YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → EGR 100 Guest Speaker Series, November 9, 2026, Melinda Miller

EGR 100 Guest Speaker Series, November 9, 2026, Melinda Miller — Transcript

by Chris Athanassopoulos · 5,918 words · 905 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:01All right. So, um we're going to jump
0:03right into our second speaker. Our
0:05second speaker is uh Melinda Miller who
0:08uh she represents a branch of
0:10engineering that I think is really
0:11really fascinating, acoustical
0:13engineering. Uh so Melinda is a
0:16principal and owner of uh ABD
0:19Engineering uh and design which is a uh
0:23uh it's an acoustical engineering
0:25consulting firm. Um Melinda has been at
0:28it for a long time now. She's I think
0:30probably 25 yearsish. She's in Portland,
0:33Oregon now. Her company is in Portland,
0:35Oregon now. They actually have two
0:36different locations in Portland and in
0:39Michigan, but she got her uh master's
0:42degree here at UIC. Um not a Harper
0:45alumnus, but uh alumni, but she did uh
0:48is a UIC alumni. Um so I I don't think I
0:52have that much more I can say. She's
0:54going to fill you in on what her company
0:57does, whether it's sound abatement or
0:59design of engine of acoustical spaces.
1:02But with that, I'm going to pass it off
1:04to Melinda. You're in good hands.
1:08>> Hello. Um, as David said, I'm an
1:11acoustical engineer and I am
1:17advancing. So, I'm going to tell you a
1:19little bit about my path in engineering
1:22and then kind of go into more of what I
1:24actually do because most people don't
1:26know what I do. Um, so I got a master's
1:29degree or an undergraduate degree in
1:32mechanical engineering and it was a
1:34process of elimination because we did
1:36not have a class like this. I would have
1:39loved to be in your class to find out
1:42all the different ways you can do
1:44engineering. Um, I kind of, you know,
1:47got a taste of electrical engineering,
1:50didn't like it, chemical, didn't like
1:51it, you know, ended up in mechanical
1:54engineering because that's what made the
1:55most sense to me. Um, and
2:00uh, I graduated
2:03with my bachelor's degree. I went and
2:06worked for a year, didn't really like
2:09what I was doing, and then decided to go
2:12to grad school in um
2:17uh I didn't mean to turn off my video.
2:20Did I turn off my video? Um
2:24>> No, you didn't. It was
2:25>> Okay. Sorry.
2:26>> You're good. You're up.
2:28>> Sorry. Delayed text. Um I I've played an
2:32instrument all my life. So um going into
2:37a field that meets joins music and
2:41engineering was really interesting to me
2:44and intriguing. So I went to grad
2:46school. It's still a mechanical
2:48engineering degree, but it was focused
2:49on vibrations and acoustics.
2:52And even after grad school, I didn't
2:55really know what I was doing or what to
2:58do next. and I ended up working teaching
3:01at Columbia College Chicago in the audio
3:03arts and acoustics department. And um
3:07that department doesn't exist anymore.
3:09Maybe the audio arts part does, but the
3:11acoustics part doesn't. So I taught
3:14there for a few years and they're
3:15basically teaching people to do what I
3:18do now, but um teaching was not my
3:22strong suit. So then I ended up doing
3:25becoming an acoustical consultant in
3:27Oregon and that's what I've been doing
3:30since. As David said, I work for a
3:32company or own a company that is has an
3:35office in Portland, Oregon and Michigan
3:38and I am now the owner as for and have
3:42owned my company for five years. So I
3:45had kind of a convoluted path to my what
3:49I finally did. Um, but um,
3:54you know, it's kind of like the previous
3:57presenter, you know, you go your own way
3:59and figure out what works for you. So,
4:03what is acoustical consulting? When I
4:06tell people what I do, they either think
4:09I record music and I'm a sound engineer
4:12that does uh audio recording or that I
4:17design performance spaces and that's it.
4:20Um I do design performance spaces.
4:24That's one of my projects. Uh that
4:27picture. Um but acoustical consulting
4:30touches a lot of areas. Uh the the kind
4:34of the main things that we do are we
4:36deal with noise isolation.
