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Outputs (125)

The 2nd Clarity Prediction Challenge: A Machine Learning Challenge for Hearing Aid Intelligibility Prediction (2024)
Conference Proceeding
Barker, J., Akeroyd, M. A., Bailey, W., Cox, T. J., Culling, J. F., Firth, J., …Naylor, G. (2024). The 2nd Clarity Prediction Challenge: A Machine Learning Challenge for Hearing Aid Intelligibility Prediction. . https://doi.org/10.1109/icassp48485.2024.10446441

This paper reports on the design and outcomes of the 2nd Clarity Prediction Challenge (CPC2) for predicting the intelligibility of hearing aid processed signals heard by individuals with a hearing impairment. The challenge was designed to promote new... Read More about The 2nd Clarity Prediction Challenge: A Machine Learning Challenge for Hearing Aid Intelligibility Prediction.

Urban Hedges as Noise Barriers: Does Plant Species Choice Affect Insertion Loss? (2024)
Journal Article
Webb, J., Cox, T., Blanusa, T., Griffiths, A., & Umnova, O. (in press). Urban Hedges as Noise Barriers: Does Plant Species Choice Affect Insertion Loss?. #Journal not on list, https://doi.org/10.61782/fa.2023.1152

Noise in urban environments is responsible for annoyance and adverse health effects. Noise barriers are used to mitigate noise and are effective when properly designed and installed, but provide little visual or biodiversity benefit. Hedges are frequ... Read More about Urban Hedges as Noise Barriers: Does Plant Species Choice Affect Insertion Loss?.

The First Cadenza Signal Processing Challenge: Improving Music for Those With a Hearing Loss (2023)
Conference Proceeding
Dabike, G. R., Bannister, S., Firth, J., Graetzer, S., Vos, R., Akeroyd, M. A., …Whitmer, W. (2023). The First Cadenza Signal Processing Challenge: Improving Music for Those With a Hearing Loss.

The Cadenza project aims to improve the audio quality of music for those who have a hearing loss. This is being done through a series of signal processing challenges, to foster better and more inclusive technologies. In the first round, two common li... Read More about The First Cadenza Signal Processing Challenge: Improving Music for Those With a Hearing Loss.

Applications of a hybrid method to a plate with simply supported boundary conditions (2023)
Journal Article
Churchill, C., Meggitt, J. W. R., Wong-Mcsweeney, D., Cox, T. J., & Woodcock, J. (2023). Applications of a hybrid method to a plate with simply supported boundary conditions. https://doi.org/10.61782/fa.2023.0186

* The EN12354 building acoustics prediction standards are based on the statistical energy analysis (SEA) method. In a traditional SEA path analysis, lightweight or heavyweight materials have different principal paths that determine the sound insulati... Read More about Applications of a hybrid method to a plate with simply supported boundary conditions.

Overview of the 2023 ICASSP SP Clarity Challenge: Speech Enhancement for Hearing Aids (2023)
Journal Article
Cox, T. J., Barker, J., Bailey, W., Graetzer, S., Akeroyd, M. A., Culling, J. F., & Naylor, G. (2023). Overview of the 2023 ICASSP SP Clarity Challenge: Speech Enhancement for Hearing Aids. Proceedings of the ... IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (Online), https://doi.org/10.1109/icassp49357.2023.10433922

This paper reports on the design and outcomes of the ICASSP SP Clarity Challenge: Speech Enhancement for Hearing Aids. The scenario was a listener attending to a target speaker in a noisy, domestic environment. There were multiple interferers and hea... Read More about Overview of the 2023 ICASSP SP Clarity Challenge: Speech Enhancement for Hearing Aids.

Improving the measurement and acoustic performance of transparent face masks and shields (2022)
Journal Article
Cox, T. J., Dodgson, G., Harris, L., Perugia, E., Stone, M. A., & Walsh, M. (2022). Improving the measurement and acoustic performance of transparent face masks and shields. ˜The œJournal of the Acoustical Society of America (Online), 151(5), 2931-2944. https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0010384

Opaque face masks harm communication by preventing speech-reading (lip-reading) and attenuating high-frequency sound. Although transparent masks and shields (visors) with clear plastic inserts allow speech-reading, they usually create more sound atte... Read More about Improving the measurement and acoustic performance of transparent face masks and shields.

Dataset of British English speech recordings for psychoacoustics and speech processing research : the Clarity Speech Corpus (2022)
Journal Article
Graetzer, S., Akeroyd, M., Barker, J., Cox, T., Culling, J., Naylor, G., …Muñoz, R. (2022). Dataset of British English speech recordings for psychoacoustics and speech processing research : the Clarity Speech Corpus. Data in Brief, 41, 107951. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2022.107951

This paper presents the Clarity Speech Corpus, a publicly available, forty speaker British English speech dataset. The corpus was created for the purpose of running listening tests to gauge speech intelligibility and quality in the Clarity Project, w... Read More about Dataset of British English speech recordings for psychoacoustics and speech processing research : the Clarity Speech Corpus.

Clarity-2021 challenges : machine learning challenges for advancing hearing aid processing (2021)
Journal Article
Graetzer, S., Barker, J., Cox, T., Akeroyd, M., Culling, J., Naylor, G., …Viveros Munoz, R. (2021). Clarity-2021 challenges : machine learning challenges for advancing hearing aid processing. https://doi.org/10.21437/Interspeech.2021-1574

In recent years, rapid advances in speech technology have been made possible by machine learning challenges such as CHiME, REVERB, Blizzard, and Hurricane. In the Clarity project, the machine learning approach is applied to the problem of hearing aid... Read More about Clarity-2021 challenges : machine learning challenges for advancing hearing aid processing.

Using scale modelling to assess the prehistoric acoustics of stonehenge (2020)
Journal Article
Cox, T., Fazenda, B., & Greaney, S. (2020). Using scale modelling to assess the prehistoric acoustics of stonehenge. Journal of Archaeological Science, 122, 105218. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2020.105218

With social rituals usually involving sound, an archaeological understanding of a site requires the acoustics to be assessed. This paper demonstrates how this can be done with acoustic scale models. Scale modelling is an established method in archite... Read More about Using scale modelling to assess the prehistoric acoustics of stonehenge.

Fast speech intelligibility estimation using a neural network trained via distillation (2020)
Presentation / Conference
Cox, T., Bailey, W., & Tang, Y. (2020, January). Fast speech intelligibility estimation using a neural network trained via distillation. Poster presented at 12th Speech in Noise Workshop, Toulouse, France

Objective measures of speech intelligibility have many uses, including the evaluation of degradation during transmission and the development of processing algorithms. One intrusive approach is to use a method based on the audibility of speech glimpse... Read More about Fast speech intelligibility estimation using a neural network trained via distillation.

Personality and cognitive factors in the assessment of multimodal stimuli in immersive virtual environments (2019)
Thesis
Bailey, J. Personality and cognitive factors in the assessment of multimodal stimuli in immersive virtual environments. (Thesis). University of Salford

Literature in the study of human response to immersive virtual reality systems often deals with the phenomenon of presence. It can be shown that audio and imagery with spatial information can interact to affect presence in users of immersive virtual... Read More about Personality and cognitive factors in the assessment of multimodal stimuli in immersive virtual environments.

Pupil dilation reveals changes in listening effort due to energetic and informational masking (2019)
Presentation / Conference
Woodcock, J., Fazenda, B., Cox, T., & Davies, W. (2019, September). Pupil dilation reveals changes in listening effort due to energetic and informational masking. Presented at ICA 2019, Aachen, Germany

Pupil dilation has previously been shown to be a useful involuntary marker of listening effort. An inverse relationship between pupil diameter and signal to noise ratio has been shown when speech is energetically masked by noise. The work reported he... Read More about Pupil dilation reveals changes in listening effort due to energetic and informational masking.

Influence of visual stimuli on perceptual attributes of spatial audio (2019)
Journal Article
Woodcock, J., Davies, W., & Cox, T. (2019). Influence of visual stimuli on perceptual attributes of spatial audio. Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, 67(7/8), 557-567. https://doi.org/10.17743/jaes.2019.0019

Reproduced audio is often accompanied with visuals (i.e. television, virtual reality, gaming, and cinema). However, the audio technology for these systems is often researched and evaluated in isolation from the visual component. Previous research ind... Read More about Influence of visual stimuli on perceptual attributes of spatial audio.

