Sound System Research Articles

Tailored for vehicle horn: A novel sound source capture method

The development of a horn sound capture system, capable of replacing manual control, offers a promising solution for alleviating horn noise. Existing horn sound systems lack localization algorithms that are capable of robustly resisting interference. To address this issue, this paper introduces an innovative horn sound capture system, including hardware and algorithms for sound recognition and localization. The pivotal innovation of the system is the introduction of the Sub-SRP algorithm, an advancement of the steered-response power phase transform (SRP-PHAT). Leveraging the frequency characteristics of horn sounds, it employs a series of filtering and spectral subtraction techniques to effectively filter out non-horn noise sources. In the interference experiment and field test, the Sub-SRP algorithm achieved DOA scores of 0.96 and 0.95, respectively, showing an approximately 10% improvement compared to the existing weighted SRP-PHAT, this improvement is even more pronounced under strong interference, increasing to 17%. This improvement significantly enhances the system’s ability to accurately capture honking vehicles and resist interference. Additionally, the horn sound recognition algorithm achieved accuracy rates of 95.75% and 97.65% in the two experiments, demonstrating the system’s effectiveness. In summary, this study contributes to the advancement of urban noise management and intelligent noise control systems.

The role of sound-to-symbol literacy in phonological awareness: Evidence from Cantonese

Phonological awareness reflects linguistic knowledge related to the sound system of a language. Individual development of phonological awareness is known to progress from larger to smaller sized units and is promoted by the acquisition of literacy, especially in alphabet-based writing systems that are built around sound-to-symbol correspondences. The present study addressed the nature of phonological awareness in speakers of a logographically scripted language. It investigated phonological awareness in adult speakers of Cantonese hailing from Hong Kong who (compared to speakers of other logographically scripted languages) traditionally received little sound-based assistance from tools like Pinyin or Zhu-yin-Fu-Hao when they acquired orthography. The study adopted an individual difference approach, quantifying individually variable levels of experience with a sound-to-symbol writing system and their relationship to phonological awareness. Fifty-seven Hong-Kong speakers of Cantonese took part online, completing rhyme judgment and phoneme monitoring tasks, alongside an extensive background questionnaire. The main prediction that Cantonese speakers who had a relatively high level of experience with sound-to-symbol writing would show an advantage in phonological awareness at the subsyllabic level was largely borne out by the data. The findings of the present study suggest that phonological awareness is a complex set of dissociable skills, shaped by the linguistic and orthographic experience of individual speakers.

Analysis of concrete damage at anchorage end of the high-speed railway bridge sound barrier under the 400 km/h train-induced wind loads

The sound barrier installed on high-speed railway bridges withstands repeated train-induced wind load, which may lead to concrete damage at its anchorage end. This paper focuses on the assessment of concrete static damage at the sound barrier anchorage end under train-induced wind loads. The nonlinear finite element model of the sound barrier anchorage system is established to analyze the stress distribution, strain distribution and static damage of concrete structure at the anchorage end under 400 km/h train-induced wind loads in respect of different bolt preloads. The simulated results illustrate that both mortar and concrete near bolt holes suffer a certain degree of tensile and compressive damage. The maximum tensile and compressive damage factor values for mortar and concrete are 0.930, 0.643 and 0.892, 0.434 respectively. In addition, the effects of train-induced wind load on the internal force of the sound barrier anchorage take nearly no account, with a maximum of only 0.68 %. The results indicate that bolt preload is the most significant factor for concrete static damage, while the train-induced wind load appears negligible. An appropriate bolt preload can avoid the concrete static damage of the sound barrier anchorage end, and guarantee the structural stability of the sound barrier.

An experimental study of acoustic bird repellents for reducing bird encroachment in pear orchards.

