Researchers at Minnesota's Mayo Clinic have developed a technique that uses low frequency sound to vibrate internal organs and when used with a Magnetic Resonance Imaging scanner (MRI) can be used to determine the elasticity or stiffness of internal organs, which is an indicator that something is wrong.

This new technique, called magnetic resonance elastography (MRE), was commercialised by GE Healthcare. They released their new device called MR-Touch, which is the first commercial application of MRE technology, which the company has licensed from the Mayo Clinic.

To read more about this story visit the Scientific American web site.

The 4th edition of Bies and Hansen Engineering Noise Control will go on sale on 26th June 2009.

See the Amazon web site for more details.

Researchers at Cornell University have developed a portable high intensity ultrasound system. They have built a small battery powered demonstration device.

For more information, read their journal article, "Development of a portable therapeutic and high intensity ultrasound system for military, medical, and research use"

Tracerline have a product called the TP-9370 Marksman™ Ultrasonic Diagnostic Tool which has a sensor to detect ultrasonic noise sources and convert them to an audible signal for listening through a pair of headphones. The tool is intended for detecting the location of leaks.

Federal Mogul have developed an acoustic liner that is made from recycled materials including cardboard, carpet fibres, and other fabrics. The first application will be the 2010 Buick LaCrosse luxury sedan.

For more information, read the press release on the Federal Mogul web site.

A conference is currently underway on the topic of Energy Harvesting from sources such as vibration, wind, sun and others.

The Energy Harvesting Journal has a good commentary on the conference with extracts from experts in the field.

TMC have released an actively vibration isolated floor system that uses piezoelectric actuators. The platform is available in two options to isolate 3 or 6 degrees of freedom.

For more information see the TMC web site.

Raytheon has won a $US19m contract from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to develop a vehicle mounted land mine detection system that uses a laser radar vibration sensor.

For more information read the news release on the Raytheon web site.

The 2008 Ig Nobel prizes were awarded recently which included an award to Massimiliano Zampini (University of Trento, Italy) and Charles Spence (Oxford University, UK) for conducting listening tests with people and found that by electronically modifying the sound that a potato chip makes when chewed can make the person think it is crisper and fresher.

Their work was published in the Journal of Sensory Studies.

In one of the largest hearing loss studies ever conducted, the results show there is a strong correlation between hearing loss and smoking, and that it is dose-related. There was also a strong correlation between body-mass-index and hearing loss. On the upside, the results from the study show that moderate alcohol consumption had an 'inverse correlation' with hearing loss, meaning that some drinking seems to decrease the likelihood of age related hearing loss.

Read the entire journal paper here.

Finis have released an MP3 player for use by swimmers that uses bone conduction to transmit sound instead of conventional loudspeakers.

For details see the Finis Inc. web site.

A collaboration between several research groups has found that a particular frog from China has the ability to 'tune' its hearing to a particular frequency range by opening and closing its Eustachian tubes. The researchers claim that this frog is the only known animal that can actively select the frequency range of interest.

Read the full news article on Medical News Today.

ESI Group have released the latest version of the software VA One 2008.0, which can be used for vibro-acoustic predictions across the full frequency spectrum seamlessly.

The software uses unique mathematics to combine low-, mid-, and high- frequency predictions. The software combines finite elements, boundary elements and statistical energy analysis in one model.

For more information about the VA One software, see the ESI Group web site.

Researchers have found using Functional MRI scans that the brain function is altered in patients with Hand-Vibration syndrome compared with a control group. The results were presented at the 63rd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand. 18-20 September 18-20, 2008. Chicago, USA.

Read the full article on the Orthosupersite.

A federal appeals court in the USA (9th Circuit Court of Appeals) has rejected the Bush administration request to exempt the US Navy training activities using active sonar from environmental laws. This decision follows from a lower court that set conditions in an effort to protect whales and dolphins from the active sonar.

Read more on the LA times web site.

Sony have released a new type of headphone that has a separate bass 'duct', a tube that is inserted into the ear canal, and external speakers for the mid- and high- frequencies. The PFR-V1 headphones will be available for retail sale in the US in April. The reason for doing this is to provide a more natural sound rather than the 'in the head' sound from most headphones. Images of the headphones can be viewed on Sony's Japan web site.

Another interesting year is in store for 2008 with some great conferences in acoustics in vibrations around the globe. For a list of conferences, see the Calendar for 2008 Conferences.

This web site was hacked again recently. It appears that someone did some sql injections into the forums. I've shutdown the forums as they were not widely used. I've also changed the hosting of the web site. Let me know if you spot any problems.

A UK company has released a CD containing pre-recorded road noises that when played back through a car stereo should excite the rattles in a car, which will help in locating these annoyances. See the Rattle Buster web site.

A new Bluetooth mobile phone headset is now available that uses the vibration from facial bones and a microphone to reduce background noise. See the Jawbone headset website for more information.

Mitsui Engineering has developed a water tank with multiple actuators that can form a standing wave pattern in the shape of letters.

For the Mitsui press release see here (In Japanese), and for their brochure see here.