News by Subject Social & Behavior

Referees and others using whistles on the job need a simple way to determine whether it's harmful to their hearing, so researchers set out to put it to the test and to provide some clarity and damage risk criteria for impulse noise exposures. To do this, the group carefully measured and analyzed the acoustic signature of 13 brands of whistles identified as the 'most commonly used' by 300 sports officials -- both indoors and outdoors.

Screaming is well-studied in animals, but much less is known about how human screams function in communication, or how similar or different human screams are from those of other species. To help unlock the secrets of human screaming, researchers at Emory University have studied human vocal sounds, representing a broad acoustical range and array of emotional contexts, and studied what makes a sound a scream or not.

Wind turbines are a critical component in the strategy for energy independence, but these massive structures are also killing bats. Now, researchers from Texas A&M University are exploring a unique passive acoustic whistle mounted on turbine blades to warn bats of the deadly turbines using a sound they can easily hear and recognize. They will present the team's research findings at the 177th ASA Meeting.

Excessive noise is widely known to have negative effects on health, and children in neonatal intensive care units are among the most vulnerable. Researchers have conducted one of the first studies linking the quiet time soundscape inside NICUs with infant health. The study examined the effects of quiet time implementation in multiple NICUs on infants up to 18 months after implementation. They will present their findings at the 177th ASA Meeting, May 13-17.

During WWI, William Lawrence Bragg led the development of an acoustic method to locate enemy artillery, work that was so successful that it was soon used widely throughout the British army. The method, known as sound ranging, was also adopted by the US Army when they joined the war, and earned Bragg a military decoration from the British armed forces. Bragg's story will be presented at the 177th ASA Meeting, May 13-17, 2019.

Following the 2016 presidential election, echo chambers have oft been blamed for the polarization of contemporary American politics. But a new study found that even in homogeneous groups, social influence increases factual accuracy and decreases polarization. In fact, participants' beliefs became 35% more accurate after exchanging information with others in the group, and their beliefs became more similar to members of the other political party.