Bird invasion will reduce the yield of high-value crops, which threatens the healthy development of agricultural economy. Sonic bird repellent has the advantages of large range, no time and geographical restrictions, and low cost, which has attracted people's attention in the field of agriculture. At present, there are few studies on the application of sonic bird repellents in pear orchards to minimize economic losses and prolong the adaptive capacity of birds. In this paper, a sound wave bird repellent system based on computer vision is designed, which combines deep learning target recognition technology to accurately identify birds and drive them away. The neural network model that can recognize birds is first trained and deployed to the server. Live video is captured by an installed webcam, and the sonic bird repellent is powered by an ESP-8266 relay switch. In a pear orchard, two experimental areas were divided into two experimental areas to test the designed sonic bird repellent device, and the number of bad fruits pecked by birds was used as an indicator to evaluate the bird repelling effect. The results showed that the pear pecked fruit rate was 6.03% in the pear orchard area that used the acoustic bird repeller based on computer recognition, 7.29% in the pear orchard area of the control group that used the acoustic bird repeller with continuous operation, and 13.07% in the pear orchard area that did not use any bird repellent device. While acoustic bird repellers based on computer vision can be more effective at repelling birds, they can be used in combination with methods such as fruit bags to reduce the economic damage caused by birds.

An efficient technique for developing the active sound control system in electric vehicle

The sound characteristic is a critical metric to manifest the brand differentiation of electric vehicle (EV), and the sound design with more diverse acoustic characteristics has become a hot issue in current research of EV technology. In this paper, an efficient technique of active sound design (ASD) is explored to develop the control system of active sound generation (ASG) with powerful sound quality for EV. Firstly, an optimization algorithm of sound synthesis based on multi-frequency superimposition is proposed to improve the harmonic interference phenomenon in the synthesized sounds. Subsequently, an adaptive sound control strategy is formulated, where an iterative accumulation method is proposed to calculate the “virtual engine speed” of EV, and a gain table is presented to divide the running state. Besides, an ASG system is developed based on the proposed ASD technique. The tests result demonstrate that there are 18 target order sounds are reproduced perfectly, and the powerful sound quality interior EV is enhanced while the original interior acoustic environment of EV is retained, which confirms the effectiveness of the proposed control technique of ASG system. The proposed ASD technique here accelerates the change from silence to sound quality in the electric vehicles, which has important theoretical significance and engineering value.

An intrinsic electromechanical design method for MXene-based electrodes of ultra-highly sensitive and stable pseudocapacitive pressure device

To achieve the optimal performances of flexible pressure devices, the current approaches typically involve extensive experimental trials. However, such methods lack guidance from theoretical models in a positive fashion, not only introducing unpredictability and uncertainty into results but also potentially limiting the applicability of any achieved advancements to the alternative material systems. Here, an electrical-mechanical design model, combining density functional theory and molecular dynamics simulations, was proposed for calculating the specific capacitance and mechanical strength of various modified MXene films. Based on which, the optimal hybrid film entailed the cross-linking of holey reduced graphene oxide and MXene via cysteamine was prepared. This film, upon electromechanical characterizations, has effectively overcome the issues of MXene self-stacking and brittleness, thus validating the conclusions of theoretical predictions. Subsequently, the proposed film was integrated as electrode into a pseudocapacitive pressure sensor, achieving highly sensitivity (∼143,258 kPa−1) and mechanical stability (with capacitance drift below 1.2 % after 10,000-repeated test). Ultimately, the fabricated sensors were developed into sound collection system and robotic skins, respectively, to achieve recognition of distinctive sounds and stable perception of gravity. The calculation-based approach holds enormous potential for the design of two-dementional materials-based pressure sensors.

A Study of the Lao Language Phonetic System of Villagers at Vangpa Village, Kaenthao District, Xayyabuly Province

