Noise Network Plus

In the Noise Network Plus, we will engineer a quieter future. Noise – unwanted sound – has a major impact on public health, society and wildlife. Noise has a profound effect on human health and wellbeing, causing heart disease, high annoyance and sleep disturbance. Road noise in England alone is estimated to cause £7-10bn of health costs, with 130,000 healthy life years lost each year. Noise pollution affects wildlife, including birds and marine mammals, damaging wildlife health and reproduction. Noise also affects AI systems and sensors, including sonar echo sounders and underwater acoustic modems. Reducing noise and its impacts is a complex, systemic, and interconnected problem, requiring insights from many perspectives and creative ways of working. It is exactly the type of problem identified in the EPSRC Tomorrow’s Engineering Research Challenges (TERC) report. To address this, our vision is to re-engineer the discipline of engineering so that noise is considered in all stages of the design process. We will create a mission-oriented inter-organizational research and innovation network, “Noise Network Plus”, as a catalyst to bring together diverse, dynamic teams from across disciplines, promote dialogue, co-design missions, form lasting and inclusive collaborations, and build unprecedented noise research capabilities. You can join our mailing list. Go to jiscmail.ac.uk/NOISE to subscribe.