Quiet Steel(TM) is a patented product from MSC Laminates that is a sandwhich of sheet steel with damping material between the sheets. This product can provide reductions in sound and vibration inside a vehicle.

Read more on the MSC Laminates web site.

The National Endowment for Science, Technology & the Arts, NESTA, in the UK has awarded an engineer, Giovanni Bisutti, £75,000 to develop a system for pneumatic tools, such as jack hammers, to reduce the effects of vibration on the operators. ‘White finger’ is caused by excessively vibrating tools that cause damage to the hands of the tool operators. The new system uses a water jacket shrouded around the tool that is used to increase the mass of the tool by 15kg. Water is transfered into the tool when in operation and is removed within 3 seconds when the tool is to be moved.

Read the article on the NESTA web site.

Bently Nevada, a company specializing in condition monitoring systems and equipment, have released a new system call the TrendMaster Pro, which is capable of collecting data from thousands of sensors from wired and wireless sensor networks.

Read more on the Bently Nevada web site.

Next week, February 16-23 2003 is National Engineers week (in the US).

Read more on the National Engineers week web site.

At the International Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week, Dolby displayed their new headphones for use with their 5.1 surround sound technology. The headphones almost eliminate the “listener-fatigue” problem, where the listener perceives sound coming from inside their head.

Read the press release on the Dolby web site.

ESCO Technologies has bought Austin Acoustics Systems for $4 million. Austin Acoustics make acoustic enclosures for audiometric testing and the recording industry.

JMC Products has developed a DC motor for fans that is significantly quieter than conventional motors. In a conventional fan motor a square wave switching voltage is applied to the stator that generates torque ripples and vibrates the entire structure which makes a ticking noise. JMC have reduced this noise by changing the switching frequency to 25kHz, above the range of human hearing.

Read the JMC media release here.

Matsushita, the Japanese company that manufactures under the Panasonic and National brands, have developed a technique to provide a listener wearing headphones the feeling of 3-dimensional sound. Typically people wearing headphones think the noise is coming from the center of their head. The new technique involves modifying the sound to account for the transfer function of the ear canal, so that the listener thinks the sound is coming from in front.

Read the press release on the Matsushita web site.

David Swanson from Penn State University has developed a security system called APIDS – acoustic perimeter intrusion detection system. The system uses wires connected to geophones. When the wires are disturbed, the vibrations in the wires are analyzed by a computer to determine if the vibration is caused by an intruder or a false alarm such as wind, rain drops or a bird sitting on the wire.

Read more on the Washington Post web site.
Visit the Penn State graduate program in acoustics site.

It is well known that the acoustics in the Australian icon, the Sydney Opera House, is often criticized. A major program has begun to analyze the acoustics by Arup Acoustics. Ove Arup were the original structural engineers of the building.

Read more on the Sydney Morning Herald web site. Read the Arup web site on the Sydney Opera House, and the media release.