eigenfrequencies is discussed.
Measuring the internal damping of thin metal beams in flexure
Authors: Shepherd Micah , Jensen Peter K. , Mills Joshua T.
Published: July 2024

Since the internal damping of most metals is a relatively small quantity, precise measurement requires that both acoustic radiation damping and boundary condition damping be either eliminated or highly minimized. In this talk, an experiment setup will be described which can measure the internal damping of metal beams in flexure. To perform a measurement, a beam specimen is placed on wire supports within a vacuum chamber and excited by an autonomous force hammer located within the chamber. The wire supports are located exactly at the nodal lines of the beam mode of interest, so that the frictional losses created by the wire supports are minimized. Once excited, the beam deflection is measured with a single point laser vibrometer. The signal decay measured by the vibrometer is used to estimate damping of the mode of interest using either the Hilbert transform or the half- power method. The wire supports are then moved, and the procedure is repeated for the next mode of interest. Results for several metal specimens will be presented and compared to Zener’s thermoelastic model, which describes the losses created by thermal currents for a beam in flexure, to demonstrate the accuracy of the measurement method.
Using vocoded speech to study temporal weighting in spatial release from masking
Authors: Stecker G. Christopher , Williams Brittany T.
Published: July 2024

Several aspects of binaural and spatial hearing appear to be dominated by moments of rising envelope fluctuations (“onsets”), although those phenomena are limited to events occurring less than a few hundred times per second. Thus, for example, the localization of a brief tone is dominated by the binaural information available in the overall sound onset. Whereas for a modulated sound each envelope period may contribute equally, assuming the modulation rate is not too high. For speech signals, syllabic modulations provide multiple onset-like events which may occur synchronously or asynchronously across frequency bands. Although previous studies have shown that rising envelope fluctuations play an outsized role in localization and lateralization, it is unknown whether other aspects of spatial hearing–such as spatial release from masking (SRM)–are similarly dominated by rising envelopes. Here, we used a Gabor-click-train vocoder to transform speech sounds and manipulate the spatial content of rising- versus falling-envelope segments of the speech in each frequency band. Introducing binaural differences between target and masker speech allows the assessment of localization and/or SRM across conditions in which the cues are limited to rising- or falling-envelope segments, or available throughout the signal. [Work supported by NIH R01DC016643, T32000013.]
Localization of real and tangent-law panned phantom sound sources in the frontal horizontal plane
Authors: Stellmack Mark A. , Sheft Stanley , Macpherson Ewan A.
Published: July 2024

Auditory source separations of as little as 1 degree are detectable. However, presenting auditory stimuli at small separations presents technical challenges, with loudspeaker separation limited by transducer diameter. An alternative procedure is to utilize phantom sources, with the perceived position of a single source determined by the relative output levels of two spatially separated loudspeakers. Therefore, it is important to determine whether real and phantom sources can be localized with the same precision. In the present experiment, listeners localized real (individual) sources and phantom sources computed using a tangent-law model giving the same nominal azimuthal angles as the real sources. Listeners used a laser pointer to indicate perceived source location. Infrared cameras detected pointer position with responses stored in terms of azimuth. Signals were broadband or narrowband (300-700 Hz and 3800–4200 Hz) noise, 100 or 500 ms in duration. Generally, phantom sources were localized with less precision than real sources, and high-frequency signals were localized with less precision than broadband or low-frequency signals, with no effect of duration. Results show that phantom sources are localized with sufficient accuracy and precision to be useful in assessing auditory spatial acuity, but they are not localized with the same precision as real sources.
General acoustic Willis media modeled as conventional materials with embedded sources
Authors: Demir Mehmet U. , Popa Bogdan-Ioan
Published: July 2024

Willis coupling vectors provide additional degrees of freedom to manipulate acoustic waves unavailable in conventional materials, but the additional material properties make it difficult to simulate the interaction between sound and Willis media especially when inhomogeneous media with arbitrary geometries are involved. To address this challenge, we establish the equivalence between the wave equation inside a three-dimensional, inhomogeneous, and anisotropic Willis medium to the well-known acoustic wave equation in conventional materials with embedded continuous distributions of monopole and dipole sources. We validate the equivalence in numerical simulations showing that conventional materials with embedded sources replace physical Willis metamaterials anisotropic in the Willis and mass density tensors without modifying the scattered sound distribution. Moreover, the equivalence offers insights into the physics of Willis materials. For example, it shows that various combinations of Willis coupling vectors can generate identical sound scattering for any excitation. It also shows whether effective material parameters extracted from single Willis cell simulations remain valid in bulk metamaterials obtained by replicating periodically that cell. These results suggest that the equivalence model can advance the design of Willis metamaterials and provide a tool to better understand the physics of Willis media.
Acoustic properties of natural fiber reinforced composite micro-perforated panel designed using 3D printing
Authors: Berardi Umberto
Published: July 2024

