Students taking outdoor noise measurements on a sunny day.
 

Distance Education Courses

The Graduate Program in Acoustics offers a broad variety of courses toward the M.Eng. degree in acoustics. The M.Eng. degree requires 18 credits from a set of core courses, with the remaining 12 credits coming from elective courses. All courses are 3 credits, and the list below provides descriptions of the courses currently being offered through distance education at Penn State.

We typically offer four to six courses during each fall and spring semester. Each semester is 15 weeks in length, and our faculty teach two lectures per week. Most classes are “blended” with the professor teaching resident students in the classroom while distance students either view the live broadcast of the lecture, or an archived recording.

Overview of Acoustics Courses

Required Courses

Elective Courses


Required Course Descriptions

The following courses are required for students pursuing the M.Eng. degree in acoustics. All of the courses (*except ACS 894) are offered every year, either in the fall or spring semesters. Students are strongly encouraged to start with ACS 501 and/or ACS 502 as these two fundamental courses provide the basic background prerequisite for many of the following required and elective courses. All courses are 3 credits unless otherwise specified.

*ACS 894 will be offered every other year or every third semester.

ACS 501, Elements of Acoustics and Vibration

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 are presented along with applications to engineering and industrial problems. 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. [Fall semester]

Prerequisite: Undergraduate physics, differential equations and complex numbers.

ACS 502, Elements of Sound Waves in Fluids

This course lays the fundamental groundwork for the propagation of acoustic waves in fluids. Topics include: basic equations of fluid dynamics, acoustic lumped elements, speed of sound, linear acoustic wave propagation, 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, normal modes in rooms, probation of sound in pipes and acoustic filters. [Fall semester]

Prerequisite: Undergraduate physics and differential equations

ACS 503, Signal Analysis for Acoustics and Vibration

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. [Fall semester]

Prerequsites: Undergraduate physics and differential equations

ACS 514, Electroacoustic Transducers

This course covers derivation and discussion of the fundamental operating characteristics of transducers for acoustics and for vibration. Acoustic transducers will include microphones, loudspeakers, and underwater hydrophones and projectors. Student must have a working knowledge of MATLAB prior to taking this course. [Spring semester}

Prerequsites: Undergraduate physics, basic linear circuit theory, differential equations, and complex numbers. Must have working knowledge of required software.

ACS 515, Acoustics in Fluid Media

This course covers sources of sound: superposition of simple courses, free space Green's functions, dipoles and quadrupoles, multipole expansion, radiation of sound, Kirchhoff-Helmholtz integral theorem, Rayleigh integral, radiation from cylinders and spheres, scattering from cylinders and spheres, diffraction, sound sources in ducts, cavities, and rooms, and a very brief introduction to acoustic finite elements and acoustic boundary elements. [Spring semester]

Prerequisite: ACS 502, Elements of Sound Waves in Fluids

ACS 894, M ENG Capstone

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.

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.

Elective Course Descriptions

In addition to the 18 credits of required core courses, M.Eng. degree students need to take four additional courses (12 credits) to reach a total of 30 required credits for the degree. The elective courses below are offered on a rotating basis, usually every couple of years. Specific course offerings depend on student interest and faculty availability. The course descriptions below indicate when each course was last offered. Course offerings for the upcoming semester are announced several months in advance.

ACS 519, Sound and Structure Interaction

Topics covered: structural vibrations of beams, plates, and cylindrical shells; structural damping; coupling of structural vibrations with acoustic pressure fields; analytical and numerical techniques (finite element and boundary element methods) for solving structural-acoustic problems; statistical energy analysis; transmission loss of plates; survey of practical applications for aerospace, automotive, and naval structural-acoustic systems.

Prerequisites: ACS 501 Elements of Acoustics and Vibration and ACS 502 Elements of Sound Waves in Fluids

ACS 521, Stress Waves in Solids

This course will cover recent advances in ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation; the propagation of elastic stress waves in solids; reflection and refraction of waves; horizontal shear; multilayer structures; viscoelastic media; testing principles.