The purpose of this research was to study the consonant and vowel sound system of Villagers at Vangpa Village, Kaenthao District, Xayyabuly Province. The sample consisted of 15 villagers who are living inVangpa Village. The researcher analyzed data using theory of OnKeo NUANNAVONG. The findings of this research were as follows: Consonant sound of villagers at Vangpa Village consisted of 19 sound units such as: ກ /k/, ຂ-ຄ /kh/, ຫງ-ງ /ŋ/, ຈ /c/, ສ-ຊ /s/, ຫຍ-ຍ /ɲ/, ດ /d/, ຕ /t/, ຖ-ທ /th/, ໜ-ນ /n/, ບ /b/, ປ /p/, ຝ-ຟ /f/, ໝ-ມ /m/, ຢ /j/, ຫຼ-ລ /l/, ຫວ-ວ /w/, ອ /ʔ/, ຫ-ຮ /h/ of which 19 sound units are the first letter of the syllable and 8 units are the last letter of the syllable. There are 2 sound units out of official consonant sound such as ຜ-ພ /ph/ because of villagers at Vangpa Village produce sound ຖ-ທ /th/. And villagers are not produce complex consonant sound of “ວ”. Vowel sound of villagers at Vangpa Village consisted of 22 sound units. Common vowels are 18 sound unit such as xະ /a/, xາ /a:/, xິ /i/, xີ /i:/, xຶ /ɯ/, xື /ɯ:/, xຸ /u/, xູ /u:/, ເxະ /е/, ເx /е:/, ແxະ /ɛ/, ແx /ɛ:/, ໂxະ /o/, ໂx /o:/, ເxາະ /ɔ/, xໍ /ɔ:/, ເອິ /ə/, ເອີ /ə:/. Diphthong sound of Villagers at vangpa village consisted of 4 sound units as ເອັຍ /ia/, ເອຍ /i: a/, ອົວະ /ua/, ອົວ /u: a/. There are not 2 sound units of official language as ເxຶອ /ɯa/, ເxືອ /:a/ because of Vangpa’s villagers produce sound of ເxັຍ /ia/, ເxຍ /i:a/. There are 3 special vowels of Vangpa’s villagers which are ໄx /aj/, ເxົາ/aw/, xຳ /am/. Vangppa’s villagers are not able to produce the sound ໃx. Instead, they produce sound ໄx.

The Surveillant Surrounds: Sonar and Sexual Surveillance in Iceland During the Cold War

The Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) was an American naval surveillance network developed over the course of the Cold War. Spanning from the Pacific coast across the Atlantic, SOSUS is remembered for its unprecedented reach and is often figured as a precursor to centralized, networked, and automated surveillance systems today. This article contributes to, and complicates, this history by approaching SOSUS from the perspective of one of its outposts. Iceland was neither an agent nor a target of American surveillance but, as a staging grounds for SOSUS, both shaped and was shaped by this process nevertheless. Theorizing this position as the surveillant surrounds, this article asks after the experience of being interpellated into someone else’s surveillance program, or living where surveillance is a pervasive part of the landscape while occupying neither the position of observer nor observed. In Southern Iceland, I argue, SOSUS both activated and was meaningfully anchored by a local politics of gendered intimacy. Doing so, I shed fresh light on the legacy of SOSUS and make a broader case for attending to the particular place-based dynamics that shape and situate “global” surveillance networks then and today.

Sound Field Visualization of Specified Frequency by Combining Scanning System with Lock-in Amplifier

Abstract Sound field visualization of specified frequency is an essential method for acoustic studies, especially in nonlinear acoustics. In this paper, we designed a sound field visualization system of specified frequency (SVSF). By combining the traditional sound field scanning system with the lock-in amplifier (LIA), the SVSF can visualize the amplitude distribution of multiple arbitrary specified frequencies with only one-time sound field scanning. Further, depending on the SVSF, we analysed the nonlinear acoustic effects around the focus of a spherical coronal ultrasonic transducer array. The excitation signal is a sinusoidal signal at 40 kHz. The results show that the acoustic waves at the focus contain fundamental frequencies at 40 kHz and harmonic frequencies at 80 kHz, 120 kHz, and 160 kHz. Comparing the amplitude distribution of those frequencies, we found that higher harmonics own smaller focus areas as well as lower amplitude, which conforms to the nonlinear acoustic theory. The system is convenient for those similar studies involving the multi-frequency amplitude field comparison.

