News by Subject Social & Behavior

Workplaces are full of sound, most of which is not helpful to workers trying to do their jobs. Scientists are using physics to understand how conversation, music and other ambient noise is experienced by individuals in a variety of work situations. Takeshi Akita, of Tokyo Denki University, will present a talk on 'Effects of sound source and its direction on subjects' impression of soundscape in workplace' at the 178th ASA Meeting.

Monkeys and other animals communicate through calls that can differ depending on region. The common marmoset is one such animal that communicates using regional dialects. Researchers at the University of Zurich have now found out that they even adapt their dialect when they move to a different area.

Study estimates that the creation of the 503 superblocks called for in the initial plan would reduce annual air pollution by 24%.

Composers string notes of different pitch and duration together to create music. Similarly, cells join amino acids with different characteristics together to make proteins. Now, researchers have bridged these two seemingly disparate processes by translating protein sequences into musical compositions and then using artificial intelligence to convert the sounds into brand-new proteins. They report their results in ACS Nano.

Physics Professor Jesse Berezovsky contends that until now, much of the thinking about math and music has been a top-down approach, applying mathematical ideas to existing musical compositions as a way of understanding already existing music. He contends he's uncovering the 'emergent structures of musical harmony' inherent in the art, just as order comes from disorder in the physical world. He believes that could mean a whole new way of looking at music of the past, present and future.

Acoustics consultant Klaus Genuit says that new ISO guidelines for defining, measuring and evaluating soundscapes are a big step forward in guiding the creation of audibly fine restaurants. 'A soup might be delicious or not, but you can't answer this by knowing the temperature of the soup. It is the same with restaurant soundscapes -- you need a lot more information than just noise level,' he said.