The present study investigated the acoustic performance of biodegradable MPP absorbers made of natural fiber-reinforced composites (NFRC) using 3D printing. The novelty of this current research lies in the recent development of a methodology that aids industry professionals in optimizing the production of MPP (Micro Perforated Panel) at a competitive cost. This is achieved by addressing and eliminating issues commonly faced in traditional manufacturing processes, such as manual preparation and pressing. The FDM technique was used to fabricate test samples utilizing the PLA/corkwood composite. Using an impedance tube device with two microphones, the acoustic absorption coefficients of MPPs with different perforation diameters, thicknesses, and perforation rates were measured. Maa's analytical model was used to predict the acoustic absorption performance. Moreover, considering the average sound absorption and total cost of fabricating the samples, RSM-CCD was employed to optimize these samples. In the end, the parallel arrangement of MPP double layer and the combination of MPP with kenaf porous material were tested to improve the sound absorption performance. The results showed that the average sound absorption coefficient of the NFRC-MPP sound absorber is 25% more than that of conventional MPP sound absorbers.
Losing ground?: Towards a description of palatal lateral variation in Breton
Authors: Owens Kaitlyn
Published: July 2024

Traditional Breton descriptions and grammars attest that [j] is an often-pronounced variant of /ʎ/ (Hemon, 1995), however, little is known about what factors influence this phoneme’s realization. This study aims to elucidate what linguistic and social factors affect Breton /ʎ/ pronunciations. Given that Breton new speakers are often militant in promoting Breton revitalization (Jones, 1995) and their pronunciations, unlike those of traditional speakers, are strongly influenced by French (Hornsby, 2015), we predicted new speakers will produce [j] more than traditional speakers. We elicited 125 tokens that contain /ʎ/ from eight Breton-speaking participants in a wordlist task—the only categorical [j]-producer was the sole traditional Breton speaker to participate. Focusing on new speakers, we use mixed-effects regression and find older speakers produce [ʎ] more often than younger speakers (p < 0.0001), and gender is not a significant predictor. For linguistic factors, word position does not play a significant role, but [j] is more frequent in intervocalic tokens when the following vowel is palatal (p = 0.0249). Although /ʎ/ variation does not exhibit effects of prestige, our results suggest a potential change in progress whereby [ʎ] is being lost in favor of [j] and is particularly gaining momentum intervocalically when the following vowel is palatal.
Revisiting the sociophonetics of sexuality in spontaneous speech
Authors: Galvano Amber
Published: July 2024

This study surveys sociophonetic variation in sibilant and vowel production for 44 Bay Area English speakers. I focus on (i) whether sexual orientation is an independent predictor, or interacts with gender, and (ii) what the patterning of bi + (bisexual, pansexual, queer, etc.) and non-binary speakers adds to previous claims (e.g., Gaudio 1994, Pierrehumbert 2004, Willis 2023). All participants completed a Map Task in pairs; 37 participated in a sociolinguistic interview. Recordings were auto-transcribed, forced-aligned, and hand-checked. For /s ʃ z ʒ/, tokens under 0.05 sec, in /str/ clusters, and/or adjacent to another sibilant were excluded. Before getting COG and skew, 0.02 sec were subtracted from token edges and voicing was Hann band-filtered. For all vowels and sibilants, mean and midpoint f0 were taken, and F1-F4 for vowels (using the median of values at midpoint plus six surrounding timepoints). Results show sexual orientation alone is not a robust predictor of /s/ frontedness. Both gender and sexuality interacted with duration for /s/ frontedness and vowel f0; gender and sexuality also interacted to influence /ʃ/ frontedness and /z/ devoicing, as well as vowel space shape. These results imply that, when bi + and non-binary identities are incorporated, the phonetic indexation of sexual identity is not easily generalizable within orientation labels, at least for informal speech.
Effects of formant peak flattening on vowel perception: A larger-scale web-based experiment
Authors: Nenadić Filip , Sredojević Dejan , Kiefte Michael
Published: July 2024

