More interesting but inaccurate reporting from the BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/13958630

The article is very interesting, but I have a slight problem with the terminology used.  The decibel scale is useless unless the necessary reference level is also quoted.  I assume that in this case they mean dB(SPL) but even this comes with problems.  The reference level of dB(SPL) in air is 20 uPa, but in liquid is only 1 uPa. This article, although discussing both measurements in air and water, doesn’t mention this problem of reference level, which leaves the use of the dB levels in the report pointless.

I found the journal article that this article is taken from, and it says that the sound level measured was 78.9 SPL rms re 20uPa.  So thats that cleared up.  But they still say that blue whales can produce 188dB and I assume that this is re 1uPa.

Full marks for sensational journalism, poor marks for accuracy.  Oh dear.

I will be leading a sound walk as part of the Leytonstone Arts Trail this weekend. There will be a gentle walk through the local area, followed by a discussion of the sounds encountered and the changing nature of our sonic environment.  Meeting at 2pm, Leytonstone Underground Station, Grove Green Road Entrance.  There is a Google Map after the break.

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For some reason I found this mesmerising:

The BBC have recently published this article about researchers working on designing the sound of electric vehicles.  Its very disappointing that, apart from the title (Should electric cars be made to go ‘vroom’?) the report misses out on any discussion of whether these vehicles should be made to sound at all.

It seems logical that the rise of electric and silent cars will reduce the ambient sound generated by traffic. This will mean that our ears will gradually adjust to the quieter sound of these vehicles (they are not completely silent after all). Our distant ancestors’ ears developed to give them the ability to sense potential predators and this sensitivity would be just as acute to the dangers of electric cars, if their sound were not masked by the sound of conventional vehicles.

Noise from combustion-engined vehicles is by far the largest creator of noise pollution that we face in our daily lives, and should be celebrated not replaced with an artificial alternative.

I have just finished moving this site over to WordPress. Whilst indexhibit was great for my use at the time, I now find myself wanting a more flexible blogging platform, rather than a portfolio. It also seems that wordpress have improved their handling of static pages, and my css/php skills have increased sufficiently to understand the workings of template customisation.

The main benefit is that now the site has RSS feeds – click on the feed link at the left and use it in your feed browser to follow this site.