Generalisation in environmental sound classification : the ‘making sense of sounds’ data set and challenge (2019)
Presentation / Conference
Kroos, C., Bones, O., Cao, Y., Harris, L., Jackson, P., Davies, W., …Plumbley, M. (2019, May). Generalisation in environmental sound classification : the ‘making sense of sounds’ data set and challenge. Presented at 44th International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP 2019), Brighton, UK

Humans are able to identify a large number of environmental sounds and categorise them according to high-level semantic categories, e.g. urban sounds or music. They are also capable of generalising from past experience to new sounds when applying the... Read More about Generalisation in environmental sound classification : the ‘making sense of sounds’ data set and challenge.

Background adaptation for improved listening experience in broadcasting (2019)
Presentation / Conference
Tang, Y., Cox, T., Fazenda, B., Liu, Q., & Wang, W. (2019, May). Background adaptation for improved listening experience in broadcasting. Presented at 44th International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, ICASSP 2019, Brighton, UK

The intelligibility of speech in noise can be improved by modifying the speech. But with object-based audio, there is the possibility of altering the background sound while leaving the speech unaltered. This may prove a less intrusive approach, affor... Read More about Background adaptation for improved listening experience in broadcasting.

The effects of classroom noise on the reading comprehension of adolescents (2019)
Journal Article
Connolly, D., Dockrell, J., Shield, B., Conetta, R., Mydlarz, C., & Cox, T. (2019). The effects of classroom noise on the reading comprehension of adolescents. ˜The œJournal of the Acoustical Society of America (Online), 145(1), 372-381. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.5087126

An investigation has been carried out to examine the impact of different levels of classroom noise on adolescents’ performance on reading and vocabulary-learning tasks. A total of 976 English high school pupils (564 aged 11 to 13 years and 412 aged 1... Read More about The effects of classroom noise on the reading comprehension of adolescents.

Perceptual audio evaluation of media device orchestration using the multi-stimulus ideal profile method (2018)
Presentation / Conference
Wilson, A., Cox, T., Zacharov, N., & Pike, C. (2018, October). Perceptual audio evaluation of media device orchestration using the multi-stimulus ideal profile method. Presented at Audio Engineering Society 145th Convention, New York, USA

The evaluation of object-based audio reproduction methods in a real-world context remains a challenge as it is difficult to separate the effects of the reproduction system from the effects of the audio mix rendered for that system. This is often comp... Read More about Perceptual audio evaluation of media device orchestration using the multi-stimulus ideal profile method.

Improving intelligibility prediction under informational masking using an auditory saliency model (2018)
Presentation / Conference
Tang, Y., & Cox, T. (2018, September). Improving intelligibility prediction under informational masking using an auditory saliency model. Presented at International Conference on Digital Audio Effects, Aveiro, Portugal

The reduction of speech intelligibility in noise is usually dominated by energetic masking (EM) and informational masking (IM). Most state-of-the-art objective intelligibility measures (OIM) estimate intelligibility by quantifying EM. Few measures m... Read More about Improving intelligibility prediction under informational masking using an auditory saliency model.

Sound categories : category formation and evidence-based taxonomies (2018)
Journal Article
Bones, O., Cox, T., & Davies, W. (2018). Sound categories : category formation and evidence-based taxonomies. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, #1277. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01277

Five evidence-based taxonomies of everyday sounds frequently reported in the soundscape literature have been generated. An online sorting and category-labelling method that elicits rather than prescribes descriptive words was used. A total of N=242 p... Read More about Sound categories : category formation and evidence-based taxonomies.

Qualitative evaluation of media device orchestration for immersive spatial audio reproduction (2018)
Journal Article
Francombe, J., Woodcock, J., Hughes, R., Mason, R., Franck, A., Pike, C., …Hilton, A. (2018). Qualitative evaluation of media device orchestration for immersive spatial audio reproduction. Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, 66(6), 414-429. https://doi.org/10.17743/jaes.2018.0027

The challenge of installing and setting up dedicated spatial audio systems can make it difficult to deliver immersive listening experiences to the general public. However, the proliferation of smart mobile devices and the rise of the Internet of Thin... Read More about Qualitative evaluation of media device orchestration for immersive spatial audio reproduction.

Speech-to-screen : spatial separation of dialogue from noise towards improved speech intelligibility for the small screen (2018)
Presentation / Conference
Demonte, P., Tang, Y., Hughes, R., Cox, T., Fazenda, B., & Shirley, B. (2018, May). Speech-to-screen : spatial separation of dialogue from noise towards improved speech intelligibility for the small screen. Presented at 144th International Pro Audio Convention (AES Milan 2018), Milan, Italy

Can externalizing dialogue when in the presence of stereo background noise improve speech intelligibility? This has been investigated for audio over headphones using head-tracking in order to explore potential future developments for small-screen dev... Read More about Speech-to-screen : spatial separation of dialogue from noise towards improved speech intelligibility for the small screen.

Elicitation of expert knowledge to inform object-based audio rendering to different systems (2018)
Journal Article
rendering to different systems. Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, 66(1/2), 44-59. https://doi.org/10.17743/jaes.2018.0001

Object-based audio presents the opportunity to optimise audio reproduction for different listening scenarios. Vector base amplitude panning (VBAP) is typically used to render object-based scenes. Optimizing this process based on knowledge of the perc... Read More about Elicitation of expert knowledge to inform object-based audio rendering to different systems.

Automatic speech-to-background ratio selection to maintain speech intelligibility in broadcasts using an objective intelligibility metric (2018)
Journal Article
Tang, Y., Fazenda, B., & Cox, T. (2018). Automatic speech-to-background ratio selection to maintain speech intelligibility in broadcasts using an objective intelligibility metric. Applied Sciences, 8(1), 59. https://doi.org/10.3390/app8010059

While mixing, sound producers and audio professionals empirically set the speech-to-background ratio (SBR) based on rules of thumb and their own perception of sounds. There is no guarantee that the speech content will be intelligible for the general... Read More about Automatic speech-to-background ratio selection to maintain speech intelligibility in broadcasts using an objective intelligibility metric.

An audio-visual system for object-based audio : from recording to listening (2018)
Journal Article
Coleman, P., Franck, A., Francombe, J., Liu, Q., de Campos, T., Hughes, R., …Hilton, A. (2018). An audio-visual system for object-based audio : from recording to listening. IEEE Transactions on Multimedia, 20(8), 1919-1931. https://doi.org/10.1109/TMM.2018.2794780

Object-based audio is an emerging representation for audio content, where content is represented in a reproduction format-agnostic way and, thus, produced once for consumption on many different kinds of devices. This affords new opportunities for im... Read More about An audio-visual system for object-based audio : from recording to listening.

A non-intrusive method for estimating binaural speech intelligibility from noise-corrupted signals captured by a pair of microphones (2017)
Journal Article
Tang, Y., Liu, Q., Wang, W., & Cox, T. (2018). A non-intrusive method for estimating binaural speech intelligibility from noise-corrupted signals captured by a pair of microphones. Speech Communication, 96, 116-128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.specom.2017.12.005

A non-intrusive method is introduced to predict binaural speech intelligibility in noise directly from signals captured using a pair of microphones. The approach combines signal processing techniques in blind source separation and localisation, with... Read More about A non-intrusive method for estimating binaural speech intelligibility from noise-corrupted signals captured by a pair of microphones.

A study on the relationship between the intelligibility and quality of algorithmically-modified speech for normal hearing listeners (2017)
Journal Article
Tang, Y., Arnold, C., & Cox, T. (2017). A study on the relationship between the intelligibility and quality of algorithmically-modified speech for normal hearing listeners. Journal of Otorhinolaryngology, Hearing and Balance Medicine, 1(1), https://doi.org/10.3390/ohbm1010005

This study investigates the relationship between the intelligibility and quality of modified speech in noise and in quiet. Speech signals were processed by seven algorithms designed to increase speech intelligibility in noise without altering speech... Read More about A study on the relationship between the intelligibility and quality of algorithmically-modified speech for normal hearing listeners.

