- What would a ritual at Stonehenge have sounded like 4,000 years ago?
- Why would different acoustics have saved more lives during the Kings Cross Underground tragedy in 1987?
- What did Coventry Cathedral sound like before it was bombed in 1940?
- How is acoustics research changing the way we find out about our heritage?
- How can listening to the past improve our quality of life for the future?
These and other pioneering research projects are already changing the way we study the past. They are also helping to improve the way we live our lives in the future.
The work is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
This research cluster 'Improving Heritage Experience through Acoustic Reality and Audio Research' (I Hear Too) is part of AHRC and EPSRC's Science and Heritage Programme.
Listen to a podcast on iTunes about the work of the cluster including sounds of the past at Stonehenge and Coventry Cathedral. (Podcast title is 'Sounds of the past and future'). This podcast is also available with images on the EPSRC website
The research cluster is led by Dr Damian Murphy from the University of York. "Science and Heritage work together particularly well in audio and acoustic research. Our understanding of the past is greatly enhanced through the insight we gain into how our ancestors would have heard their world," says Dr Murphy. "In addition this research helps us to better understand sound in the environment we currently inhabit from the acoustic preservation of old buildings, the design of new ones to offsetting the effects of our increasingly noisy world."
Contacts and further information:
Dr Damian Murphy, University of York, dtm3@ohm.york.ac.uk, tel: 01904 433221.
The AHRC and EPSRC Science and Heritage Programme www.heritagescience.ac.uk
You can also find out more about latest activities from 'I Hear Too' at http://iheartoo.blogspot.com/
EPSRC also has a regular podcast on iTunes featuring some of the UK's best research in engineering and the physical sciences. Subscribe to our 'Pioneer Podcast'
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC): EPSRC is the main UK government agency for funding research and training in engineering and the physical sciences, investing more than £850 million a year in a broad range of subjects – from mathematics to materials science, and from information technology to structural engineering. www.epsrc.ac.uk
Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC): Each year the AHRC provides approximately £102 million from the Government to support research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities, from languages and law, archaeology and English literature to design and creative and performing arts. In any one year, the AHRC makes approximately 700 research awards and around 1,350 postgraduate awards. Awards are made after a rigorous peer review process, to ensure that only applications of the highest quality are funded. The quality and range of research supported by this investment of public funds not only provides social and cultural benefits but also contributes to the economic success of the UK www.ahrc.ac.uk
Images are available from the EPSRC Press Office, tel: 01793 444404, or email: pressoffice@epsrc.ac.uk
Image details:
Damian.jpg: Dr Damian Murphy
Stonehenge.jpg: Stonehenge at dawn
MicrophoneatYork.jpg: 'The research is recreating authentic sounds of the past'