Ito et al. reported that suppressing the first or the second formant in Japanese synthesized vowels did not importantly change listener perception. However, quantitative analyses of data collected in the English (Nenadić et al., 2020) and the Serbian language (Nenadić et al., 2023) have shown that formant suppression increases response entropy between participants (i.e., decreases agreement in vowel identity). Previous studies never tested more than fifteen participants, but it was noted that certain listeners gave different responses to a manipulated synthesized vowel in comparison to its original version more often than others. We tested 118 native monolingual speakers of Serbian language (87% female, 13% male; age 18 to 44, M = 21.07, SD = 4.71) in an online replication of the experiment. The results again show that listeners agree less about vowel identity for stimuli with suppressed formants. Certain listeners again tended to change their response to the manipulated version of the vowel more often than others. Importantly, this tendency did not correlate with their mean response latency. We discuss possible causes for these findings, including differences in listener strategies and time requirements of a more careful processing of the incoming signal.
An acoustic analysis of French contrast-specific clear-speech productions
Authors: Robertson Morgan , Jongman Allard
Published: July 2024

Clear speech provides insight into acoustic correlates speakers alter when attempting to increase intelligibility or enhance phonemic contrasts. The present study consists of an acoustic analysis of clearly spoken French voiced and voiceless stops, nasal and oral vowels, and front rounded and unrounded vowels. Productions were elicited using a simulated interaction between French-speaking participants and a computer program, in which participants produced casual tokens and the program ‘guessed’ with controlled responses. When the program incorrectly responded with “???” (indicating ‘What did you say?’) or a specific competitor (e.g., response reins [ʁɛ̃] ‘kidney’ to target reine [ʁɛn] ‘queen’), participants reproduced the word more clearly. The program’s responses probed at differences in speakers’ productions when responding to specific competitors versus globally attempting to increase intelligibility. Preliminary results show a general increase in prevoicing for clearly produced voiced stops. Speakers also adjust coarticulatory nasality to disambiguate CVN targets from CṼ competitors. Finally, expansion is exhibited between front rounded and unrounded vowel pairs in the F2/F3 vowel space from casual to clear; however, it is largest when the program’s response is “???”. Overall, findings suggest that speakers modify their speech differently in response to a specific competitor versus the general “???” response.
The correlation between acoustic and articulatory variation in Laurentian French high vowels
Authors: MacLeod Beth , Ahn Suzy , Burness Phillip
Published: July 2024

This study explores the relationship between acoustic and articulatory variation in Laurentian French (LF) high vowels. LF /i/, /y/, /u/ undergo laxing before a consonant other than a voiced fricative. While several studies have characterized LF vowel laxing acoustically, limited work has described it articulatorily. This study investigates the alignment between ultrasound tongue imaging data and acoustic realization in LF vowels. Using data from Burness et al. (2022b), seven native LF speakers participated in a study collecting ultrasound tongue imaging and audio while producing 52 French words with target vowels /i/, /y/, /u/. We chose the ultrasound frame for each token that aligns with the vowel midpoint. From these, we obtained x (tongue backness) and y (tongue height) values. Linear mixed-effect models were employed to assess the relationship between acoustic parameters (F1, F2) and articulatory measures. Findings reveal a varied but generally related pattern between acoustics and articulation. F1 relates significantly to tongue height for /u/ and /y/, while F2 aligns significantly with tongue backness across all three vowels. However, substantial unaccounted variation suggests factors like vocal tract physiology, the non-linearity between articulation and acoustics, and specific choice of articulatory measures might contribute to this variability. Future research will explore these factors to better comprehend this intricate link between acoustics and articulation.
The effect of aging on vowel production in Western Canadian English
Authors: Jones Brooklyn , Tucker Benjamin V.
Published: July 2024