An evidence-based soundscape taxonomy (2017)
Presentation / Conference
Bones, O., Cox, T., & Davies, W. (2017, July). An evidence-based soundscape taxonomy. Presented at 24th International Congress on Sound and Vibration ICSV24, London, UK

In an attempt to cultivate standardization in soundscape reporting Brown, Kang and Gjestland offered an influential schema by which the acoustic environment is divided initially into indoor and outdoor environments, and within each into further cate... Read More about An evidence-based soundscape taxonomy.

Metadiffusers : deep-subwavelength sound diffusers (2017)
Journal Article
Jiménez, N., Cox, T., Romero-García, V., & Groby, J. (2017). Metadiffusers : deep-subwavelength sound diffusers. Scientific reports, 7(1), 5389. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-05710-5

We present deep-subwavelength diffusing surfaces based on acoustic metamaterials, namely metadiffusers. These sound diffusers are rigidly backed slotted panels, with each slit being loaded by an array of Helmholtz resonators. Strong dispersion is pro... Read More about Metadiffusers : deep-subwavelength sound diffusers.

A user-centered taxonomy of factors contributing to the listener experience of reproduced audio (2017)
Journal Article
Woodcock, J., Davies, W., & Cox, T. (2017). A user-centered taxonomy of factors contributing to the listener experience of reproduced audio. ˜The œJournal of the Acoustical Society of America (Online), 141(5), 3464-3464. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4987193

The traditional paradigm for the assessment of audio quality is that of a listener positioned in the geometric center of a standardized loudspeaker setup, fully attending to the reproduced sound scene. However, this is not how listeners generally int... Read More about A user-centered taxonomy of factors contributing to the listener experience of reproduced audio.

Clang, chitter, crunch : perceptual organisation of onomatopoeia (2017)
Journal Article
Bones, O., Davies, W., & Cox, T. (2017). Clang, chitter, crunch : perceptual organisation of onomatopoeia. ˜The œJournal of the Acoustical Society of America (Online), 141(5), 3694-3694. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4988048

A method has been developed that utilizes a sound-sorting and labeling procedure, with correspondence analysis of participant-generated descriptive terms, to elicit perceptual categories of sound. Unlike many other methods for identifying perceptual... Read More about Clang, chitter, crunch : perceptual organisation of onomatopoeia.

Extended simulations of wind noise contamination of amplitude modulation ratings (2017)
Presentation / Conference
von Hünerbein, S., Kendrick, P., & Cox, T. (2017, May). Extended simulations of wind noise contamination of amplitude modulation ratings. Presented at Wind Turbine Noise 2017, Rotterdam, NL

Microphone wind noise can corrupt outdoor measurements and recordings and especially the rating of Amplitude Modulation (AM) depth. In a previous study simulations of synthesised wind turbine sounds in wind noise have shown that even at relatively lo... Read More about Extended simulations of wind noise contamination of amplitude modulation ratings.

A cognitive framework for the categorisation of auditory objects in urban soundscapes (2017)
Journal Article
Woodcock, J., Davies, W., & Cox, T. (2017). A cognitive framework for the categorisation of auditory objects in urban soundscapes. Applied Acoustics, 121, 56-64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apacoust.2017.01.027

Categorisation is a fundamental cognitive process that plays a central role in everyday behaviour and action. Whereas previous studies have investigated the categorisation of isolated everyday sounds, this paper presents an experiment to investiga... Read More about A cognitive framework for the categorisation of auditory objects in urban soundscapes.

Toward an evidence-based taxonomy of everyday sounds (2016)
Journal Article
Bones, O., Cox, T., & Davies, W. (2016). Toward an evidence-based taxonomy of everyday sounds. ˜The œJournal of the Acoustical Society of America (Online), 140(4), 3266-3266. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4970357

An organizing account of everyday sounds could greatly simplify the management of audio data. The job of an audio database manager will typically involve assigning a combination of textual descriptors, and perhaps allocating to a predefined category.... Read More about Toward an evidence-based taxonomy of everyday sounds.

A metric for predicting binaural speech intelligibility in stationary noise and competing speech maskers (2016)
Journal Article
Tang, Y., Cooke, M., Fazenda, B., & Cox, T. (2016). A metric for predicting binaural speech intelligibility in stationary noise and competing speech maskers. ˜The œJournal of the Acoustical Society of America (Online), 140(3), 1858-1870. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4962484

One criterion in the design of binaural sound scenes in audio production is the extent to which the intended speech message is correctly understood. Object-based audio broadcasting systems have permitted sound editors to gain more access to the metad... Read More about A metric for predicting binaural speech intelligibility in stationary noise and competing speech maskers.

Acoustic absorbers and diffusers : theory, design and application [third edition] (2016)
Book
Cox, T., & D'Antonio, P. (2016). Acoustic absorbers and diffusers : theory, design and application [third edition]. Boca Raton: CRC Press

This definitive guide covers the design and application of absorbers and diffusers in acoustics. Surface diffusion is a relatively young subject area, and diffuser design, application and characterisation are often not well understood. Although there... Read More about Acoustic absorbers and diffusers : theory, design and application [third edition].

The effect of microphone wind noise on the amplitude modulation of wind turbine noise and its mitigation (2016)
Journal Article
Kendrick, P., von Hünerbein, S., & Cox, T. (2016). The effect of microphone wind noise on the amplitude modulation of wind turbine noise and its mitigation. ˜The œJournal of the Acoustical Society of America (Online), 140(1), EL79. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4955010

Microphone wind noise can corrupt outdoor recordings even when wind shields are used. When monitoring wind turbine noise, microphone wind noise is almost inevitable because measurements cannot be made in still conditions. The effect of microphone win... Read More about The effect of microphone wind noise on the amplitude modulation of wind turbine noise and its mitigation.

Perception and automated assessment of audio quality in user generated content (2016)
Conference Proceeding
quality in user generated content. In Quality of Multimedia Experience (QoMEX), 2016 Eighth International Conference on 6-8 June 2016. https://doi.org/10.1109/QoMEX.2016.7498974

Technology to record sound, available in personal devices such as smartphones or video recording devices, is now ubiquitous. However, the production quality of the sound on this user-generated content is often very poor: distorted, noisy, with garble... Read More about Perception and automated assessment of audio quality in user generated content.

Categorization of broadcast audio objects in complex auditory scenes (2016)
Journal Article
Woodcock, J., Davies, W., Cox, T., & Melchior, F. (2016). Categorization of broadcast audio objects in complex auditory scenes. Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, 64(6), 380-394. https://doi.org/10.17743/jaes.2016.0007

This paper presents a series of experiments to determine a categorization framework for broadcast audio objects. Object-based audio is becoming an evermore important paradigm for the representation of complex sound scenes. However, there is a lack of... Read More about Categorization of broadcast audio objects in complex auditory scenes.

Evaluating a distortion-weighted glimpsing metric for predicting binaural speech intelligibility in rooms (2016)
Journal Article
Tang, Y., Hughes, R., Fazenda, B., & Cox, T. (2016). Evaluating a distortion-weighted glimpsing metric for predicting binaural speech intelligibility in rooms. Speech Communication, 82, 26-37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.specom.2016.04.003

A distortion-weighted glimpse proportion metric (BiDWGP) for predicting binaural speech intelligibility were evaluated in simulated anechoic and reverberant conditions, with and without a noise masker. The predictive performance of BiDWGP was compare... Read More about Evaluating a distortion-weighted glimpsing metric for predicting binaural speech intelligibility in rooms.

A look into cross-modal associations between taste, color and music (2016)
Journal Article
Chambers, P., Patera, M., & Cox, T. (2016). A look into cross-modal associations between taste, color and music. https://doi.org/10.23738/ccsj.i52016.06

This paper explores how color and sound can alter taste perception and in particular whether there are any cross-modal associations between these three stimuli. It questions how information from stimuli outside the realms of gastronomy is combined in... Read More about A look into cross-modal associations between taste, color and music.

