Sound Recording PhD

Why choose this course

Since the Institute of Sound Recording (IoSR) was created in 1998, it has become known internationally as a leading centre for research in psychoacoustic engineering, with world-class facilities and significant funding from research councils and industry.

We’re interested in human perceptions of audio quality, particularly of high-fidelity music signals. Overall perceived quality depends, at least in part, on perception of lower-level timbral and spatial attributes such as brightness, warmth, locatedness and envelopment. In turn, these attributes depend on acoustic parameters such as frequency spectrum and inter-aural cross-correlation coefficient. Using a combination of acoustic measurement and human listening tests, we are exploring the connections between acoustic parameters and perceived timbral and spatial attributes, and also between these perceptual attributes and overall quality and listener preference. From our findings we are developing mathematical and computational models of human auditory perception, and engineering perceptually-motivated audio tools.

Our work combines elements of acoustics, digital signal processing, psychoacoustics (theoretical and experimental), psychology, sound synthesis, software engineering, statistical analysis and user-interface design, with an understanding of the aesthetics of sound and music.

What you will study

Our Sound Recording research degree will prepare you for success at each stage of your project. The structure is designed to provide intensive graduate preparation for a future career and is suitable for either part-time or full-time candidates.

Completion of the programme requires submission of a thesis and an oral viva with external examiners.

The normal length of study leading to a PhD is three years full-time (or around 33 months to 48 months). Part-time PhD study normally takes six years (45 months to 96 months). The normal length of study leading to a MPhil is two years full-time (21 months to 36 months). Part-time MPhil normally takes four years (33 months to 72 months). The differences between an MPhil and PhD is in the volume, originality and significance of the work you will do.

Postgraduate research students are strongly encouraged to work here at the University. We have shared office space for all our research students, and it can be very valuable to work alongside others with similar interests and complementary expertise. It’s also useful to be close to the Institute of Sound Recording’s academic staff, our technical facilities and the University's Library and other learning resources.

PhD students in all programmes can expect three levels of research training: University-level, faculty-level and subject-specific.