Distance Education Course Schedule
Fall 2025
Preregistration and registration information is available on the Distance Education Course Registration page.
Class Dates: August 25 – December 19
- All classes video streamed and archived for review
- All courses available for credit or audit
Tuition Fee: Credit or Audit
Tuition rate and IT fee for fall 2025 is $3,111 per 3-credit course.
To guarantee fall course enrollment:
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All new non-degree student applications and application fees or Resume Study non-degree student requests must be completed with the J. Jeffrey and Ann Marie Fox Graduate School no later than 5:00 p.m. (ET), Friday, August 15.
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All resume study degree student requests must be completed with the Fox Graduate School no later than 5:00 p.m. (ET), Monday, August 18.
Fall 2025 Distance Education Courses
- ACS 501: Elements of Acoustics and Vibration
- ACS 502: Elements of Sound Waves in Fluids
- ACS 503: Signal Analysis for Acoustics and Vibration
- ACS 524: Transducers II and Acoustic System Modeling
- ACS 597: Psychoacoustics and Sound Quality
- ACS 894: M ENG Capstone
ACS 501: Elements of Acoustics and Vibration
Instructor: Dr. Vic Sparrow
Class Time: Tuesday and Thursday, 10:35 – 11:50 a.m. ET
Credits: 3
Tuition: $3,111
Prerequisites: Undergraduate physics, differential equations, and complex numbers.
Course Material: This course introduces the fundamentals of acoustics and vibration, focusing on structural vibration and sound waves in simple objects such as mass-spring systems, strings, rods, and plates. The fundamental concepts of vibration and applications to engineering and industrial problems are presented. Topics covered: simple harmonic oscillator; mechanical resonance and damping; forced vibration and normal modes; transverse waves on strings; boundary conditions and standing waves; elasticity; longitudinal, torsional, and transverse vibration of bars; transverse vibrations of membranes; and flexural vibrations of thin plates.
Texts: Fundamentals of Acoustics, 4th Ed. Lawrence E. Kinsler et al., Wiley, 2000. ISBN: 0471847895
Wave Motion in Elastic Solids, Karl F. Graff, Dover Publications, 1991. ISBN 0486667456
ACS 502: Elements of Sound Waves in Fluids
Instructor: Dr. Dan Russell
Class Time: Monday and Wednesday, 10:35–11:50 a.m. ET
Credits: 3
Tuition: $3,111
Prerequisite: Undergraduate physics and differential equations.
Course Material: This course lays the fundamental groundwork for the propagation of acoustic waves in fluids. Topics include basic equations of fluid dynamics, development of the linear wave equation, acoustic lumped elements, speed of sound, linear acoustic wave propagation of plane and spherical waves, radiation of sound from sources and arrays, sound intensity and power, reflection, and transmission of sound at boundaries, absorption of sound, propagation of sound in pipes and acoustic filters.
Text: Fundamentals of Physical Acoustics, Blackstock, David T., 2000 (Wiley) ISBN-10: 0471319791
ACS 503: Signal Analysis for Acoustics and Vibration
Instructor: Dr. Dan Brown
Class Time: Monday and Wednesday, 9:05–10:20 a.m. ET
Credits: 3
Tuition: $3,111
Prerequisites: Undergraduate physics, differential equations, and complex numbers as well as some familiarity with programming in MatLab or equivalent.
Course Material: Time- and frequency-domain analyses for sampled discrete-time acoustic and vibration measurements. Development, application, and consequences of filtering, spectral analysis, and correlation for single- and multi-channel data.
Text: Instructor notes.
Software: Matlab or Matlab Student Version, available at weblabs.psu.edu.
ACS 524: Transducer II and Acoustics System Modeling
Instructor: Dr. Stephen Thompson
Class Time: Tuesday and Thursday, 9:05–10:20 a.m. ET
Credits: 3
Tuition: $3,111
Prerequisites: ACS 501 Elements of Acoustics and Vibration, ACS 502 Elements of Sound Waves in Fluids and ACS 514 Electroacoustic Transducers
Course Material: Topics for this course include: condenser, electret, piezoelectric, moving coil, and balanced armature transducers; and the interaction of closely spaced transducers. Computational modeling for transducers and systems will use the methods of dynamic system modeling with Simscape (which is included in the PSU student license for The MathWorks product line). This course will include a significant emphasis on modeling of magnetic circuits and devices, and will cover methods for modeling the nonlinearities that are present in most actual transducer devices.