Study on the Legal Risks of Social Entities' Participation in Non-Emergency Transfers

Non-emergency transfer multi-level protection system is an important livelihood project in China and an important diversified support for a sound Chinese-style modern social security system, as well as an ideal governance tool to effectively solve the problems of non-emergency demand crowding out the emergency capacity, unbalanced transfer resources and differences in the quality of service, imperfect management mechanism and laws and regulations, and low social acceptance. We use structural theory to analyse the main problems in the current practice of China's non-emergency transfer security system, accordingly construct the non-emergency transfer security system, and put forward suggestions to promote the development of the system in a benign cycle. Improve the internal resource allocation mechanism to enhance the efficiency of non-emergency transfer services; focus on the cultivation of the talent team to steadily improve the quality of services; optimise the management system and strengthen the articulation mechanism to boost patients' beliefs in recovery; and strengthen the all-round management of information technology for market supervision to deepen the emotional communication and connection.

A sound event detection support system for smart home based on “two-to-one” teacher–student learning

Sound event detection (SED) is a core technology in smart home projects that rely on detected sound events to trigger specific actions. SED systems face two major challenges: high labeling costs and complex acoustic environments. To reduce labeling costs, some semi-supervised systems extract both global and local features for classification. However, these methods treat global and local features equally, not accounting for their varying importance when recognizing different types of sound events. Furthermore, to address complex acoustic environments, some studies use multitask learning frameworks to introduce SED-related tasks as auxiliaries to improve detection performance. However, these methods fail to align tasks within the framework, leading to conflicting outputs that may limit system performance. To address these issues, in this paper we propose a “two-to-one” teacher-student learning based semi-supervised SED system. This system employs a gating mechanism to selectively enhance global and local features, improving adaptability to different types of sound events, and incorporates a cross-task alignment module to interact SED with related tasks, reducing the risk of performance degradation caused by conflicting outputs. Experimental results on two datasets demonstrate that our system achieves the best performance in all metrics, with EB-F1 scores of 48.1 % and 64.7 %, representing improvements of 15.3 % and 10.6 % over the baseline ConformerSED system, respectively. Our work offers an effective SED solution for smart home projects by providing a semi-supervised SED system that performs well while reducing labeling costs.

A magnetically switchable demultiplexer via Terfenol-D in phononic crystal

This study introduces a novel approach for developing a controllable demultiplexer by applying a magnetic field to Terfenol-D cylinders within a solid–solid phononic crystal structure. Dynamic controllable demultiplexers are essential devices in acoustic and optical communication networks, yet adjustable elastic demultiplexers are notably lacking in current sound systems and acoustic communication technologies. The proposed phononic crystal-based demultiplexer features a square lattice (12 × 19) composed of tungsten cylinders embedded in a poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA) substrate. The switchable design consists of two identical, symmetrical parts separated by an input waveguide. In addition, each unit includes an output channel, a common input channel, and a square ring resonator, with the output channel side-coupled to the input bus waveguide. Moreover, Terfenol-D, a magnetostrictive material, is utilized in the hollow cylinders of the output channels. Switchability of the elastic demultiplexer outputs is achieved by dynamically altering the Young’s modulus of the Terfenol-D cylinders through the application of a magnetic field. This magnetic influence modifies the Young’s modulus of the Terfenol-D material in the output waveguides, enabling controllability. By varying the magnetic field applied to the demultiplexer, we find two distinct values of Young’s modulus within the structure. These two values facilitate the high transmission of two desirable peaks with narrow bandwidth through the output channels, allowing for switchable functionality based on the magnetic field’s position. The proposed demultiplexer demonstrates an average crosstalk value of −25.34 dB, indicating strong performance, along with a high average quality factor (Q) of 1773.5 and low average insertion losses of 0.85 dB in the MHz frequency range. The solid–solid elastic controllable demultiplexer is simulated using the finite element method, showcasing its potential for practical applications.