Students’ perceptions of school acoustics and the impact of noise on teaching and learning in secondary schools : findings of a questionnaire survey (2015)
Journal Article
Connolly, D., Dockrell, J., Shield, B., Conetta, R., & Cox, T. (2015). Students’ perceptions of school acoustics and the impact of noise on teaching and learning in secondary schools : findings of a questionnaire survey. Energy Procedia, 78, 3114-3119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2015.11.766

This paper will present the design and findings of an online questionnaire survey of 11–16 year olds’ impressions of their school's acoustic environment, and of an experimental study into the effects of typical levels of classroom noise on adolescent... Read More about Students’ perceptions of school acoustics and the impact of noise on teaching and learning in secondary schools : findings of a questionnaire survey.

Microphone handling noise : measurements of perceptual threshold and effects on audio quality (2015)
Journal Article
Kendrick, P., Jackson, I., Fazenda, B., Cox, T., & Li, F. (2015). Microphone handling noise : measurements of perceptual threshold and effects on audio quality. PLoS ONE, 10(10), e0140256. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0140256

A psychoacoustic experiment was carried out to test the effects of microphone handling noise on perceived audio quality. Handling noise is a problem affecting both amateurs using their smartphones and cameras, as well as professionals using separate... Read More about Microphone handling noise : measurements of perceptual threshold and effects on audio quality.

Perceived audio quality of sounds degraded by non-linear distortions and single-ended assessment using HASQI (2015)
Journal Article
assessment using HASQI. Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, 63(9), 698-712. https://doi.org/10.17743/jaes.2015.0068

For field recordings and user generated content recorded on phones, tablets, and other mobile devices nonlinear distortions caused by clipping and limiting at pre-amplification stages, and dynamic range control (DRC) are common causes of poor audio... Read More about Perceived audio quality of sounds degraded by non-linear distortions and single-ended assessment using HASQI.

A glimpse-based approach for predicting binaural intelligibility with single and multiple maskers in anechoic conditions (2015)
Presentation / Conference
Tang, Y., Cooke, M., Fazenda, B., & Cox, T. (2015, September). A glimpse-based approach for predicting binaural intelligibility with single and multiple maskers in anechoic conditions. Presented at Interspeech 2015, Dresden, Germany

A distortion-weighted glimpsing metric developed for estimating monaural speech intelligibility is extended to predict binaural speech intelligibility in noise. Two aspects of binaural listen- ing, the better ear effect and the binaural advantage, ar... Read More about A glimpse-based approach for predicting binaural intelligibility with single and multiple maskers in anechoic conditions.

Fast time domain modeling of surface scattering from reflectors and diffusers (2015)
Journal Article
Cox, T. (2015). Fast time domain modeling of surface scattering from reflectors and diffusers. ˜The œJournal of the Acoustical Society of America (Online), 137(6), 483-489. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4921675

Time-domain prediction models have been developed for auditorium reflectors and room acoustic diffusers. The models are time-domain equivalents of the single-frequency formulations that exploit the Kirchhoff boundary conditions. Consequently, they a... Read More about Fast time domain modeling of surface scattering from reflectors and diffusers.

A record “longest echo” within the Inchindown oil despository (2015)
Journal Article
Cox, T., & Kilpatrick, A. (2015). A record “longest echo” within the Inchindown oil despository. ˜The œJournal of the Acoustical Society of America (Online), 137, 1602-1604. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4908218

In 2013, Guinness World Records awarded tank number 1 at the Inchindown oil despository, Ross-shire, Scotland, the record for the “longest echo” at 75 s. Guinness World Records calls it the longest echo because that was the name of the record that wa... Read More about A record “longest echo” within the Inchindown oil despository.

Microphone handling noise database (2015)
Dataset
Kendrick, P., Jackson, I., Fazenda, B., Cox, T., & Li, F. Microphone handling noise database. [Dataset]

Microphone handling noise can reduce the quality of audio recordings. A perceptual study into this effect has been carried out and the subjective response quantified. This database contains audio recordings of handling noises from 8 different micro... Read More about Microphone handling noise database.

A survey of acoustic conditions and noise levels in secondary school classrooms in England (2015)
Journal Article
Shield, B., Conetta, R., Dockrell, J., Connolly, D., Cox, T., & Mydlarz, C. (2015). A survey of acoustic conditions and noise levels in secondary school classrooms in England. ˜The œJournal of the Acoustical Society of America (Online), 137(1), 177-188. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4904528

An acoustic survey of secondary schools in England has been undertaken. Room acoustic parameters and background noise levels were measured in 185 unoccupied spaces in 13 schools to provide information on the typical acoustic environment of secondary... Read More about A survey of acoustic conditions and noise levels in secondary school classrooms in England.

A source separation evaluation method in object-based spatial audio (2015)
Book Chapter
Liu, Q., Wang, W., Jackson, P., & Cox, T. (2015). A source separation evaluation method in object-based spatial audio. In 2015 23rd European Signal Processing Conference (EUSIPCO) (1088-1092). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/EUSIPCO.2015.7362551

Representing a complex acoustic scene with audio objects is desirable but challenging in object-based spatial audio production and reproduction, especially when concurrent sound signals are present in the scene. Source separation (SS) provides a pote... Read More about A source separation evaluation method in object-based spatial audio.

Perception and automatic detection of wind-induced microphone noise (2014)
Journal Article
Jackson, I., Kendrick, P., Cox, T., Fazenda, B., & Li, F. (2014). Perception and automatic detection of wind-induced microphone noise. ˜The œJournal of the Acoustical Society of America (Online), 136(3), 1176-1186. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4892772

Wind can induce noise on microphones, causing problems for users of hearing aids and for those making recordings outdoors. Perceptual tests in the laboratory and via the Internet were carried out to understand what features of wind noise are importan... Read More about Perception and automatic detection of wind-induced microphone noise.

Automatic detection of microphone handling noise (2014)
Presentation / Conference
Kendrick, P., Cox, T., Li, F., Fazenda, B., & Jackson, I. (2014, May). Automatic detection of microphone handling noise. Presented at 4th International Workshop on Cognitive Information Processing, Copenhagen, Denmark

Microphone handling noise is a common problem with user generated content. It can occur when the operator inadvertently knocks or brushes a recording device. Handling noise may be impulsive, where a microphone is knocked, or a more sustained rubbi... Read More about Automatic detection of microphone handling noise.

Recent applications of number-theoretic sequences in audio and acoustics (2014)
Book Chapter
Xiang, N., Xie, B., & Cox, T. (2014). Recent applications of number-theoretic sequences in audio and acoustics. In Acoustics, Information, and Communication (93-111). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05660-9_6

Manfred R. Schroeder made influential contributions to acoustics by applying number theory. He introduced number-theory sequences in room impulse response measurements, applied number-theoretical sequences to shape wall surfaces for diffuse sound ref... Read More about Recent applications of number-theoretic sequences in audio and acoustics.

Comparison of environmental and acoustic factors in occupied school classrooms for 11e16 year old students (2013)
Journal Article
Mydlarz, C., Conetta, R., Connolly, D., Cox, T., Dockrell, D., & Shield, B. (2013). Comparison of environmental and acoustic factors in occupied school classrooms for 11e16 year old students. Building and Environment, 60, 265-271. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2012.10.020

This paper analyses and compares environmental and acoustic measurements taken from 12 contrasting schools in England. The 203 classrooms measured ranged in age, style (open plan, semi-open plan and cellular) and external noise levels. The occupied... Read More about Comparison of environmental and acoustic factors in occupied school classrooms for 11e16 year old students.

Blind estimation of reverberation time in classrooms and hospital wards (2012)
Journal Article
Kendrick, P., Shiers, N., Conetta, R., Cox, T., Shield, B., & Mydlarz, C. (2012). Blind estimation of reverberation time in classrooms and hospital wards. Applied Acoustics, 73(8), 770-780. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apacoust.2012.02.010

This paper investigates blind Reverberation Time (RT) estimation in occupied classrooms and hospital wards. Measurements are usually made while these spaces are unoccupied for logistical reasons. However, occupancy can have a significant impact on... Read More about Blind estimation of reverberation time in classrooms and hospital wards.

Low frequency sound propagation in activated carbon (2012)
Journal Article
Bechwati, F., Avis, M., Bull, D., Cox, T., Hargreaves, J., Moser, D., …Venegas, R. (2012). Low frequency sound propagation in activated carbon. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4725761

Activated carbon can adsorb and desorb gas molecules onto and off its surface. Research has examined whether this sorption affects low frequency sound waves, with pressures typical of audible sound, interacting with granular activated carbon. Imped... Read More about Low frequency sound propagation in activated carbon.