Text: none
Software:
The SimScape modeling software from The MathWorks. SimScape and all required toolboxes are included with the Penn State student license to the MathWorks software. This license is often referred to as the MATLAB license. However, a full installation of the Penn State student license also includes Simulink, SimScape and many toolboxes. This license must be obtained from the PSU software store. Please note that all of the required software components may not be included in the standard student license purchased from the MathWorks web site and are likely not included in many corporate licenses. Distance Ed students who have been able to use their employer’s corporate license for other courses may find that license does not include enough features for this course. In that case, it would be necessary to obtain the PSU student license for this course. (The MathWorks license is currently available to students at no cost.)
ACS 597: Psychoacoustics and Sound Quality
Instructor: Dr. Michelle Vigeant-Haas
Class Time: Tuesday and Thursday, 1:35–2:50 p.m. ET
Credits: 3
Tuition: $3,111
Prerequisite: A 400 or 500 level acoustics course.
Course Material: This course will cover an introduction to the fundamentals of acoustics, the fundamentals of psychoacoustics (psychology of hearing): the human auditory system, which includes perception and cognitive processing of sound (i.e., masking and critical bands), common acoustic attributes used in sound quality, and psychoacoustic experimental methods. Following these fundamentals, the principles of sound quality and how it applies to industry will be introduced: the product design cycle that includes sound quality and relevant examples.
Texts: Final textbook selection pending.
Possible text: Psychoacoustics: Auditory Perception of Listeners with Normal Hearing and Hearing Loss, 2nd Edition (2025), J.J. Lentz, Plural Publishing. (Free download available through PSU library)
ACS 894: M ENG Capstone
Note: This course is not currently on a regular rotation. Next course offering will be either SP27 or FA27. Please contact acousticsde@psu.edu with any questions or concerns.
Instructor: Dr. Dan Russell
Class Time: Monday and Wednesday, 9:05–10:20 a.m. ET
Credits: 3
Tuition: $3,111
Prerequisites: 21 credits in Acoustics courses to include: ACS 501 Elements of Acoustics and Vibration, ACS 502 Elements of Sound Waves in Fluids, ACS 503 Signal Analysis for Acoustics and Vibration, and ACS 514 Electroacoustic Transducers. Or Instructor consent.
Course Topics: This culminating capstone experience will involve reading and writing reviews of published literature, simple data collection and presentation of results, oral presentations, and a 5-10 page scholarly paper. Course activities will involve both individual and group activities. There will be several mandatory Zoom meetings (times will attempt to accommodate multiple time zones and student availability) in addition to recorded lecture content, and online group discussion activities.
Spring 2026 Distance Education Course Schedule
Class Dates: January 12 – May 8
Tentative Course Offering
(Suggestions can be sent to acousticsde@psu.edu.)
ACS 514: Electroacoustic Transducers
Credits: 3
Prerequisite: Undergraduate physics, basic linear circuit theory, differential equations, and complex numbers. Must have a working knowledge of required software.
ACS 515: Acoustics in Fluid Waves
Credits: 3
Prerequisite: ACS 502: Elements of Sound Waves in Fluids
ACS 519: Sound Structure Interactions
Credits: 3
Prerequisite: ACS 501: Elements of Acoustics and Vibration and ACS 502: Elements of Sound Waves in Fluids
ACS 523: Advanced Signal Analysis
Credits: 3
Prerequisite: ACS 503: Signal Analysis for Acoustics and Vibrations
ACS 540: Nonlinear Acoustics
Credits: 3
Prerequisite: ACS 502: Elements of Sound Waves in Fluids or Instructor approval
ACS 553: Signal Analysis for Audio Applications
Credits: 3
Prerequisite: TBA