Prerequisite: Undergraduate physics, differential equations, and complex numbers.

ACS 523, Signal Analysis for Acoustics and Vibration II

This course is concerned with the time and frequency-domain analysis of discrete-time signals and discrete-time linear systems, with an emphasis on developing and applying analysis techniques with applications in acoustics and vibrations. Topics covered include: a review of time and frequency-domain representations of systems; the analysis and design of IIR and FIR digital filters; time-frequency analysis; signal detection and classification; and signal modulation. Possible application topics include vibration and modal analysis, machinery and structural health and condition monitoring, source localization and classification, and outdoor sound propagation.

Prerequisite: ACS 503, Signal Analysis for Acoustics and Vibrations

ACS 524, Transducers II and Acoustics Systems Modeling (previously Advanced Transducers)

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.

Prerequisite: ACS 501, Elements of Acoustics and Vibration, ACS 502, Elements of Sound Waves in Fluids and 514 Electroacoustic Transducers

ACS 530, Flow Induced Noise

The objective of this course is to provide the basic and applied aspects of noise created by subsonic fluid flows including prediction and reduction techniques. The concepts of noise and non-radiating pressure fluctuations created by unsteady flows are discussed from both a theoretical and experimental perspective. For a given class of flow, mechanisms for the creation of unsteady wall pressures, forces and sound, radiated directly and re-radiated by the vibration of the structure, are presented. The course will place a heavy emphasis on real world applications with material discussing both current research thrusts and past work in the field including the review and discussion of relevant journal articles.

Prerequisite: Familiarity with both fluid mechanics and acoustics as well as undergraduate physics, differential equations and complex numbers.

ACS 533, Outdoor Sound Propagation

This course will cover a variety of outdoor sound scenarios, but a majority will focus on propagation near the ground. Topics include: effects of realistic ground surfaces; temperature gradients; atmospheric turbulence; propagation over barriers and terrain, and computational methods for outdoor sound.

Prerequisite: ACS 502, Elements of Sound Waves in Fluids or permission by instructor

ACS 537, Noise Control Engineering

Topics covered: source-path-receiver model, human hearing and psychoacoustics, human response to noise and vibration, sound quality metrics and criteria for quantifying noise, acoustic standards related to noise and vibration control, instrumentation for measuring and analyzing noise and vibration, noise sources (distributed sources, impact sources, flow noise), absorption (materials, measurement, placement), control of sound in large and small rooms, partitions and barriers, mufflers, and vibration control techniques.

Prerequisite: Undergraduate physics, differential equations and complex numbers

ACS 540, Nonlinear Acoustics in Fluids

The topics covered for this are: review of thermoviscous linear sound; nonlinear equations of acoustics; steepening/harmonic generation; weak shocks/N-waves; Burgers' equation; sonic booms; acoustic saturation; radiation pressure; acoustic levitation; nonlinear reflections and standing waves; biomedical harmonic imaging; streaming; cavitation and sonoluminescence; parametric arrays and the "audio spotlight"; scattering of sound by sound; and computational nonlinear acoustics.

Prerequisite: ACS 502: Elements of Sound Waves in Fluids or Instructor approval

ACS 542, Physical Principles in Biomedical Ultrasonics

This course focuses on the phenomenon of ultrasound in the context of medical and biological applications, systematically discussing physical principles and concepts. Concepts of wave acoustics are examined, and practical implications are explored — first, the generation and nature of acoustic fields and then their formal descriptions and measurement. Real tissues attenuate and scatter ultrasound in ways that have interesting relationships to their physical chemistry, and the course includes coverage of these topics. This course also includes critical accounts and discussions of the wide variety of diagnostic and investigative applications of ultrasound that are available in medicine and biology. The course encompasses the biophysics of ultrasound and its practical applications to therapeutic and surgical objectives. The course utilizes finite element methods for simulation.

