Acoustics, as a research area, is the scientific study of generation, propagation, interaction, and detection of mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids across audible, infrasonic, and ultrasonic frequency ranges. It encompasses theoretical and experimental analysis of wave equations, sound fields, impedance, reflection, refraction, scattering, absorption, and nonlinear effects in complex media and structures. Subfields include physical acoustics, architectural acoustics, aeroacoustics, underwater and ocean acoustics, ultrasonics, vibroacoustics, and acoustical signal processing. Research in acoustics underpins technologies for imaging, nondestructive evaluation, noise control, transducer design, acoustic metamaterials, and advanced measurement techniques for characterizing materials, devices, and environments using sound.
Scientists have captured a rare view of one of the ocean's least understood whales—without ever seeing it. By listening to the sounds beaked whales naturally produce, researchers have reconstructed a three-dimensional picture ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 4, 2026
0
36
Kemp's ridley sea turtles are among the most endangered species of sea turtles in the world. They reside along the east and Gulf coasts of North America, alongside some of the world's most active shipping lanes. While the ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 3, 2026
0
23
Have you ever wished you could swim like a fish? How about speak like one? In a paper recently published in the Journal of Fish Biology, our team from the University of Victoria deciphered some of the strange and unique sounds ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 1, 2026
0
23
Researchers have just published a study demonstrating that the flying gurnard (Dactylopterus volitans) emits sounds while simultaneously performing movements to communicate—a discovery that enriches our knowledge about the ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 29, 2026
0
54
No ears, no problem. The tobacco hornworm caterpillar, a common garden pest, can actually detect airborne sound via microscopic hairs on its body, according to a team of faculty and graduate students at Binghamton University. ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 28, 2026
0
52
University of Queensland hearing tests conducted across kilometers of ocean off the Australian coast show humpback whales react to higher frequency sounds than expected. Associate Professor Rebecca Dunlop from UQ's School ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 28, 2026
0
20
The Arctic is experiencing a steady rise in human-generated underwater noise as melting ice and increasing activity open the region to greater vessel traffic, with major implications for wildlife and local communities. New ...
Ecology
Jan 26, 2026
0
27
A long-standing mystery about how wild bats navigate complex environments in complete darkness with remarkable precision, has been solved in a new University of Bristol-led study. The findings are published in Proceedings ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 20, 2026
0
46
An international team of researchers has mapped a new way forward to monitor the health of the planet by listening to the soil beneath our feet.
Ecology
Jan 19, 2026
0
2714
University of Victoria (UVic) biologists have discovered that even closely related fish species make unique and distinctive sounds and determined that it's possible to differentiate between the sounds of different species. ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 19, 2025
0
36