Aging influences many aspects of speech production. For example, a speaker’s fundamental frequency or formant space has been reported to change as they age. However, this research has largely focused on careful or prepared speech, with a few notable exceptions in the longitudinal research literature. There is limited knowledge of the relationship between aging and vowel reduction in spontaneously produced speech. It is important to investigate how spontaneous everyday speech is influenced by the aging process. In the present investigation, we work with a corpus of Western Canadian English containing spontaneous conversational speech produced by 18 younger (17–31) and 13 older speakers (64–79). The data was force-aligned and then acoustic measures were extracted from the aligned data. In this presentation, we report on the differences in formant space for stressed and unstressed vowels. The results of this study will be used to better inform our understanding of the role of vowel centralization and aging in spontaneous speech. They will further support the understanding of reduction in spontaneous speech.
Vocalic contrasts in Zotung
Authors: Bohnert Amanda , Berkson Kelly H. , Van Bik Kenneth , Ziegler Grayson
Published: July 2024

Though very few Maraic languages from the South Central branch of Tibeto-Burman are represented in the existing body of phonetics literature, they are of interest in that they appear to contain typologically unique dense high vowel systems. Zotung, spoken by approximately 100 000 people in Chin State in western Burma and in diaspora communities, is one such language (Eberhard et al., 2022). The only linguistic scholarship on Zotung (Shintani, 2015) is an extensive wordlist with brief preliminary comments on the syllable shape, tone, and vowel inventories; however, acoustic analyses are absent. To augment Shintani (2015) and further elucidate the vowel inventory of Zotung, we present data from an older male speaker deeply involved with Zotung translation, preservation, and literacy efforts, who hails originally from Tingsi on the far southern border of the Zotung speaking area. Based on analysis of 553 tokens collected via a wordlist, we substantiate some of the findings reported by Shintani (2015) and document several important differences. Shintani reported 8 monophthongal vowel qualities; we find 10: [i, y, e, ø, æ, ə, a, u, o, ɔ]. Shintani also reported an expansive diphthong inventory; our data support this claim, with 9 total vowels that can be categorized as diphthongs.
The effect of salinity on the rigidity and settling behavior of reconstituted water-saturated kaolinite sediments
Authors: Casacchia Alicia , Ballard Megan , Lee Kevin M. , Wilson Preston S. , Chotiros Nicholas P.
Published: July 2024

In sandy sediments, the salinity of the pore water only affects the sound speed of the mixture by way of affecting the sound speed of the pore water. With clay mineral and saltwater mixtures, the intergranular forces that depend on the salinity of the pore water affect the sediment acoustic properties beyond simply affecting the sound speed of the pore water. These dependencies were investigated via image analyses of prepared samples of two kaolinite clay types (Flat DS and RSA) via analyses of their settling dynamics, porosity, and rigidity as a function of pore water salinity. There exists an observable dependence on salinity to mixture porosity and rate of settling. In addition, three regimes of slip-stick dynamics are shown to exist at different salinity ranges: (a) an immediate transition to liquid-like behavior; (b) a viscoelastic transition to liquid-like behavior with long term creep; and (c) a delayed transition to viscoelastic behavior with long term creep. [Work supported by ONR.]
Advancement of the exterior façade measurement method by Jerry Christoff
Authors: Dong Wayland , Rawlings Samantha , Lo Verde John
Published: July 2024

Acoustical design of façade elements is a key element in architectural acoustics. The assessment is required for multi-family housing projects and environmental projects. In the 1980s, when labs around the US were measuring the transmission loss (TL) of exterior façade elements, it was assumed that measurement of TL with a diffuse sound field method is valid for TL of real facades where a diffuse sound field does not exist. Jerry evaluated how the TL of exterior façade elements change based on the incident angle. In this talk, we will shed some light on the history of the work done by Jerry in the advancement of the exterior façade assessment methods.
Sandiaoling eco-friendly tunnel soundscape and virtual reality analysis
Authors: Thinzar Khaing , Wibowo Phoa Angela Grace , Indriyani Ni Made Putri , Manullang Nikita Grace , Ghadiri Roxana , van Brug Stijn Zeger , Muet Juliana Manuela , Diep Tuan Sanh , Averina Clarissa , Truong Chau N. , Niederberge Gabriela , Juan Shiang-I , Tsaih Lucky S.
Published: July 2024