The role of smell in urban design (2011)
Thesis
Henshaw, V. The role of smell in urban design. (Thesis). University of Salford

The dominance of sight in built environmental design and management is well documented with smell overlooked by built environment professionals, considered of primarily negative influence upon experience and perception. However odour has special char... Read More about The role of smell in urban design.

How Science Works KS3 (2011)
Other
Cox, T. (2011). How Science Works KS3

CPD and curriculum resources for four videos in Youtube

How Science Works GCSE (2011)
Other
Cox, T. (2011). How Science Works GCSE

Classroom videos, CPD videos, CPD materials and curriculum resources to accompany four How Science Works videos in YouTube

Acoustic iridescence (2011)
Journal Article
Cox, T. (2011). Acoustic iridescence. ˜The œJournal of the Acoustical Society of America (Online), 129(3), 1165-1172. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.3531804

An investigation has been undertaken into acoustic iridescence, exploring how a device can be constructed which alter sound waves, in a similar way to structures in nature that act on light to produce optical iridescence. The main construction had ma... Read More about Acoustic iridescence.

Volumetric diffusers : pseudorandom cylinder arrays on a periodic lattice (2010)
Journal Article
Hughes, R., Angus, J., Cox, T., Umnova, O., Gehring, G., Pogson, M., & Whittaker, D. (2010). Volumetric diffusers : pseudorandom cylinder arrays on a periodic lattice. ˜The œJournal of the Acoustical Society of America (Online), 128(5), 2847-2856. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.3493455

Most conventional diffusers take the form of a surface based treatment, and as a result can only operate in hemispherical space. Placing a diffuser in the volume of a room might provide greater efficiency by allowing scattering into the whole space.... Read More about Volumetric diffusers : pseudorandom cylinder arrays on a periodic lattice.

Coupling of a time domain boundary element method to compliant surface models (2010)
Presentation / Conference
Hargreaves, J., & Cox, T. (2010, September). Coupling of a time domain boundary element method to compliant surface models. Presented at EAA Euroregio Conference, Ljubljana

The Boundary Element Method (BEM) can be used to predict the scattering of sound in rooms. It reduces the problem of modelling the volume of air to one involving only the surfaces; hence the number of unknowns scales more favourably with problem size... Read More about Coupling of a time domain boundary element method to compliant surface models.

Diffusive benefits of cylinders in front of a Schroeder diffuser (2010)
Journal Article
Pogson, M., Whittaker, D., Gehring, G., Cox, T., Hughes, R., & Angus, J. (2010). Diffusive benefits of cylinders in front of a Schroeder diffuser. ˜The œJournal of the Acoustical Society of America (Online), 128(3), 1149-1154. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.3463817

A numerical investigation is performed into the diffusive effects of cylinders positioned in front of a Schroeder diffuser. A regular line of cylinders is shown to offer notable improvements to diffusion from a periodic Schroeder device, provided lat... Read More about Diffusive benefits of cylinders in front of a Schroeder diffuser.

Multiple scattering between cylinders and a schroeder diffuser (2010)
Journal Article
Pogson, M., Whittaker, D., Gehring, G., Hughes, R., Angus, J., & Cox, T. (2010). Multiple scattering between cylinders and a schroeder diffuser. Acta acustica united with Acustica, 96(2), 292-299. https://doi.org/10.3813/AAA.918278

A multiple scattering method is developed to model an array of N cylinders positioned in front of a Schroeder diffuser. Results are compared against the more computationally intensive boundary element method, as well as existing multiple scattering m... Read More about Multiple scattering between cylinders and a schroeder diffuser.

A transient boundary element method for acoustic scattering from mixed regular and thin rigid bodies (2009)
Journal Article
Hargreaves, J., & Cox, T. (2009). A transient boundary element method for acoustic scattering from mixed regular and thin rigid bodies. Acta acustica united with Acustica, 95(4), 678-689. https://doi.org/10.3813/AAA.918196

Boundary Element Methods (BEMs) may be used to predict the scattering of sound by obstacles, which has accelerated the prototyping of new room acoustic treatments such as diffusers. Unlike the more popular frequency domain method, the time domain BE... Read More about A transient boundary element method for acoustic scattering from mixed regular and thin rigid bodies.

Blind estimation of room acoustic parameters from speech and music signals (2009)
Thesis
Kendrick, P. Blind estimation of room acoustic parameters from speech and music signals. (Thesis). University of Salford

The acoustic character of a space is often quantified using objective room acoustic parameters. The measurement of these parameters is difficult in occupied conditions and thus measurements are usually performed when the space is un-occupied. This is... Read More about Blind estimation of room acoustic parameters from speech and music signals.

Acoustic absorbers and diffusers: theory, design and application (2009)
Book
Cox, T., & D'Antonio, P. (2009). Acoustic absorbers and diffusers: theory, design and application. Routledge Taylor & Francis

Absorbers and diffusers are two of the main design tools for altering the acoustic conditions of rooms, semi-enclosed spaces and the outdoor environment. Their correct use is important for delivering high quality acoustics. Unique and authorit... Read More about Acoustic absorbers and diffusers: theory, design and application.

A transient boundary element method model of Schroeder diffuser scattering using well mouth impedance (2008)
Journal Article
Hargreaves, J., & Cox, T. (2008). A transient boundary element method model of Schroeder diffuser scattering using well mouth impedance. ˜The œJournal of the Acoustical Society of America (Online), 124(5), 2942-2951. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.2982420

Room acoustic diffusers can be used to treat critical listening environments to improve sound quality. One popular class is Schroeder diffusers, which comprise wells of varying depth separated by thin fins. This paper concerns a new approach to ena... Read More about A transient boundary element method model of Schroeder diffuser scattering using well mouth impedance.

Monaural room acoustic parameters from music and speech (2008)
Journal Article
Kendrick, P., Cox, T., Li, F., Zhang, Y., & Chambers, J. (2008). Monaural room acoustic parameters from music and speech. ˜The œJournal of the Acoustical Society of America (Online), 124(1), 278-287. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.2931960

This paper compares two methods for extracting room acoustic parameters from reverberated speech and music. An approach which uses statistical machine learning, previously developed for speech, is extended to work with music. For speech, reverberatio... Read More about Monaural room acoustic parameters from music and speech.

Internet and mobile technologies for a public role in noise surveying (2008)
Presentation / Conference
Mydlarz, C., Drumm, I., & Cox, T. (2008, June). Internet and mobile technologies for a public role in noise surveying. Poster presented at Paris ASA Conference, Paris, France

The traditional method of noise surveying is to use trained professionals to go to a specific site to measure and assess noise levels using dedicated and expensive equipment. This project aims to enfranchise the public by providing them with the oppo... Read More about Internet and mobile technologies for a public role in noise surveying.

Involving the public in noise surveys via mobile technology (2008)
Presentation / Conference
Mydlarz, C., Drumm, I., & Cox, T. (2008, April). Involving the public in noise surveys via mobile technology. Presented at IOA Spring Conference 2008, Reading, UK

The IMPRINtS project (Internet and Mobile technologies for a Public Role In Noise Surveying) aims to enable and encourage public participation in a large-scale environmental noise survey. The primary objective of this work is to raise public awarenes... Read More about Involving the public in noise surveys via mobile technology.

Lüke and power residue sequence diffusers (2008)
Journal Article
Dadiotis, K., Angus, J., & Cox, T. (2008). Lüke and power residue sequence diffusers. ˜The œJournal of the Acoustical Society of America (Online), 123(4), 2035-2042. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.2885761

Conventional Schroeder diffusers have been successfully used for many years. However, their frequency range is limited by the flat plate effect that occurs when all the wells radiate in phase. This occurs at harmonics of p times the design frequency... Read More about Lüke and power residue sequence diffusers.

A combined blind source separation and adaptive noise cancellation scheme with potential application in blind acoustic parameter extraction (2008)
Journal Article
Zhang, Y., Chambers, J., Kendrick, P., Cox, T., & Li, F. (2008). A combined blind source separation and adaptive noise cancellation scheme with potential application in blind acoustic parameter extraction. Neurocomputing, 71(10-12), 2127-2139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neucom.2007.09.019

Room acoustic parameters such as reverberation time (RT) can be extracted from passively received speech signals by certain ‘blind’ methods, thereby mitigating the need for good controlled excitation signals or prior information of the room geometry.... Read More about A combined blind source separation and adaptive noise cancellation scheme with potential application in blind acoustic parameter extraction.