Prerequisite: ACS 502: Elements of Sound Waves in Fluids

ACS 544, Computational Acoustics

This course provides a background to the field of computational acoustics with exposure to several important computational tools including: symbolic mathematics software (like Mathematica), finite differences, finite elements, boundary elements, scientific visualization, sound propagation algorithms. When possible, emphasis will be placed on commericially available software for solving noise and vibration problems. Guidelines are given for choosing the right numerical approach, generating meshes, and solving problems in areas such as product noise, audio and telephony, structural acoustics, and automobile and aircraft interior noise. Time domain, frequency domain, and fluid-structure interaction problems are all addressed.

Prerequisite: Co-Requisite Registration: ACS 501, Elements of Acoustics and Vibration and  ACS 502, Elements of Sound Waves in Fluids

ACS 547, Noise Control Applications

This course focuses on applications in noise control engineering. The course is split into two main overlapping themes: advanced measurement methods and machinery noise control. The advanced measurement methods will cover topics such as sound intensity, sound power, sound quality, impedance and transmission loss tubes, and coherent output power. The machinery noise control topics include noise generation and control from systems such as gears, pulleys, fans, HVAC systems, muffler systems, and rotating machinery.

Prerequisite: This course does not have prerequisites, However, is intended to generally be taken after ACS 537 – Noise Control Engineering. Students with industry or acoustical consulting backgrounds can be successful in this course if they have not taken ACS 537.

ACS 549, Acoustic Functional Materials

This course explores the latest advancements in the rapidly growing field of acoustic functional materials. Students will develop a deep understanding of the fundamental physics underlying the interaction between mechanical waves and engineered materials, such as phononic crystals, acoustic metamaterials, and metasurfaces. The course will cover novel behaviors of mechanical waves and their diverse applications. Students will also learn to model acoustic functional materials using both analytical methods (e.g., coupled-mode theory) and numerical techniques (e.g., finite element method). Key topics include: the fundamentals of acoustic waves, acoustic waves in periodic media, phononic crystals, acoustic metamaterials and metasurfaces, acoustic resonances, and acoustic analogs of condensed matter physics, such as topological and non-Hermitian acoustics.

Prerequisites: ACS 502 Elements of Sound Waves in Fluids and ACS 515 Acoustics in Fluid Media or permission of the instructor.

ACS 551, Spatial Sound and 3D Audio

This course is an overview of recent developments in virtual acoustics (also known as 3-D sound, 3-D audio, binaural audio, or spatialized sound). The course pulls from many subdisciplines of acoustics including psychoacoustics, physical acoustics, signal processing, active acoustic control, architectural acoustics, audio engineering and computational acoustics. Topics to be covered include: Head related transfer functions (HRTFs); elements of psychoacoustics for 3-D sound; the "stereo dipole"; auralization (including reverberation effects); virtual acoustic systems; cross talk cancellation; ambisonics; wave field synthesis; multi-channel audio; virtual reality modeling language (VRML) and applications.

Prerequisite: Class pre-requisites include some familiarity with basic acoustics. Previous enrollment in an Acoustics course is desirable. Students are expected to be familiar with undergraduate physics, differential equations and complex numbers.

ACS 552, Architectural Acoustics Theory and Applications

This 3-credit graduate course will cover underlying theory and commonly used research methods in architectural acoustics. The theory topics will include reflections from infinite surfaces and finite objects, absorption mechanisms, and psychoacoustics concepts specific to architectural acoustics. The research methods that will be discussed include room acoustics impulse response measurements, modeling of room acoustics using commercially- available software, and experimental design of subjective listening tests. A set of recently published research articles related to these topics will also be examined in detail.

