Excellence of acoustics in India—Its heritage and recent research

Abstract

Acoustics research and its applications have been an age-old tradition in India. In ancient times it has marvelous examples of achievement particularly in the areas of production of sounds, vocal recitations, musical instruments and in architectural acoustics. Rules for production of sounds, chanting Vedas, and methods of playing instruments were well designed. Similarly, the forts and temples were designed with great mathematical accuracy from the acoustics points of view. In recent times acoustic research have been pursued in several areas in R&D laboratories, educational institutions and in industries. Some of these include research in physical acoustics, ultrasonic, non-linear acoustics, transducers, material characterization, NDT, etc. Underwater and sonar acoustics; Speech processing and hearing, acoustic phonetics and development of Indian speech and language resources, etc.; Study on Indian classical music and musical instruments; Environmental and Noise control including industrial noise control; vibro- and aero-acoustics for acoustic protection systems; Building and architectural acoustics are getting great attention. Many projects are carried out with international collaboration. The standards in acoustic measurements, calibration are maintained and updated at the National level. AI and digital technologies play a vital role in development of Acoustical systems. This paper describes technologies and status of research in acoustics in India.