SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION
CMNS 359-4

Barry Truax	Spring 2001
RCB 6146; 604-291-4261	Burnaby Campus Day
truax@sfu.ca

ACOUSTIC DIMENSIONS OF COMMUNICATION II

Overview:

This course is designed in seminar/lab format as an intermediate level work group in the field of acoustic communication. The topics to be presented in the seminar will include acoustic design, soundscape studies, noise in the community, orality, language and interpersonal communication, electro-acoustic media, listening and sound cognition. A basic bibliography and relevant articles will be provided on Library reserve.

The lab portion of the course will systematically survey the wide range of terminology and knowledge associated with the behaviour and perception of sound (acoustics and psychoacoustics), including the specialized areas of speech acoustics, audiology and hearing loss, noise measurement and damage risk criteria.

Student work will normally consist of an essay and a project on a topic of the student’s choice in the field of acoustic communication. The essay will involve library or other research and the project will be more applied or field oriented. Grading will be by letter grade average of these projects, each worth 40% of the final grade, with the remaining 20% from the final terminology quiz associated with the lab work. A report on one of these projects will be expected during the last seminar. Examples of general areas in which projects may be based are:

- Fieldwork or Library research in the area of noise, environmental sound or hearing loss.
- Soundscape analysis, or studies of aspects of aural perception and listening.
- Language, soundmaking and/or non-verbal aspects of interpersonal communication.
- Acoustic aspects of social organization.
- Impact of electroacoustic technology on acoustic communication.

Prerequisite:

CMNS 259-3 or permission of the Instructor.
Enrollment Limit: 12 students

Texts:

B. Truax, Acoustic Communication (2nd edition) Ablex, 2000.
B. Truax, (ed.), Handbook for Acoustic Ecology. CD-ROM version, Cambridge Street Publishing, 1999

The School expects that the grades awarded in this course will bear some reasonable relation to established university-wide practices with respect to both levels and distribution of grades. In addition, the School will follow Policy T10.02 with respect to “Intellectual Honesty”, and “Academic Discipline” (see the current Calendar, General Regulations Section).