news 2018

EPFL researchers have found a way to make materials that are normally opaque to sound waves completely transparent. Their system involves placing acoustic relays at strategic locations so that sound waves can propagate at a constant amplitude - regardless of what may lie in their path. This method could eventually be used to make it possible to hide objects like submarines.

Trees can also get sick. In urban areas, this usually means that the infested tree has to be felled for safety reasons.

Do violins made of wood that had been treated with fungi sound the same as a fine, antique instrument? Acoustics experts at Empa are currently studying the body and soul of instruments made of "mycowood". Precision structure-borne sound measurements and psycho-acoustic tests with volunteers should reveal whether a fungal treatment can really improve an instrument.