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Prof Bill Davies' Outputs (93)

Cognition of soundscapes and other complex acoustic scenes (2015)
Presentation / Conference
Davies, W. (2015, August). Cognition of soundscapes and other complex acoustic scenes. Presented at Internoise 2015, San Francisco

The fields of soundscapes, music cognition and audio quality have many similarities. Researchers in these areas are all dealing with perception and cognition of complex acoustic scenes. To date, there has been little cross-fertilisation between them.... Read More about Cognition of soundscapes and other complex acoustic scenes.

Investigation into the impact of 3D surround systems on envelopment (2014)
Presentation / Conference
Power, P., Davies, W., & Hirst, J. (2014, October). Investigation into the impact of 3D surround systems on envelopment. Presented at 137th Audio Engineering Society Convention 2014, Los Angeles

This investigation assessed a number of 2D and 3D surround systems focusing on the attribute „envelopment‟ to determine if surround systems with height significantly enhance the perception of envelopment over current 2D systems. To assess each of the... Read More about Investigation into the impact of 3D surround systems on envelopment.

The effects of expectation on the perception of soundscapes (2014)
Journal Article
Bruce, N., & Davies, W. (2014). The effects of expectation on the perception of soundscapes. Applied Acoustics, 85, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apacoust.2014.03.016

This paper explores how expectations of a place and its soundscape can affect our perception of that soundscape. Previous soundscape research has included expectation as one possible element of the context in which soundscape evaluation takes place.... Read More about The effects of expectation on the perception of soundscapes.

Soundscape reproduction and synthesis (2014)
Journal Article
Davies, W., Bruce, N., & Murphy, J. (2014). Soundscape reproduction and synthesis. Acta acustica united with Acustica, 100(2), 285-292. https://doi.org/10.3813/AAA.918708

The aims of this work were to investigate (i) whether soundscape perceptual dimensions are correctly reproduced by ambisonic loudspeaker playback, (ii) whether soundscape dimensional analysis is robust to changes of location and from the field to lab... Read More about Soundscape reproduction and synthesis.

Investigation into the impact of 3D surround systems on spatial audio quality (2013)
Presentation / Conference
Power, P., Davies, W., Hirst, J., & Dunn, C. (2013, November). Investigation into the impact of 3D surround systems on spatial audio quality. Presented at Reproduced Sound, Manchester

Current 2D surround systems have benefitted from years of research which has helped identify attributes related to listener preference. Now with high definition visuals, 3D cinema, there is a need to further develop spatial audio systems. One method... Read More about Investigation into the impact of 3D surround systems on spatial audio quality.

Localisation of elevated virtual sources in higher order ambisonic sound fields (2012)
Presentation / Conference
Power, P., Davies, W., Hirst, J., & Dunn, C. (2012, November). Localisation of elevated virtual sources in higher order ambisonic sound fields. Presented at Reproduced Sound, Brighton

Ambisonics allows the reproduction of 3D sound-fields. Higher-order Ambisonics provides improved resolution, and the promise of enhanced localisation at the expense of higher channel counts, and increased broadcast bandwidth, and storage requirements... Read More about Localisation of elevated virtual sources in higher order ambisonic sound fields.

Reproducibility of soundscape dimensions (2012)
Presentation / Conference
Davies, W., & Murphy, J. (2012, August). Reproducibility of soundscape dimensions. Presented at Internoise 2012, New York

The aim of this work was to investigate the validity of laboratory soundscape reproduction and the robustness of soundscape dimensional analysis. The soundscapes in four urban locations in Manchester (UK) were recorded with a soundfield microphone. T... Read More about Reproducibility of soundscape dimensions.

A listener-centred approach to soundscape evaluation (2012)
Presentation / Conference
Foale, K., & Davies, W. (2012, April). A listener-centred approach to soundscape evaluation. Presented at Acoustics 2012, Nantes

I am conducting a Grounded Theory study into measuring opinions of urban soundscapes. Participants are given a
small portable recording device and asked to keep a sound diary for two weeks. At the end of the two weeks, they
are given a 60-minute in... Read More about A listener-centred approach to soundscape evaluation.

The effects of expectation on the perception of soundscapes (2011)
Thesis
Bruce, N. The effects of expectation on the perception of soundscapes. (Thesis). University of Salford

This thesis discusses how expectation is a contributory factor in the perception of
soundscapes. "Soundscape" is a term attributed to R.Murray Schafer to define the acoustic
environment, a recent ISO workgroup has proposed a formal definition as th... Read More about The effects of expectation on the perception of soundscapes.

The acoustic environment (2010)
Book Chapter
Davies, W. (2010). The acoustic environment. In C. Plack (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Auditory Science : Hearing (375-415). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199233557.013.0016

This chapter gives an overview of what shapes the acoustic signals that arrive at the ear. It is structured as an account of the journey of a sound wave, from first generation, then propagation outdoors, followed by transmission into a building and i... Read More about The acoustic environment.

Expectation as a factor in the perception of soundscapes (2009)
Presentation / Conference
Bruce, N., Davies, W., & Adams, M. (2009, October). Expectation as a factor in the perception of soundscapes. Presented at Euronoise 2009, Edinburgh, U.K

This paper discusses how expectation and experience form a contributory factor in the perception of soundscapes. The research used fieldwork carried out in London and Manchester, and also a soundscape simulator in a laboratory. Through the use of an... Read More about Expectation as a factor in the perception of soundscapes.

Measuring and mapping soundscape speech intelligibility (2009)
Presentation / Conference
Davies, W., Mahnken, P., Gamble, P., & Plack, C. (2009, October). Measuring and mapping soundscape speech intelligibility. Presented at Euronoise 2009, Edinburgh, U.K

More than one factor analysis of soundscape perception has concluded that speech communication is a significant contributor to the overall perceived quality of urban soundscapes. While not everything that is perceptually significant in real soundscap... Read More about Measuring and mapping soundscape speech intelligibility.

Research into the practical and policy applications of soundscape concepts and techniques in urban areas (2009)
Report
Payne, S., Davies, W., & Adams, M. (2009). Research into the practical and policy applications of soundscape concepts and techniques in urban areas

Executive Summary
1 The aim of this review was to investigate existing research into soundscape concepts and to produce recommendations for future research into the practical identification, management and enhancement of soundscapes in urban areas.... Read More about Research into the practical and policy applications of soundscape concepts and techniques in urban areas.

Soundscapes : an urban planning process map (2009)
Presentation / Conference
Adams, M., Davies, W., & Bruce, N. (2009, August). Soundscapes : an urban planning process map. Presented at Internoise 2009, Ottawa, Canada

The concept of soundscapes is an established theme in acoustics research, most notably in the
areas of environmental noise, noise control and psychoacoustics. However, many disciplines
outside of traditional acoustics have recently worked toget... Read More about Soundscapes : an urban planning process map.