The photo‐survey research method : capturing life in the city (2008)
Journal Article
Moore, G., Croxford, B., Adams, M., Refaee, M., Cox, T., & Sharples, S. (2008). The photo‐survey research method : capturing life in the city. Visual Studies, 23(1), 50-62. https://doi.org/10.1080/14725860801908536

Recent promotion of city centre living within UK policy has led to a commensurate interest in city centre conditions and the opinions and experiences of the people who live there. An apposite, straightforward method to capture city centre residents'... Read More about The photo‐survey research method : capturing life in the city.

Acoustics of activated carbon (2008)
Thesis
Bechwati, F. Acoustics of activated carbon. (Thesis). Salford : University of Salford

This thesis describes a study into how sound interacts with activated carbon, a material that exhibits adsorbing and desorbing properties. Adsorption is where molecules from the surrounding gas are attracted to the material microstructure and hel... Read More about Acoustics of activated carbon.

A time domain boundary element method for compliant surfaces (2008)
Presentation / Conference
Hargreaves, J., & Cox, T. (2008, January). A time domain boundary element method for compliant surfaces. Presented at EURONOISE, the 155th ASA Meeting, and the 9th Congrès Français d'Acoustique, Paris, France

The best way of representing compliant surfaces in time domain prediction models, such as the transient Boundary Element Method (BEM), is currently unresolved. This is not true of frequency-domain, time-invariant models, where the common practice is... Read More about A time domain boundary element method for compliant surfaces.

A stable time domain BEM for diffuser scattering (2007)
Presentation / Conference
Hargreaves, J., & Cox, T. (2007, September). A stable time domain BEM for diffuser scattering. Presented at 19th International Congress on Acoustics, Madrid

Boundary Element Methods (BEMs) may be used to model scattering of sound by surfaces such as diffusers, accelerating prototyping of new Room Acoustics treatments. Unlike the more widely used frequency domain method, the time domain BEM is usually sol... Read More about A stable time domain BEM for diffuser scattering.

Blind estimation of reverberation parameters for non-diffuse rooms (2007)
Journal Article
Kendrick, P., Li, F., Cox, T., Zhang, Y., & Chambers, J. (2007). Blind estimation of reverberation parameters for non-diffuse rooms. Acta acustica united with Acustica, 93(5), 760-770

Reverberation time is an important objective parameter for the acoustics of enclosed spaces. Blind estimation of the reverberation time from naturally occurring sound sources alleviates the logistical constraints of traditional measurement methods, a... Read More about Blind estimation of reverberation parameters for non-diffuse rooms.

The 24-hour city : residents' sensorial experiences (2007)
Journal Article
Adams, M., Moore, G., Cox, T., Croxford, B., Refaee, M., & Sharples, S. (2007). The 24-hour city : residents' sensorial experiences. https://doi.org/10.2752/174589307X203092

The concept of the 24-hour city evokes vibrancy and a dynamic that suggests the harmonious coexistence of mixed land uses which might otherwise be considered improbable neighbors. In reality we see a 24-hour city full of diverse uses, needs and requi... Read More about The 24-hour city : residents' sensorial experiences.

The effect of visual stimuli on the horribleness of awful sounds. (2007)
Journal Article
Cox, T. (2007). The effect of visual stimuli on the horribleness of awful sounds. Applied Acoustics, 69(8), 691-703. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apacoust.2007.02.010

A mass web-based experiment has been carried out to explore people’s perception of horrible sounds. The advantage of a web-based methodology is that it enables hundreds of thousands of judgements to be obtained over a diverse population. As part of t... Read More about The effect of visual stimuli on the horribleness of awful sounds..

Passive tuned loudspeakers as absorbers for room acoustics (2007)
Book Chapter
Oldfield, R., & Cox, T. (2007). Passive tuned loudspeakers as absorbers for room acoustics. In A. Calvo-Manzano, A. Pérez-López, & S. Santiago (Eds.), 19th International Congress on Acoustics : acoustics for the 21st century : Madrid, Spain, 2-7 September 2007. Madrid, Spain: Spanish Acoustical Society

This paper presents a novel approach to improving the performance, tunability and efficiency of low frequency membrane absorbers. It is shown that a passive loudspeaker within a cabinet can be used as an efficient and adaptable membrane absorber, wit... Read More about Passive tuned loudspeakers as absorbers for room acoustics.

A neural network model for speech intelligibility quantification (2007)
Journal Article
Li, F., & Cox, T. (2007). A neural network model for speech intelligibility quantification. Applied Soft Computing, 7(1), 145-155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asoc.2005.05.002

A neural network based model is developed to quantify speech intelligibility by blind-estimating speech transmission index, an objective rating index for speech intelligibility of transmission channels, from transmitted speech signals without resort... Read More about A neural network model for speech intelligibility quantification.

Sustainable soundscapes : noise policy and the urban experience (2006)
Journal Article
Adams, M., Cox, T., Moore, G., Croxford, B., & Refaee, M. (2006). Sustainable soundscapes : noise policy and the urban experience. Urban Studies, 43(13), 2385-2398. https://doi.org/10.1080/00420980600972504

This paper introduces regulatory components influencing city soundscapes in Europe and the UK, illustrating the abatement approach taken within noise policy, demonstrating the importance of individual experience in assessing the soundscapes of urban... Read More about Sustainable soundscapes : noise policy and the urban experience.

Improved membrane absorbers (2006)
Thesis
Oldfield, R. Improved membrane absorbers. (Dissertation). The University of Salford

This thesis presents research into two novel techniques for improving the low frequency performance, tunability and efficiency of membrane absorbers. The first approach uses a loudspeaker surround as the mounting for the membrane, increasing the movi... Read More about Improved membrane absorbers.

Maximum length sequence and Bessel diffusers using active technologies (2006)
Journal Article
Cox, T., Avis, M., & Xiao, L. (2006). Maximum length sequence and Bessel diffusers using active technologies. Journal of Sound and Vibration, 289(4-5), 807-829. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsv.2005.02.019

Active technologies can enable room acoustic diffusers to operate over a wider bandwidth than passive devices, by extending the bass response. Active impedance control can be used to generate surface impedance distributions which cause wavefront disp... Read More about Maximum length sequence and Bessel diffusers using active technologies.

Room acoustic parameter extraction from music signals (2006)
Journal Article
Kendrick, P., Cox, T., Zhang, Y., Chambers, J., & Li, F. (2006). Room acoustic parameter extraction from music signals. Proceedings of the ... IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, 5, V-801. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICASSP.2006.1661397

A new method, employing machine learning techniques and a modified low frequency envelope spectrum estimator, for estimating important room acoustic parameters including reverberation time (RT) and early decay time (EDT) from received music signals h... Read More about Room acoustic parameter extraction from music signals.

A profiled structure with improved low frequency absorption. (2006)
Journal Article
Wu, T., Cox, T., & Lam, Y. (2006). A profiled structure with improved low frequency absorption. ˜The œJournal of the Acoustical Society of America (Online), 110(6), 3064-3070. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.1412443

It is possible to obtain good absorption from Schroeder diffusers if suitable alterations to the design are made. Interestingly, previous work has shown that good absorption appears possible below the design frequency when the diffusers are poorly co... Read More about A profiled structure with improved low frequency absorption..

Ternary and quadriphase sequence diffusers (2006)
Journal Article
Angus, J., Cox, T., & D'Antonio, P. (2006). Ternary and quadriphase sequence diffusers. ˜The œJournal of the Acoustical Society of America (Online), 119(1), 310-319. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.2139632

A room acoustic diffuser breaks up reflected wavefronts, and this can be achieved by presenting a spatially varying surface impedance. In hybrid surfaces, varying impedance is achieved by patches of absorption and reflection, giving reflection coeffi... Read More about Ternary and quadriphase sequence diffusers.

