GENERAL INFORMATION FOR CURRENT STUDENTS

General information about timetables, enrolment, units of study, degree requirements, attendence requirements, plagiarism policy, special consideration, and many other aspects of student life is given on the Faculty website under the 'Current Students' tab. Students are advised to become familiar with this information.

Information about the library is here.

Audio and Acoustics links are here.

UNIT OF STUDY OUTLINE

Objectives

By the end of this course you should be able to:

• understand and use the terminology of electroacoustical design and measurement
• understand the fundamentals of acoustics in enclosed spaces
• understand the relations between room acoustics and sound systems
• understand and use acoustic measurement techniques to determine room acoustical characteristics and sound system performance in a given space
• use electrical and acoustical measurements to design a new sound system for a given space or to optimise the performance of an existing sound system in a given space

Course format

The course normally runs one evening per week for 13 weeks with a combination of lectures and practical classes. Two and a half classes are held in the computer laboratory room 526. There will be a project presentation on the 29th October, which is compulsory to attend and present at (or an 'absent fail' mark may be given).

Assessment

Two assignments are given for this unit:

1. Measurement assignment. In this assignment you will measure, assess and possibly improve various audio systems. Details of this assignment will be given on 13th August. This assignment is supervised by Densil Cabrera. 50%

Project report template

2. System design assignment. In this assignment you will design a sound reinforcement system for a given room.Details of this assignment will be given on 20th August. This assignment is supervised by Scott Willsallen. 50%

Assumed knowledge

Students in this course should have successfully completed DESC 9138 Architectural and Audio Acoustics. Knowledge from Digital Audio Systems and Loudspeaker Design is also valuable for this course, but it is not assumed.

Textbook & References

There is no single textbook which entirely covers the material in this course. The following texts are recommended:

"Sound System Engineering" by Don & Carolyn Davis, published previously by Sams but now published by Butterworth-Heinemann.

"The Master Handbook of Acoustics" by F. Alton Everest, published by McGraw Hill. “

Sound Reinforcement Engineering” by Wolfgang Ahnert and Frank Steffen published by Routledge.

The AES Electronic Library is a vast and invaluable resource for this unit of study - this is available through the University library.

Online guides include:
http://www.renkus-heinz.com/easera/fundamentals.html
http://www.jblpro.com/pages/tech_lib.htm

SCHEDULE

LECTURE NOTES