Acoustical and Audio Engineering

This module offers an introduction to a wide range of concepts in acoustics and allows you to begin to gain skills in the practical measurement and analysis of acoustic devices and audio technologies.

You will look at the basic building blocks in audio electronic circuits and develop an understanding and appreciation of impedance, current and voltage in circuits, use of complex numbers and circuit analysis. You will also use SPICE simulation for circuit analysis and design.

You will be given the basic mathematical skills and concepts required to appreciate and succeed in understanding acoustics and audio engineering.

You will be taught about a wide variety of specialist acoustic and audio measurements, in terms of equipment familiarity, correct use, interpretation of data and correct reporting (oral and written).

This module is designed to give you an understanding of the underlying concepts and principles of multi-track production, develop your production skills to translate multi-source live music and sound into a recorded stereo image, and develop the organisational skills needed to successfully record an artist/group. Typically, you will use our Pro-Tools sound recording studios to record a band.

This module introduces the basic fundamentals of sound, signals, and systems, and then explores the signal flow of a complete generic audio system, from capture (microphones) to playback (loudspeakers) and transmission.

This module gives a thorough grounding in the techniques and applications of digital technology in the acquisition, processing, storage and transmission of acoustic signals.

On completion of this module you will have an understanding of electroacoustic transduction mechanisms and the modelling techniques used in the design of microphones and loudspeakers.

You will build on your knowledge and skills from the Introduction to acoustics module, to give you a thorough understanding of the fundamentals of acoustics. Subjects include: Fourier's theorem, solutions of 1-D wave equation, acoustic impedance, reflection factor and absorption coefficient, 3-D wave equation, radiation impedance, and behaviour of sound in 3D enclosures.

You will understand the nature of entrepreneurs and the development of entrepreneurial organisations. You will cover popular business theories such as theory of management, the role of enterprise in the economy, leadership and management of an enterprise and developing and managing quality in the enterprise.

You will work together with course mates on a specific real world acoustic/audio design task and come up with a real practical solution using the acoustics laboratory facilities and the Maker Space facilities and equipment.

You will learn about the fundamental laws of electromagnetism leading to the development of Maxwell’s equations and the electromagnetic wave equation. Underlying mathematical techniques, including vector calculus, will be introduced alongside the physical laws. The module is taught by a combination of lectures and problem solving tutorials.

The final year project is your opportunity to demonstrate your understanding and application of the knowledge you have acquired on the course. The project topic chosen will be on an agreed subject related to audio or acoustics and you have the option to work within a group or as an individual with regular supervision.

You will work with wave and statistical theories of room acoustics to analyse existing rooms or design new ones, as well as critically evaluate key theories and experimental results in the literature. You will examine how sound fields in rooms can be characterised and to what extent this explains perceptions of sound in rooms. This will enable you to apply techniques to control sound fields in rooms by absorption and scattering, with an appreciation of their limitations.

You will perform modelling and analysis in the z-transformed domain and understand modern DSP techniques such as blind signal processing. You will apply the process of digital filtering; fixed, adaptive, recursive and non-recursive partly drawing on the latest research outcomes. You will also apply and understand Machine Learning methods for engineering applications.

Music is one of the most important signals in acoustics and audio. This module is about how musical sounds are made, how they can be modelled and synthesised, and also how listeners respond to them.  

During the module, you will learn how the human auditory system works, starting with the physiology and physics of the ear, developing a solid grasp of how loudness, pitch and the ear’s frequency bands really work. The module covers a very diverse range of disciplines including physics, psychoacoustics and musicology. You’ll apply your new knowledge and skills in coursework assignments. 

This module will provide you with knowledge and understanding of noise and vibration control engineering processes and methodologies. You will learn how to select appropriate noise and vibration control options for realistic scenarios, with a focus on the transport industry (road, rail and air vehicles). 

During the module, you will also learn the main sound generation mechanisms in road, rail and air vehicles.  You will gain a thorough understanding of current best practice in noise and vibration control, and apply appropriate acoustical analysis to assess limitations and/or adapt them for application in unfamiliar situations.