4:38So
4:40um figuring out what walls to put in a
4:43classroom so you can't hear the adjacent
4:45classroom. Um
4:49uh room acoustics, which is what kind of
4:53acoustical materials go in a room to
4:56help it sound good. So what's the
4:58ceiling tile in your classroom? or as in
5:01this picture for the performance space,
5:04how do what do we do with those um
5:06curved reflectors in the ceiling? How do
5:09we aim the sound appropriately? That's
5:12the room acoustic side. The other side
5:14is the background noise. How do we
5:17control the background noise from the
5:19exterior
5:21uh like traffic or aircraft noise that
5:23could impact the building or the the
5:27building systems like the heating,
5:29ventilation, cooling? We make sure that
5:31that's quiet so you can hear and
5:34understand what your professors are
5:36saying in a classroom.
5:39And then the other piece of the puzzle
5:40is like community noise. noise impact to
5:44the community from
5:48uh mechanical equipment on the roof or
5:52um
5:53or you know other process other things
5:57that happen outside. We're trying to
5:58control the sound so that it doesn't
6:01impact people in their homes.
6:04So that's kind of the the areas of work
6:06we do, but we get involved in all sorts
6:08of types of buildings and environments.
6:10Um the picture on the right is a
6:13healthcare environment because we want
6:14to make sure that you know the the
6:18equipment used for the tools uh used by
6:23the doctors and nurses doesn't impact
6:26the patients like an MRI machine. We
6:29have to do vibration isolation for MRIs
6:32and noise isolation. We also want to
6:35make the spaces quiet so people can
6:37sleep and recover.
6:40Um, like we said, we we deal with
6:42mechanical equipment. This picture on
6:45the upper left is a giant rooftop unit,
6:50air handling unit that
6:52um they're showing off the spring
6:55vibration isolators. So, we, you know,
6:58we would work with the mechanical
6:59engineer to specify those vibration
7:02isolators.
7:03We also look at what's the roof
7:05structure so that there's not too much
7:08vibration and sound go from the
7:13unit going into the spaces and the you
7:15know transmitting through the roof into
7:17those spaces. So there's lots of things
7:19we look at. We also get involved in like
7:22industrial outdoor industrial
7:24environments like a quarry. The picture
7:27on the lower left is a quarry. So we
7:31model the trucks and the ex excava
7:35excavators and the rock crushers and
7:38things like that. We create a computer
7:40model of that and predict the sound to
7:43the nearest residents and provide
7:46mitigation so that the quarry doesn't
7:48the quarry noise doesn't impact the
7:51neighbors. Other things we get involved
7:53is our apartment buildings. There's code
7:56requirements for apartment buildings.
7:58um to make sure this that there's good
8:01sound isolation and you don't hear
8:04people stomping in the room above you.
8:07Um we get involved in uh higher
8:10education education facilities like the
8:12classroom you're in. Um where we yeah we
8:16specify those walls between the spaces.
8:19We help the architect select the ceiling
8:23tile and the acoustical treatment and
8:24tell them where to put it. This project
8:27happened to be a um podcast studio for
8:31journalism department.
8:34Uh we also get involved with you know
8:36like uh K through 12 so high schools,
8:40elementary schools. We also deal with
8:43dog kennels or humane societies
8:46um because dogs are very sensitive to
8:49sound. So, we have we actually are
8:52working on a few um humane societies
8:55right now uh because they didn't think
8:57about acoustics when they built the
8:59project and now they need to because the
9:02dogs are triggered by all the noise.
9:05Um
9:08as part of our
9:10um
9:12process, we often have to go do
9:14measurements. Um,
9:17we sometimes do measurements in the
9:20building where like the picture on the
9:22left is kind of our setup for measuring
9:26how well a wall is performing in terms
9:28of the sound isolation where we put a
9:31speaker on one side of the wall and we
9:33pump pink noise really really loud on
9:36that side of the wall. We measure that
9:39where the speaker is and then we measure
9:41on the other side of the wall and we
9:42calculate how well that wall is
9:44performing. how much sound isolation it
9:46has and then what we can do to make it
9:49better. Um,
9:52we do
9:54uh measurements like in industrial
9:56environments. The picture on the right
9:57is me measuring in a meat processing
9:59plant. Um, there are, you know, OSHA
10:03requirements for how loud how much noise
10:06you can be exposed to during a day. And
10:08so we often get called in to help people
10:11help manufacturing facilities kind of
10:15control the noisiest pieces of equipment
10:17to minimize the noise impact on the
10:19workers.