Study on Soil Pollution Control and Land Ecological Restoration Technology

This paper discusses the present situation and development trend of soil pollution control and land ecological restoration technology. Soil pollution mainly comes from industrial emissions, excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers and improper treatment of municipal garbage, which poses a threat to agriculture, human health and ecological balance. Treatment technologies include engineering remediation (such as soil replacement and water washing), physical-chemical remediation (such as solidification-stabilization, leaching, etc.), and biological remediation (using microorganisms, plants and animals). Land ecological restoration emphasizes integrity and sustainability, and adopts various methods such as plant and microbial restoration. In addition, prevention and control strategies and policy suggestions are put forward, including strengthening waste treatment standards, rational use of pesticides and fertilizers, and promoting waste classification. It is also suggested to establish a sound legal system for soil pollution prevention and control and raise public awareness of environmental protection.

Per Larssons »Öfversikt af Färsmålen»

Per Larsson (1860–1933) was one of the most productive and reliable surveyors of dialects and folk traditions in Sweden’s southernmost province of Scania (Skåne) in the late 19th century. Though he would never publish a scientific work and much less make a career in academia, he laid much of the foundation for what eventually became the Scanian dialect collections of the present-day Institute for Language and Folklore in Sweden. Along with lexical collections comprising several thousand glosses, he wrote several descriptive works on Scanian dialects with an emphasis on the sound system. These were never published in Larsson’s lifetime. Nevertheless, they are indeed relevant to linguists with an interest in Scanian and South Swedish dialect geography. The present work is a commented edition of one of Larsson’s dialect descriptions, namely that of the dialects of the district of Färs in South-East Scania.

The Spatial Analysis of the Role of Green Finance in Carbon Emission Reduction

Under the “dual carbon” goal, the core issue at present is to improve the environment while ensuring economic development. As a result, green finance, that is a tool that integrates finance and environmental protection, has shown increasingly significant carbon reduction effects. With the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2012 to 2021 being the research object, this study employs a spatial Durbin model to examine the impact of green finance on carbon emissions and further discusses its mechanism effects. The empirical results indicate the following: firstly, the development of green finance effectively suppresses carbon emissions; secondly, by decomposing the spatial effect of green finance on carbon emissions, it is found that green finance also reduces carbon emissions in neighboring regions due to the spillover effects; finally, green finance can suppress carbon emissions through technological innovation and industrial structure upgrading. Therefore, it is imperative to actively engage in practical work related to green finance, to establish a sound system for green finance, and simultaneously, to enhance cooperation among regions in terms of green finance, in order to fully leverage its role in suppressing carbon emissions.

Design of robust active suspension system for performance improvement and vibration control of railway vehicles: An H∞andμ-synthesis perspective

The ride comfort of a high-speed railway vehicle is a significant factor in assessing its performance. Despite having sound suspension systems and efficient control algorithms, the suspension system performance deteriorates with time. Hence, in this paper, a robust active vibration control system used in railway vehicles has been proposed. For analysis, a 27-degree of freedom (DOF) model consisting of structured and unstructured uncertainties has been considered. Two different robust control techniques, [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]-synthesis integrated with the Kalman estimator, have been adopted. The robust stability and the robust performance of the proposed control strategies have been evaluated using the structured singular values. The time and frequency domains of the closed loop perturbed responses to random track disturbances are shown. The root mean square (RMS) values of the accelerations of the car bodies are used to compare the suggested control schemes to the passive system. The primary focus of this study is to examine the level of ride comfort provided by the railway vehicle. To achieve this, simulated findings are compared and verified against experimental data collected and reported by the Research Designs and Standards Organization (RDSO). The observational data demonstrates that the results obtained from the suggested control methods are in close agreement with the experimental findings, with a minimal disparity ranging from 2.36% to 8.81% for lateral motion and 2.84% to 6.30% for vertical motion. Also, the % improvement of RMS values with [Formula: see text]-synthesis controller confirms the enhancement of the ride comfort as compared to other techniques.

