New MOOC "Communication Acoustics"

[Jens Ahrens <jens.ahrens@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear AUDITORY list,

I would like to draw your attention to a new MOOC on the topic of communication acoustics: https://www.edx.org/course/communication-acoustics-rwthx-ca101 The course is a collaboration of several academics based in Germany as well as myself. It is going to start on Dec. 5. There are chapters on (amongst other topics):

- Fundamentals of acoustics
- Room acoustics
- Anatomy and physiology of the human hearing system
- Psychoacoustics
- Speech acoustics
- A lot on spatial audio capture and presentation
- Psychoacoustics in product sound design
- Perceptual audio coding

The course is in English (please don’t mind our accent…). It is more of an introduction to the topic. I would therefore think that it is not so interesting for most of you but it might be so for your students. The course is actually part of the curriculum at most of the participating universities, and we’re having onsite written exams at 4 locations. This is also the reason why the course is so long (14 weeks). It had to fit into the academic schedule.

Greets,
Jens

P.S. When I posted this MOOC on the Sursound list, I received the response “What is ‘communication acoustics’? Dear, oh dear.”. So, to avoid further confusion: The term communication acoustics was coined by Jens Blauert (https://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/ika/mitarbeiter/blauert.htm ) long before I was born. It comprises all subdomains of acoustics that are relevant for the communication between humans and between humans and machines. It is of course not an exclusive definition. You may choose yourself what acoustic signals are those that convey information to you.

-- 
Jens Ahrens
Associate Professor
Division of Applied Acoustics
Chalmers University of Technology
41296 Gothenburg
Sweden
+46 (0)31 772 2210