Stability and sensitivity analyses for diffusers with single and multiple active elements (2005)
Journal Article
Avis, M., Xiao, L., & Cox, T. (2005). Stability and sensitivity analyses for diffusers with single and multiple active elements. Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, 53(11), 1047-1060

In comparison to active absorbers, active diffusers have more complicated target impedance functions, a smaller region of stable control, and are more sensitive to control impedance errors. The issues of stability and sensitivity are analyzed theoret... Read More about Stability and sensitivity analyses for diffusers with single and multiple active elements.

A stable transient BEM for diffuser scattering (2005)
Presentation / Conference
Hargreaves, J., & Cox, T. (2005, October). A stable transient BEM for diffuser scattering. Presented at 150th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, Minneapolis

Boundary Element Methods (BEM) may be used to model scattering from hard rigid surfaces such as diffusers. They have the advantage over volumetric methods that only the surface need be meshed and the surface velocity potential found. Unlike the mor... Read More about A stable transient BEM for diffuser scattering.

Active diffusers : some prototypes and 2D measurements (2005)
Journal Article
Xiao, L., Cox, T., & Avis, M. (2005). Active diffusers : some prototypes and 2D measurements. Journal of Sound and Vibration, 285(1-2), 321-339. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsv.2004.08.031

Diffusing devices are used to improve room acoustics in a wide variety of applications. The dispersion generated by current diffuser technologies is often limited to mid-to-high frequencies because low-frequency diffusers are usually too large to be... Read More about Active diffusers : some prototypes and 2D measurements.

Room sizing and optimization at low frequencies (2004)
Journal Article
Cox, T., D'Antonio, P., & Avis, M. (2004). Room sizing and optimization at low frequencies. Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, 52(6), 640-651

Modes in small rooms may lead to uneven frequency responses and extended sound decays at low frequencies. In critical listening environments, this often causes unwanted coloration effects, which can be detrimental to the sound quality. Choosing an ap... Read More about Room sizing and optimization at low frequencies.

Improving the bass response of Schroeder diffusers (2003)
Presentation / Conference
Hargreaves, J., & Cox, T. (2003, November). Improving the bass response of Schroeder diffusers. Presented at IOA Soundbite, Oxford

Room acoustic diffusers can be used to treat the acoustics of critical listening environments. A Schroeder diffuser is a popular type of diffuser which has the property of producing grating lobes of similar energy at most integer multiples of the des... Read More about Improving the bass response of Schroeder diffusers.

A neural network for blind identification of speech transmission index (2003)
Journal Article
Li, F., & Cox, T. (2003). A neural network for blind identification of speech transmission index. Proceedings of the ... IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, 2, II-757. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICASSP.2003.1202477

A hybrid neural network model is proposed to determine the speech transmission index of a transmission channel from transmitted speech signals without resort to prior knowledge of original speech. It comprises a Hilbert transform pre-processor, a PCA... Read More about A neural network for blind identification of speech transmission index.

Speech Transmission Index from running speech : a neural network approach (2003)
Journal Article
Li, F., & Cox, T. (2003). Speech Transmission Index from running speech : a neural network approach. ˜The œJournal of the Acoustical Society of America (Online), 113(4), 1999-2008. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.1558373

Speech Transmission Index (STI) is an important objective parameter concerning speech intelligibility for sound transmission channels. It is normally measured with specific test signals to ensure high accuracy and good repeatability. Measurement with... Read More about Speech Transmission Index from running speech : a neural network approach.

Extracting room reverberation time from speech using artificial neural networks (2001)
Journal Article
Cox, T., Li, F., & Darlington, P. (2001). Extracting room reverberation time from speech using artificial neural networks. Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, 49(4), 219-230

A novel method to extract the reverberation time from reverberated speech utterances is presented. In this study, speech utterances are restricted to pronounced digits; uncontrolled discourse is not considered. The reverberation times considered are... Read More about Extracting room reverberation time from speech using artificial neural networks.

Hearing loss in the built environment : the experience of elderly people (2001)
Journal Article
Davies, W., Cox, T., Kearon, A., Longhurst, B., & Webb, C. (2001). Hearing loss in the built environment : the experience of elderly people. Acta acustica united with Acustica, 87(5), 610-616

A qualitative social survey has been conducted on a group of 207 elderly people with a hearing loss. The aim of the study was to determine the extent to which acoustic problems in the built environment affect this subject group. The project was thoug... Read More about Hearing loss in the built environment : the experience of elderly people.

Response to "comment on 'reducing seat dip attenuation'" J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 110, 1260 (2001) (2001)
Journal Article
Davies, W., & Cox, T. (2001). Response to "comment on 'reducing seat dip attenuation'" J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 110, 1260 (2001). ˜The œJournal of the Acoustical Society of America (Online), 110(3), 1261-1262

This letter responds to Klepper's comments [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 110, 1260 (2001)] on the subject paper, which is concerned with ameliorating seat dip attenuation in auditoria by introducing a pit under the seats. Klepper asks what the effect of the p... Read More about Response to "comment on 'reducing seat dip attenuation'" J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 110, 1260 (2001).

From a profiled diffuser to an optimized absorber (2000)
Journal Article
Wu, T., Cox, T., & Lam, Y. (2000). From a profiled diffuser to an optimized absorber. ˜The œJournal of the Acoustical Society of America (Online), 108(2), 643-650. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.429596

The quadratic residue diffuser was originally designed for enhanced scattering. Subsequently, however, it has been found that these diffusers can also be designed to produce exceptional absorption. This paper looks into the absorption mechanism of th... Read More about From a profiled diffuser to an optimized absorber.

Surface diffusion coefficients for room acoustics : free-field measures (2000)
Journal Article
Hargreaves, T., Cox, T., Lam, Y., & D'Antonio, P. (2000). Surface diffusion coefficients for room acoustics : free-field measures. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.1310192

A surface diffusion coefficient is needed in room acoustics to enable the quality of diffusing surfaces to be evaluated. It may also facilitate more accurate geometric room acoustic models. This paper concentrates on diffusion coefficients derived fr... Read More about Surface diffusion coefficients for room acoustics : free-field measures.

Reducing seat dip attenuation (2000)
Journal Article
Davies, W., & Cox, T. (2000). Reducing seat dip attenuation. ˜The œJournal of the Acoustical Society of America (Online), 108(5), 2211-2218

Strategies fur reducing seat dip attenuation in concert halls are considered. It is shown that the dip is established 4 ms after the direct sound from the stage arrives at the listener. Sound scattered from the seats and floor is the main cause of th... Read More about Reducing seat dip attenuation.

Subjective perception of seat dip attenuation (1996)
Journal Article
Davies, W., Cox, T., & Lam, Y. (1996). Subjective perception of seat dip attenuation. Acta acustica united with Acustica, 82(5), 784-792

An investigation has been conducted into the subjective perception of the seat dip effect (a low-frequency attenuation affecting sound travelling at grazing incidence over seating). In a realistic simulation of a concert hall sound field, the thresho... Read More about Subjective perception of seat dip attenuation.

The optimization of profiled diffusers (1995)
Journal Article
Cox, T. (1995). The optimization of profiled diffusers. ˜The œJournal of the Acoustical Society of America (Online), 97(5), 2928-2936. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.412972

Methods have been developed to produce profiled diffusers that create a large amount of diffusion. The methods are iterative and required the development of a new parameter to measure diffusion. Achieving scattering independent of angle has been atte... Read More about The optimization of profiled diffusers.

The sensitivity of listeners to early sound field changes in auditoriums (1993)
Journal Article
Cox, T., Davies, W., & Lam, Y. (1993). The sensitivity of listeners to early sound field changes in auditoriums. Acta acustica united with Acustica, 79(1), 27-41

The sensitivity of listeners to small changes in the early sound field of auditoria has been measured. This was done using a realistic artificial simulation system of a concert ball sound field. The simulation system was designed so that standard obj... Read More about The sensitivity of listeners to early sound field changes in auditoriums.

Objective and subjective evaluation of reflecting and diffusing surfaces in auditoria (1992)
Thesis
Cox, T. Objective and subjective evaluation of reflecting and diffusing surfaces in auditoria. (Thesis). University of Salford

The performance of reflectors and diffusers used in auditoria have been evaluated both objectively and subjectively. Two accurate systems have been developed to measure the scattering from surfaces via the cross correlation function. These have be... Read More about Objective and subjective evaluation of reflecting and diffusing surfaces in auditoria.

