How is climate change impacting the Arctic Ocean? It can be hard to track these changes, but researchers have been using acoustic signals transmitted beneath the ice to learn more. In this episode, we talk with Matthew Dzieciuch and Peter Worcester of Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Hanne Sagen of the Nansen Center about an international effort to use acoustic thermometry to better understand the changing ocean.

Associated paper: Matthew A. Dzieciuch, Hanne Sagen, Peter F. Worcester, Espen Storheim, F. Hunter Akins, Stein Sandven, John A. Colosi, John N. Kemp, and Geir Martin Leinebø. "Transarctic acoustic transmissions during the Coordinated Arctic Acoustic Thermometry Experiment in 2019–2020." J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 159, 1071–1085 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0042233.

Read more from The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA).
Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications.

Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.

As anyone in ocean acoustics will tell you, sound is essential for much of the work done under water, whether that be navigation, sensing objects, or passively monitoring wildlife. While much research has been done about sandy ocean floors, scientists still have a lot to learn about muddier regions with mixtures of type of sediment. In this episode, we talk with two editors and a researcher involved with the recent JASA Special Issue on Assessing Sediment Heterogeneity on Continental Shelves and Slopes: Preston Wilson (University of Texas at Austin), David Knowles (University of Texas at Austin), and Kyle Becker (University of Washington).

Read all the articles from the special issue here!

Read more from The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA).
Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications.

Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.

With the development of automatic speech recognition has come a new type of technology, designed to give the user advice on how to speak better. In this episode, we talk with Nicole Holliday (University of California, Berkeley) about some of the issues that can arise with the use of these technologies, from their nebulous definitions of "good communication" to the impact they could have at businesses that use these technology to evaluate employees.

Associated paper: Nicole R. Holliday. "Socially prescriptive speech technologies: Linguistic, technical, and ethical issues." J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 158, 4361–4369 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0039685.

Read more from The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA).
Learn more about Acoustical Society of America Publications.

Music Credit: Min 2019 by minwbu from Pixabay.