Study on Long-term Mechanism of Financial Support to Agriculture from the Perspective of Rural Revitalization -- Take the Agriculture of Baise City as an Example

Based on the background and task deployment of rural revitalization strategy, this paper, taking Baise City s financial support for agriculture as an example, focuses on analyzing the system and mechanism of Baise City s financial support for agriculture in promoting rural revitalization strategy, mainly includes: The management system of financial support for agriculture is not perfect, the structure of financial support for agriculture is unreasonable, the total amount of funds is too small, and there is a lack of sound performance evaluation system. It is proposed to optimize the investment mechanism of financial support for agricultural machinery, broaden the channels of fund raising, strengthen financial support for agricultural science and technology, and strengthen the supervision and management of financial support for agriculture. In order to promote the rural revitalization strategy of the financial system mechanism innovation and the optimization of agricultural policy system to provide reference.

Transceiving telescope for a mobile TDLAS system for remote sounding of anthropogenic methane

In this paper, we report on stages of the development of a transceiving telescope for atmospheric gas analysis TDLAS systems. Design of transmitters and receivers for active remote sounding systems is an important problem when creating instruments for studying atmospheric parameters. Transmitter and receiver aperture size directly influences the minimum permissible and maximum practicable sounding ranges. The work describes the stages of designing the receiving and transmitting parts of an atmospheric gas analysis tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) system (with anthropogenic methane as a target gas). Calculations show that a backscattered signal is reliably detected over an optical path 0–1000 m long with the use of a transceiving telescope with aperture 50–80 mm diameter and magnification of no less than 5. This design enables minimizing the dead zone of the coaxial TDLAS system within the 1645–1655 nm spectral range, which is informative for anthropogenic methane sounding. The use of a transceiving telescope will ensure resistance to misalignment, namely, resistance to mismatch between the mutual overlap of the device field of view and the laser radiation spot on the topographic target. Results of this work can be useful when designing and manufacturing telescopes for TDLAS systems methane (CH4) and also other atmospheric gas analysis.

Navigating the Path to inclusive Education in Primary Schools in Arusha Region, Tanzania: A Descriptive-Correlational Study on Key Implementation Factors

This study navigated the path to inclusive education in primary schools in Arusha Region, Tanzania. The study used the descriptive correlational design. Out of the population of 14,881 stakeholders, the study had the sample size was 1,163 subject including 370 mainstream pupils, 278 mainstream teachers, 346 special needs learners and 169 special needs teachers. Sources of data were a questionnaire, an interview schedule, an observation schedule and Focus Group Discussions. Data analysis involved the thematic approach, descriptive statistics and regression analysis. While the running of inclusive education requires supporting tools and infrastructure, the schools did not have sufficient infrastructure and science and technology facilities to support the inclusive learning atmosphere. While primary schools had suitable classrooms, toilets, and playing grounds, the lighting, ventilation, and sound system were limited in quality. Based on the conclusions, the established shortcomings in infrastructure and technological equipment call for the school budget to include special education requirements. Finally, there is a need for schools to propagate appropriate cultural norms that cherish the value of humanity for both teachers and learners to respect special needs learners, providing necessary support for special needs learners to study comfortably without any discrimination.

Visar: Projecting Virtual Sound Spots for Acoustic Augmented Reality Using Air Nonlinearity

Augmented reality that integrates virtual content in real-world surroundings has attracted lots of concentration as the growing trend of the metaverse. Acoustic augmented reality (AAR) applications have proliferated due to readily available earphones and speakers. AAR can provide omnidirectional engagement through the all-around sense of spatial information. Most existing AAR approaches offer immersive experiences by playing binaural spatial audios according to head-related transfer functions (HRTF). These involve complex modeling and require the user to wear a headphone. Air nonlinearity that can reproduce audible sounds from ultrasound offers opportunities to achieve device-free and omnidirectional sound source projection in AAR. This paper proposes Visar, a device-free virtual sound spots projection system leveraging air nonlinearity. Visar achieves simultaneous tracking and sound spot generation while suppressing unintended audio leakages caused by grating lobes and nonlinear effects in mixing lobes through optimization. Considering multi-user scenarios, Visar also proposed a multi-spot scheduling scheme to mitigate the mutual interference between the spots. Extensive experiments show the tracking error is 7.83cm and the orientation estimation error is 10.06°, respectively, envisioning the considerable potential of Visar in AAR applications.