Soundscape of Sandiaoling Ecological Tunnel, a 1.852 km bike path tunnel, has been studied for the taxonomy of sound sources, equivalent sound pressure levels, and the perceived sonic quality. This paper focuses on examining simulated sound source propagations in the tunnel using both omni and directional sound sources with Odeon Room Acoustic software. Additionally, it compares the specific receivers’ auralizations with in situ recorded sounds in a virtual reality model along with a questionnaire to evaluate the distinctions between the two. The preliminary results showed that the simulated sonic quality in tunnel is less reverberant than expected. Proximity of receivers to sound source, the boundary of air to source and receivers inside tunnel as well as the absorption, scattering and transparency coefficients of materials used in simulated model are adjusted. Future work will explore into audio post-production and visual effects.
A PAMGuard catalog for comparing detection and classification performance of two mode decomposition algorithms
Authors: Seger Kerri D. , Balebail Sujay , Lucciano Imogen , Liang Yue , Al-Badrawi Mahdi , Kirsch Nicholas J.
Published: July 2024

The ONR project “Application of an Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) detection and classification process to environments for Naval monitoring and detection” created empirical and variational mode decomposition analysis workflows to detect and cluster diverse underwater signals across four distinct datasets. Twenty-five call types from the Bering and Chukchi Seas, Aeon’s North Atlantic sites, CTBTO hydroacoustic stations, and the Chambal River were detected and clustered with varying levels of success. The final precision, recall, and accuracy results of these call types will be presented. Evaluating the performance of our developed detection and classification algorithms involved a comparison with the widely used open-source software, PAMGuard. However, obtaining information about the parameters used to construct detectors for different call types in PAMGuard proved challenging due to limited literature availability. To the best of our knowledge, some call types had never been processed in PAMGuard, and for those that had, not all parameters required for adapting the detectors to our datasets were consistently published. To facilitate the use of our PAMGuard detectors by other researchers for their own datasets, we will present a user-friendly guide that will outline the features that yielded optimal PAMGuard performance for each call type.
Effects from particle motion and substrate-borne vibration on fishes and invertebrates: Recommendations on research questions and methodologies
Authors: Guan Shane , Popper Arthur N.
Published: July 2024

There have been substantially increased interest in effects of particle motion and substrate-borne vibration on fishes and aquatic invertebrates over the past decade. This is because these signals, unlike sound pressure, are the basis of hearing in most fishes and in all aquatic invertebrates. However, studies to address these issues continue to face challenges due to the diversity of species, the broad range of hearing mechanism, and the complexity of the physical acoustic environment in conducting studies. Additionally, we do not yet have a good understanding of, and mechanisms for, source generation, calibration, and measurements to be able to examine effects properly. Related to this is the critical issue is how research questions are applicable to regulatory agencies. In October 2023, the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management held a workshop to address different research methodologies and their pros and cons as the basis for study of the behavioral and physiological responses to particle motion and substrate-borne vibration. Subsequently, a review was conducted linking research priorities previously identified concerning anthropogenic noise effects on animals with appropriate research methodologies. The review also provides recommendations on experimental settings that are most appropriate to address specific research questions for regulatory concerns.
Acoustic ecology of Adélie penguins in the West Antarctic Peninsula
Authors: Fradet Danielle T. , Cimino Megan A. , White Easton , Kloepper Laura
Published: July 2024

Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) are bioindicators for the rapidly changing Antarctic environment, making understanding their population dynamics and behavior of high research priority. However, collecting detailed population data throughout the breeding season on many colonies is difficult due to Antarctica’s harsh conditions and remote location. The colonial breeding ecology of Adélie penguins has led to the evolution of a highly vocal species with individualized calls, making them well-suited for passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) with autonomous recording. PAM units can potentially provide an easily deployable and scalable way to collect fine-scale data on population estimates and breeding phenology. Here I present a framework for using acoustic indices to monitor phenology of dense penguin colonies even under high wind conditions. I evaluate the relationship between acoustic indices such as RMS amplitude and penguin colony size between distinct breeding stages (incubation, guard, crèche, and fledge) on Torgersen and Humble Islands in the West Antarctic Peninsula with an automated pipeline implemented in R. Using PAM to interpret penguin vocalizations for population size and breeding phenology estimates could lead to the development of a real-time remote monitoring system over a large spatial footprint, revealing Adélie penguin responses to climate change.
Extracellular adenosine-5′-triphosphate release kinetics following microbubble cavitation in cultured human endothelial cells
Authors: Amate Marie , Tan Ju Jing , Boudreault Francis , Grygorczyk Ryszard , Gervais Thomas , Yu François
Published: July 2024

