Sriram Subramanian Delivers Discourse on Acoustic Holography

Professor Sriram Subramanian, UCL’s Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Technologies and UCLIC researcher, presented the Friday Evening Discourse “Holography and Levitation: Advances in Multisensory Sound” at the Royal Institution of Great Britain on March 27, 2026.

In this historic series—dating back to 1825 with speakers including Michael Faraday—Subramanian demonstrated how acoustic holography and levitation transform ultrasound into precise 3D sound fields capable of manipulating solids, liquids, powders, and gases without physical contact. His presentation covered the computational methods for generating these fields, addressing challenges such as sound scattering in complex environments and attenuation through different media.

Subramanian highlighted practical applications including:

• Contact-free biopharma processing and cell manipulation
• Multisensory interaction systems combining audio, visual, and haptic feedback
• Precision material handling through his startup AcoustoFab
• Life sciences research requiring sterile acoustic traps

As co-founder of Ultraleap and an ACM Distinguished Member, Subramanian’s work advances embodied and tangible interaction design. For UCLIC’s focus on technologies supporting trauma recovery and cross-cultural research, acoustic levitation offers potential for developing safe, non-invasive interfaces that leverage interoception and body awareness—particularly valuable for participatory design with vulnerable populations.

The event attracted both theatre attendees and livestream viewers, reflecting strong interest in computational acoustics and its HCI applications. Subramanian’s demonstrations provided clear visualisations of complex acoustic phenomena, making advanced engineering concepts accessible to diverse audiences.