Acoustic room modelling using a spherical camera for reverberant spatial audio objects
Presentation / Conference
Hansung, K., Hughes, R., Remaggi, L., Jackson, P., Hilton, A., Cox, T., & Shirley, B. Acoustic room modelling using a spherical camera for reverberant spatial audio objects. Poster presented at 142nd AES Convention, Berlin, Germany

The ability to predict the acoustics of a room without acoustical measurements is a useful capability. The motivation here stems from spatial audio reproduction, where knowledge of the acoustics of a space could allow for more accurate reproduction o... Read More about Acoustic room modelling using a spherical camera for reverberant spatial audio objects.

Continuous evaluative and pupil dilation response to soundscapes
Presentation / Conference
Graetzer, S., Landowska, A., Harris, L., Cox, T., & Davies, W. Continuous evaluative and pupil dilation response to soundscapes. Presented at e-Forum Acusticum 2020, Online

We investigated human response to soundscapes using a continuous second-by-second rating of soundscapes and a more conventional overall rating of each sample at the end of each audition. In this work, our primary aim was to explore what continuous ra... Read More about Continuous evaluative and pupil dilation response to soundscapes.

The effects of centrifugal blowers, control valves, attenuating devices and reservoir resonance on organ pipe flutter
Thesis
Taylor, A. (in press). The effects of centrifugal blowers, control valves, attenuating devices and reservoir resonance on organ pipe flutter. (Thesis). Computing,Science and Engineering

The aim of this research is to investigate the noticeable organ pipe flutter that may, under certain conditions, exist on a sounding organ pipe. The effectiveness of a pipe organ wind system is notoriously difficult to predict. For many years pipe or... Read More about The effects of centrifugal blowers, control valves, attenuating devices and reservoir resonance on organ pipe flutter.

Automatic detection of microphone wind noise : maximising accuracy of amplitude modulation ratings
Presentation / Conference
von Hünerbein, S., Cox, T., Kendrick, P., & Bradley, S. Automatic detection of microphone wind noise : maximising accuracy of amplitude modulation ratings. Presented at Wind Turbine Sound 2016, Gdansk, Poland

Microphone wind noise can corrupt outdoor measurements and recordings. It is a particular problem for wind turbine measurements because these cannot be carried out when the wind speed is low. Wind shields can be used, but often the sound level from t... Read More about Automatic detection of microphone wind noise : maximising accuracy of amplitude modulation ratings.

Using blind signal processing algorithms to remove wind noise from environmental noise assessments : a wind turbine amplitude modulation case study
Journal Article
Kendrick, P., von Hünerbein, S., & Cox, T. Using blind signal processing algorithms to remove wind noise from environmental noise assessments : a wind turbine amplitude modulation case study. ˜The œJournal of the Acoustical Society of America (Online), 138(3), 1731-1732. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4933451

Microphone wind noise can corrupt outdoor measurements and recordings. It is a particular problem for wind turbine measurements because these cannot be carried out when the wind speed is low. Wind shields can be used, but often the sound level from... Read More about Using blind signal processing algorithms to remove wind noise from environmental noise assessments : a wind turbine amplitude modulation case study.

Distortion and clipping in audio, automatic detection and metering
Dataset
Kendrick, P., Jackson, I., Li, F., Cox, T., & Fazenda, B. (2015). Distortion and clipping in audio, automatic detection and metering. [Dataset]

For field recordings and user generated content recorded on phones, tablets and other mobile devices, nonlinear distortions caused by clipping and limiting at pre-amplification stages and dynamic range control (DRC), are common causes of poor audio q... Read More about Distortion and clipping in audio, automatic detection and metering.

The sound book: The science of the sonic wonders of the world
Book
Cox, T. The sound book: The science of the sonic wonders of the world. London: W. W. Norton & Company

Trevor Cox is on a hunt for the sonic wonders of the world. A renowned expert who engineers classrooms and concert halls, Cox has made a career of eradicating bizarre and unwanted sounds. But after an epiphany in the London sewers, Cox now revels in... Read More about The sound book: The science of the sonic wonders of the world.

Towards room acoustics for an elderly population
Presentation / Conference
Davies, W., Cox, T., Kearon, A., Longhurst, B., & Webb, C. Towards room acoustics for an elderly population. Presented at Acoustics 2000, Liverpool

A qualitative social survey has been conducted on a group of 207 elderly people with a hearing loss. The aim of the study was to determine the extent to which acoustic problems in the built environment affect this subject group. The project was th... Read More about Towards room acoustics for an elderly population.

Machine learning challenges to revolutionise hearing device processing
Presentation / Conference
Graetzer, S., Cox, T., Barker, J., Akeroyd, M., Culling, J., & Naylor, G. Machine learning challenges to revolutionise hearing device processing. Poster presented at Speech in Noise (SPiN) 2020, Toulouse, France

In this project, we will run a series of machine learning challenges to revolutionise speech processing for hearing devices. Over five years, there will be three paired challenges. Each pair will consist of a challenge focussed on hearing-device proc... Read More about Machine learning challenges to revolutionise hearing device processing.

Clarity : machine learning challenges to revolutionise hearing device processing
Presentation / Conference
Graetzer, S., Akeroyd, M., Barker, J., Cox, T., Culling, J., Naylor, G., …Viveros Munoz, R. Clarity : machine learning challenges to revolutionise hearing device processing. Presented at e-Forum Acusticum 2020, Online

In the Clarity project, we will run a series of machine learning challenges to revolutionise speech processing for hearing devices. Over five years, there will be three paired challenges. Each pair will consist of a competition focussed on hearing-de... Read More about Clarity : machine learning challenges to revolutionise hearing device processing.

Dual frequency band amplitude panning for multichannel audio systems
Presentation / Conference
Hughes, R., Franck, A., Cox, T., Shirley, B., & Fazi, F. Dual frequency band amplitude panning for multichannel audio systems. Presented at 2018 AES International Conference on Spatial Reproduction - Aesthetics and Science, Tokyo, Japan

Panning laws for multi-loudspeaker setups, for example vector base amplitude panning, are typically derived based on either low or high frequency assumptions. It is well known, however, that auditory cues for both localization and loudness differ at... Read More about Dual frequency band amplitude panning for multichannel audio systems.

The room-in-room effect and its influence on perceived room size in spatial audio reproduction
Presentation / Conference
Hughes, R., Cox, T., Shirley, B., & Power, P. The room-in-room effect and its influence on perceived room size in spatial audio reproduction. Presented at 141st Convention of the Audio Engineering Society, Los Angeles, USA

In spatial audio it can be desirable to give the impression of a target space (e.g. a church). Often the reproduction environment is assumed acoustically dead; in practice most listening spaces (e.g. domestic living rooms) introduce significant refle... Read More about The room-in-room effect and its influence on perceived room size in spatial audio reproduction.

Measuring a portable audio device’s response to excessive sound levels
Report
Kendrick, P., Cox, T., Fazenda, B., & Jackson, I. Measuring a portable audio device’s response to excessive sound levels

This is a report detailing how a series of measurements were carried out to quantify the non-linear performance of a series of portable audio recorders. The performance of a series of common devices is quantified including the; Cannon 550D, Edirol r... Read More about Measuring a portable audio device’s response to excessive sound levels.

The 2nd Clarity Enhancement Challenge for Hearing Aid Speech Intelligibility Enhancement: Overview and Outcomes
Conference Proceeding
Akeroyd, M. A., Bailey, W., Barker, J., Cox, T. J., Culling, J. F., Graetzer, S., …Tu, Z. (2023). The 2nd Clarity Enhancement Challenge for Hearing Aid Speech Intelligibility Enhancement: Overview and Outcomes. . https://doi.org/10.1109/icassp49357.2023.10094918

This paper reports on the design and outcomes of the 2nd Clarity Enhancement Challenge (CEC2), a challenge for stimulating novel approaches to hearing-aid speech intelligibility enhancement. The challenge was for a listener attending to a target spea... Read More about The 2nd Clarity Enhancement Challenge for Hearing Aid Speech Intelligibility Enhancement: Overview and Outcomes.