Ultrasound Targeted Microbubble Cavitation (UTMC) causes vasodilation, which can improve radiotherapy efficacy, but the mechanisms remain unknown. Herein, we characterize extracellular Adenosine Triphosphate (eATP) release kinetics in vitro following UTMC using live microscopy. eATP was measured in real-time with a bioluminescent Luciferin-Luciferase (LL) assay. Human endothelial cells were grown in microfluidic chips. A microbubble solution (Definity: 107 MB/ml) containing propidium iodide (25 μg/ml) and LL was added to the chips before sending a single ultrasound pulse (A303S-SU, 1MHz, 0.5 in., Olympus, pressure: 300 kPa; 10, 100, or 1000 cycles). The bioluminescence signal of eATP reaction with the LL was captured with an EMCCD camera and converted into eATP released quantity, as in the study by Tan et al. (2019). After the acquisition, a viability assay was done using calcein-AM (4 μg/ml). We found a significantly higher total eATP released by dead cells than live sonoporated cells. The eATP release rate was also significantly higher in dead cells than in sonoporated cells at 4s after the pulse. At that time, we could estimate the eATP released by individual cells within a cell cluster before the individual bioluminescent signals merged due to diffusion. This will able us to understand better the eATP release mechanism in vitro and in vivo.
Curiouser and curiouser—Sonoluminescence, sonoporation, and sonodynamic therapy
Authors: Bau Luca , Westerberg Niclas , Lane Richard , Hu LuNa , Singh Kritika , Callan John , McHale Anthony , Faccio Daniele , Stride Eleanor P.
Published: July 2024

The potential of sonodynamic therapy (SDT) for delivering highly localised therapy with minimal side-effects is extremely attractive for a range of applications, including multiple forms of cancer and antibiotic resistant infections. There is also increasing evidence of beneficial immunostimulatory effects for treating metastatic disease. Yet, despite the growing evidence for both the pre-clinical and now clinical efficacy of SDT, the mechanisms underpinning ultrasound mediated drug activation remain unclear. This has inhibited optimisation of ultrasound exposure conditions and dosing protocols. This talk will review the range of mechanisms proposed in the literature and the corresponding supporting and contradictory evidence. These will include recent investigations by the authors into the role of sonoporation, and theoretical and experimental quantification of sonoluminescence. The importance of selecting appropriate treatment monitoring protocols to detect cavitation will also be discussed.
Aeroacoustic modeling of blown-closed free reeds
Authors: Puranik Ninad V. , Scavone Gary
Published: July 2024

We present ongoing work on the development of an aeroacoustic model of blown-closed free reeds used in a hand harmonium. Physics-based models of free reed instruments involve modeling of the oscillating free reed, the air-flow in the upstream region and around the reed, and the interaction between these two systems. The minimal model of free reeds by Millot and Baumann (2007) assumed the reed as a damped spring-mass system and approximated the air flow field by two discrete zones representing the flow near the reed and the upstream region respectively. Our recent work included the adaptation of the minimal model to match the physical setup and control parameters of the hand harmonium and the development of a distributed clamped-bar model of the free reed. These updates resulted in a closer agreement of the parameters for simulation and the observed physical variables. To address limitations of this model, we present a revised modeling of the air flow as a continuous potential flow and discuss implications for numerical stability, accuracy and real-time sound synthesis.
Results from a time domain clarinet model: Effects of non-harmonic air column resonances
Authors: Thompson Stephen C.
Published: July 2024

A time domain model of a clarinet-like system was previously reported [S. C. Thompson, J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 150 A98 (2021)] . That model has been used to investigate the improvement in playing behavior when the instrument air column has accurately harmonic input impedance peaks. Two tube models were designed with an effective length to produce a 400 Hz first resonance frequency. Both tubes are terminated at the “closed” end by a SDOF reed with a reasonably high resonance frequency. The first tube is purely cylindrical terminated at the “open” end by a tone hole lattice with a cutoff frequency of 1500 Hz. This tube has two resonances below cutoff whose peaks differ from true harmonicity by approximately 7%. The second tube has a small region of slightly increased bore radius positioned to provide resonances whose inharmonicity is reduced to less than 1%. These tubes have very similar playing behavior in the model at low playing amplitude, but increasingly differ as the playing level is increased. The model has also been upgraded to include a mechanical hard stop for the reed position as it closes against the mouthpiece. Preliminary results with the beating reed will be presented.