Latest Noise Stories

Christine Strange and her husband, Nigel, say a couch in their home in the British city of Bristol makes mysterious noises because they believe it's haunted.Strange, 52, said the creaking noise from the leather couch began randomly one recent weekend and the couple has been unable to determine what has been causing the strange noise, The Daily Telegraph said Monday.One Sunday morning I sat down on it with a cup of tea and suddenly heard this odd squeaky noise, she said.I thought I must be...

To expand its resources for future product design and customer support, Monitoring Division, a provider of network diagnostics, has opened a new operations center in East Melbourne, Australia. The company has also opened its first optical signal-to-noise ratio monitor unit to a US manufacturer of intelligent optical networking systems. Monitoring Division (mdi) had licensed optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) software to Optium Corporation, now a part of Finisar. This software enables...

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and JILA, a joint institute of NIST and the University of Colorado (CU) at Boulder, have made the first tunable "noiseless" amplifier. By significantly reducing the uncertainty in delicate measurements of microwave signals, the new amplifier could boost the speed and precision of quantum computing and communications systems.Conventional amplifiers add unwanted "noise," or random fluctuations, when they measure and boost...

By Emily Van Cleve For the Journal If modern music seems like a cacophony of sound that makes no sense to the ears, John Kennedy's new lecture series is the perfect antidote. "Beyond the Noise: Listening to Modern Music" is a six-part course that provides insights into the historical and social contexts of contemporary music with biographical information about many of the key composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. Starting on Thursday, it will be presented at the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum...

Rattlesnakes are not the friendliest creatures. Ordinarily, they are best left alone instead of being snuck up on. However, when it is your job to record the sounds of Western animals, you do not have the luxury of avoiding them."You get yourself in some strange situations," says Jeff Rice, a University of Utah research librarian who is working to produce the first complete free archive of natural sounds in the West for the public. Rice was sitting in the hills above Utah, aiming...

By IAN SWANSON Scottish EDINBURGH Airport bosses have been urged to bring in lower noise limits for planes after a system of fines helped cut the racket endured by people living near the flightpath. Airlines currently face having to pay up to GBP 2000 if they breach noise thresholds while landing or taking off at Edinburgh Airport. The technique pilots use, particularly when taking off, can make a big difference to noise levels - just like revving up a car engine. In the 12 months...

LOS ANGELES, July 30 /PRNewswire/ -- BETA Records (betarecords.com), the expanding international network and community of music artists and fans, will partner with Surroundphones Holdings Inc, (SoundWave360), enabling artists to upgrade MP3 music files with a proprietary process giving their music more analog sound, cleaner dynamics, higher signal-to-noise ratio and more depth in playback, particularly in the portable headphone environment. "We know that recording professionals are pleased...

By Sonu Munshi, The Tribune, Mesa, Ariz. Jul. 22--A key study outlining 20-year projections for Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport is almost complete. Airport authorities are hosting a public workshop today to seek resident feedback on the 18-month study to update the airport master plan. That document deals with everything from aviation forecasts to the facility's environmental impact. The plan, in the process of being revised since April 2007, includes a study of noise-level projections for...

By Mark Kanny, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Jul. 17--Percussionist Steven Schick embraces the wide world of sound, finding inspiration in unexpected places to explore the potential of the instruments he plays. Schick and sound designer Sharokh Yadegari will have the City Theatre stage to themselves Friday and Saturday nights, when they are presented as the fourth weekend of Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble -- Theatre of Music concerts. The ensemble is taking two weeks to prepare for the...

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, July 16 /PRNewswire/ -- This week, a new music platform will open and storm the Bastille of the music industry. Tribe of Noise is expected to kick up quite some dust by offering a lawful alternative for free music downloads. Last year's artists like Moby, Nine Inch Nails and Radio Head made the first moves towards an alternative form of music distribution. But Tribe of Noise takes it one step further. At Tribe of Noise, composers upload their music under a Creative...