Prerequisites: ACS 502 Elements of Sound Waves in Fluids

ACS 553, Signal Analysis for Audio Applications

This course will present the essential signal processing and acoustical modeling associated with audio systems used in broadcasting, communications, music recording, and video foley production. Topics covered: details of digital waveform compression processes and formats; digital signal processing for audio filters, modulation, filters, compressors, harmonizers, and reverberation special effects; digital audio workstations; the history and types of microphones and guitar pickups; amplifier design types, including digital, transistor, and vacuum tube amplifier designs; and loudspeaker system design including measurements and cross-over design for vented and sealed cabinets. This course will prepare students for working in the audio industry by supporting practical applications of acoustics theory to audio-related applications but it will not address electrical design of devices such as amplifiers or transducers. However, it will explain the differences and common uses of devices and processes in audio engineering.

Prerequisite: TBA

ACS 555, Applications of Aeroacoustics and Vibroacoustics (previously Acoustics of Musical Instruments)

This course will provide an in depth exploration of the physics and acoustics of classical musical instruments. Topics will focus on the mechanisms of sound production by stringed instruments (plucked, struck and bowed), percussion (drums, marimba) brass winds (lip reed, cylindrical bore, conical bore), woodwinds (flutes, single-reed, double reed). Related topics will include radiation properties, damping mechanisms, impedance measurements, and the coupling between acoustics and structural components. As time allows, ethnic variations on classical instruments may be discussed. An understanding of the fundamentals of acoustics and vibration will be assumed as prerequisite for this course.

Prerequisite: ACS 501, Elements of Acoustics and Vibration and ACS 502, Elements of Sound Waves in Fluids or permission of instructor

ACS 560, Ocean Acoustics

This course covers a broad, but comprehensive, introduction to many important topics in underwater acoustics. The major goal is to give participants a practical understanding of fundamental concepts, along with an appreciation of current research and development activities. It serves as a foundation for more advanced study of current literature or for other specialized courses. Topics covered: ocean dynamics: e.g., derivation of the Navier-Stokes equation; derivation and solution of the wave equation: Green's functions, wavenumber integration, normal modes, PE, ray theory, energy flux; boundary reflection: layered fluid and elastic media, plane and spherical wave reflection; and boundary and volume scattering.

Prerequisite: ACS 501, Elements of Acoustics and Vibration and ACS 502, Elements of Sound Waves in Fluids

ACS 597, Psychoacoustics and Sound Quality

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.

Prerequisite: A 400 or 500 level acoustics course

AE 458, Advanced Architectural Acoustics and Noise Control

This course covers advanced consideration of noise control in buildings; ventilating system noise and vibration; acoustic design variables. The course will begin with a brief review of acoustics fundamentals and will include the following topics: (1) sound isolation in buildings, (2) heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) noise control and (3) an introduction to architectural acoustics principles for the design of venues for speech and/or music.

Prerequisite: ACS 501, Elements of Acoustics and Vibration and ACS 502, Elements of Sound Waves in Fluids

AERSP 511, Aerodynamic Noise

This course covers all aspects of sound generation by unsteady flow. The material includes methods based on classical acoustics as well as noise modeling and prediction based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. Topics covered: Human response to noise; noise metrics; fundamental solutions of the wave equation; Green’s functions; sound generated by flow; Lighthill’s acoustic analogy; application of Lighthill’s analogy to turbulent flows; physics of jet noise; modern theories of aerodynamic noise generation; sound generation by solid boundaries; propeller noise helicopter rotor noise; and duct acoustics.

Prerequisite: Experience in compressible fluid mechanics helpful.

 
 

About

Founded in 1965, Penn State's Graduate Program in Acoustics has become the leading resource for graduate education in acoustics in the United States. The interdisciplinary program leads to the degrees: Master of Engineering in Acoustics (M.Eng.), Master of Science in Acoustics (M.S.), and Doctor of Philosophy in Acoustics (Ph.D.)

Graduate Program in Acoustics

College of Engineering

The Pennsylvania State University

14 Engineering Collaborative Research and Education Building

556 White Course Drive

University Park, PA 16802