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Trevor Cox
Professor of Acoustic Engineering
Email: T.J.Cox@salford.ac.uk
Telephone: 0161 295 5474
Mobile: 07986 557 419
Location: G56 Newton Building
Profile
Professor Trevor Cox carries out research, teaching and commercial activities in acoustic engineering, focussing on room acoustics, signal processing and perception. He was an EPSRC Senior Media Fellow and has presented 17 documentaries for BBC radio. He is a former President of the Institute of Acoustics (IOA). Trevor Cox was awarded the prestigious Tyndall Award by the IOA as well as their award for Promoting Acoustics to the Public.
Prof Cox carries out research in performance room acoustics, investigating how room conditions can be improved for good speech communication, and quality music production and reproduction. He has or is principal investigator on five EPSRC projects concerned with room acoustics. The results from GR/L13124 fed directly into ISO 17497-2:2012. GR/L34396 developed an understanding of a new sound absorbing mechanism. GR/N39685 concerned room acoustic active diffusers. EP/G009791/1 examined the acoustics of secondary schools.
Trevor has worked extensively on surface diffuser and absorbers. He has co-authored a research book which is now in its second edition (Acoustic Absorbers and Diffusers, Spon Press, 2004 & 2009). He pioneered the concept of optimised diffusers to help solve the dilemma of getting correct visual and acoustic design. His designs can be found in listening rooms (Sony M1, New York), cinemas (Cinema, Seattle) and concert halls (Hummingbird Centre, Toronto). He worked as a consultant for the world’s largest manufacturer of diffusing products, RPG Diffusor Systems Inc for over a decade. Prof Cox serves as an acoustic expert for international standard organizations, he is convener of ISO Working Group WG25. These are concerned with measures for diffusion/scattering.
Trevor specialises in blind signal processing methods to assess human response to sounds and to model acoustics. This work is encapsulated within EPSRC grant EP/J013013/1 which is investigating user generated content. The project is developing an understanding of how recording errors are perceived and developing algorithms for automatically evaluating audio quality from the poor recording.
Trevor uses both qualitative methods (focus groups, interviews, sound-walks) and quantitative methods (perceptual testing in laboratories and over the Internet) to explore responses to sounds from products (such as washing machines), in outdoor spaces (such as cities) and various sound types (such as horrible sounds). He was investigator on a project concerning sustainability and the 24 hour city, and was the instigator and Director of the EPSRC Ideas Factory on Noise. Other perceptual work includes looking at product sound quality testing for the DTI and running a mass participation website to find the worst sound in the world.
For 15 years, Trevor has been communicating acoustic engineering to the public, working on projects worth more than £1 million. He was a finalist at Famelab, an ‘X Factor’-style competition to find science communicators for television. He has been involved in projects to produce teaching resources, the latest having reached more than a quarter of a million pupils. He has developed and presented science shows seen by 15,000 children, including appearances in London at the Royal Albert Hall, the Purcell Rooms at the South Bank Centre and the Royal Institution. His research has attracted worldwide news coverage in stories such as ‘Does a duck’s quack echo?’. He has appeared in features on BBC1, Teachers TV, Discovery and National Geographic channels, and as an expert in news items on a variety of television and radio programmes.
He has presented science documentaries for BBC radio including ‘Sounds of Science’, ‘Life’s Soundtrack’, ‘Sound Architecture’, ‘Save Our Sounds’ (which won a Radio Academy Award), ‘Science vs Stradivarius’, ‘The Pleasure of Noise’, ‘World Musical Instruments’ and ‘Green Ears’. He was a co-originator and judge of BBC Radio 4’s ‘So You Want To Be A Scientist?’, a competition to find Britain’s best amateur scientist.Radio biography and example audio .He has written articles for New Scientist (on city sounds, acoustic archaeology and Christmas muzak) and is authoring a popular science book on Sound for Bodley Head and Norton.
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