Acoustic techniques are experimental or analytical methods that exploit the generation, propagation, and detection of sound or ultrasound waves to probe material, structural, or environmental properties. They encompass approaches such as acoustic emission monitoring, ultrasonic testing, impedance and resonance measurements, and acoustic spectroscopy. These techniques rely on wave–matter interactions (reflection, refraction, scattering, absorption) to infer parameters including elastic moduli, defect distributions, phase composition, flow characteristics, or biological tissue structure. Acoustic methods are widely used for nondestructive evaluation, in situ monitoring, and real-time sensing, often offering high sensitivity to microstructural changes and the ability to operate in opaque or complex media.
Stylolites—irregular seams that occur in limestone—have been found to affect how acoustic waves move through rock samples. Laboratory-based insights from KAUST researchers offer an improved understanding of how these features ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 20, 2025
0
22
Researchers have created a microphone that listens with light instead of sound. Unlike traditional microphones, this visual microphone captures tiny vibrations on the surfaces of objects caused by sound waves and turns them ...
Optics & Photonics
Jul 31, 2025
1
129
In a new study, researchers show, for the first time, that photoacoustic microscopy can image stents through skin, potentially offering a safer, easier way to monitor these life-saving devices. Each year, around 2 million ...
Optics & Photonics
Jul 26, 2025
0
63
Researchers have detailed the physics behind a phenomenon that allows them to create spin in liquid droplets using ultrasound waves, which concentrates solid particles suspended in the liquid. The discovery will allow researchers ...
Soft Matter
May 21, 2025
0
60
Scientists and engineers at the University of Nottingham have measured the stiffness of space rock for the first time. Many meteorites are made of crystalline materials, formed under exotic conditions that cannot be replicated ...
Planetary Sciences
May 16, 2025
0
37
In an advance in microsensor technology, researchers have unveiled an ultra-sensitive gas detection method using surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors enhanced by the physics of exceptional points (EPs). These EPs, phenomena ...
Nanophysics
Apr 30, 2025
0
35
Found in everything from kitchen appliances to sustainable energy infrastructure, stainless steels are used extensively due to their excellent corrosion (rusting) resistance. They're an important material in many industries, ...
Nanomaterials
Apr 25, 2025
0
88
Ultrasound imaging is one of the most widely used diagnostic tools in modern medicine. Behind its noninvasive magic lies a class of materials known as piezoelectric single crystals, which can convert electrical signals into ...
Nanophysics
Apr 22, 2025
0
35
A research team from the Aerospace Information Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has achieved real-time atmospheric temperature measurements at altitudes of up to 5,200 meters using a new acoustic thermometer ...
Environment
Apr 2, 2025
0
20
Experiments coupling light and sound reveal the surprising effect that measuring nothing can cool the vibrations of an object.
Optics & Photonics
Feb 24, 2025
0
127
