Acoustics and soundscapes

Our research group covers environmental acoustics, building acoustics, room acoustics, and soundscapes. It is about how sound propagates in urban areas, in buildings, and in rooms; how people perceive and evaluate different kinds of sounds; and how sounds can be controlled, designed, and engineered. Rooted in the science of sound, research in Acoustics and Soundscapes is interdisciplinary, relating to architecture, urban planning, landscape, environmental science, civil engineering, transport engineering, environmental psychology, and sociology.   

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Research areas

Urban soundscapes and environmental acoustics

This research theme covers the soundscapes of public spaces and how people perceive outdoor acoustic environments in context. It deals also with general environmental acoustics, and sound propagation outdoor. It encompasses social and behavioural aspects related to environmental sounds, such as noise complaints, perceived safety, environmental justice.

Noise mapping and soundscape modelling

This research theme covers anything related to techniques for measuring, analysing, and mapping sounds-related components (either objective or subjective); it deals with prediction models for soundscape perception, the use of machine learning and neural networks in noise and soundscape studies.

Building acoustics, room acoustics and indoor soundscapes

This research theme deals with the acoustics of confined spaces, semi-public buildings (e.g., offices, museums, transport hubs, hospitals, etc.) and how buildings elements interact with the broader urban context from the acoustics perspective (e.g., canyon effects, façade treatment, etc.). This area of research is also trying to develop new theoretical model to redefine acoustic comfort in buildings.

Research projects

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• Soundscape Attributes Translation Project (SATP)
  Towards standardised assessments of urban sound environments across languages, countries, and cultures. Part of the Cities partnership programme. The project has been recognised as a case study in the Bartlett UCL 200 Global Policy Spotlight initiative, highlighting its role in translating soundscape research and international standards into policy and practice across languages, cultures and governance contexts.
• Stockholm Trio–UCL Seed Funding: SMILE City: A Pre-study

Acoustics & Soundscapes in teaching

Acoustics and soundscapes research is embedded in our teaching. Researchers from our theme contribute to the teaching of our MSc programmes and supervise dissertations for students who wish to undertake their own research in the area of acoustics & soundscapes. Examples of past dissertation topics include:

• ‘Effects of COVID-19 pandemic driven lockdowns on urban soundscapes’
• ‘The relevance between the sound sources and the mood of passer-by in various types of open environments’
• ’Comparison of machine learning algorithms for predictive modelling of Soundscape Pleasantness and Eventfulness’ 

People