10:21Um the community noise stuff too. We,
10:25you know, we do measurements outside to
10:28assess traffic noise or
10:33um industrial noise that can impact a
10:36building so that we can help them help
10:38the building uh help the designers
10:41figure out what kind of windows and
10:43walls to put up to minimize the noise
10:45from traffic or trains and things like
10:47that.
10:49Um so the typical background for
10:52somebody that comes into acoustical
10:54consulting
10:56is some sort of engineering degree. Um
11:03sometimes people come you most of the
11:06time people come from like an
11:07engineering or physics background.
11:10Um,
11:11usually it's mechanical engineering.
11:13Sometimes it's an interdisciplinary
11:16um, engineering degree. We have one guy
11:19who made up his own degree. He just
11:22wanted to do acoustics and so he made up
11:24his own path. Um
11:28uh some people come from an architecture
11:31uh half but they do still have some sort
11:34of
11:36physics engineering
11:39uh background as well.
11:42Uh obviously physics work like I said
11:44physics course work is helpful as we're
11:47dealing with sound. Um interest in
11:53buildings or construction is helpful.
11:55It's not a requirement, but kind of, you
11:58know, that's what we're doing most of
11:59the time is building acoustics. So,
12:02under wanting to know how a building is
12:04built and what pieces and parts go into
12:07that is helpful because that's what we
12:09do. Um, creative and analytical
12:12thinking, I think that's going to be
12:14universal through any engineering
12:16discipline because that's kind of, you
12:18know, the foundation of what we do.
12:22Um, most of what we do is learned on the
12:26job because there are very few
12:30acoustical
12:32degrees out there. Um, there there are
12:36more than there used to be, but uh,
12:39typically to get into the nitty-gritty
12:42of acoustics, you have to go to grad
12:44school. um if you're going the education
12:48path and there are few you know a few
12:51programs that do that really gear
12:55towards building acoustics.
12:57Um there's a lot that go for underwater
13:00acoustics and things like that, but um
13:04there's not a lot out there that you can
13:06just go get your degree and know what we
13:09do. So much of what we learn is on the
13:11job. Um but the that foundation of the
13:16math and
13:18um
13:20the you know the calculus and the
13:22physics that that you learn in your
13:24engineering degree helps in what we do
13:26daytoday.
13:29So on a the you know
13:34day-to-day what what a project is like
13:37for us. We typically work for an
13:41architect
13:43um or the owner. When we're working for
13:45an architect, we're usually the building
13:48hasn't been built or they're adding on a
13:51significant part to a building. When
13:53we're working with an owner, it's
13:56usually
13:58like that meat processing plant where
14:01we're working directly with the the
14:04manufacturer to help them reduce their
14:06noise or uh sometimes it's like a a
14:12church where their sanctuary is too
14:14lively and they need our help. We come
14:16in after the fact and help them
14:19when So those are the two kind of ways
14:21we work. We work from design more with
14:24architects and then we work on kind of
14:27the noise mitigation side where we're
14:29trying to uh either fix a problem or
14:34uh kind of help redesign a space that
14:38maybe was used as a gym a while ago and
14:41now is used for a different purpose and
14:44they need to refine the acoustics for
14:47that space to make it work.
14:49So when we're going from design, there
14:52are three phases that uh of a project
14:56from the design side. There's schematic
14:58design, design development, and
15:01construction documents.
15:04Schematic design is what it sounds like.
15:06It's schematic. There aren't a lot of
15:08details in the drawings. And it's kind
15:11of these are where the spaces are. Show
15:14the drawings kind of show where all the
15:16spaces are. and there's just not a lot
15:18of detail. And at that point, we're
15:20usually giving the architect kind of
15:23guidelines of what to plan for in terms
15:26of the acoustical elements like the wall
15:29types and the acoustical treatment.
15:31Um, design development is again kind of
15:34what it sounds like. We're developing
15:36the design. We're getting more and more
15:38details into the project and we're
15:39starting to work with the mechanical
15:41engineer who's designing the HBAC system
15:45to coordinate all the noise makers and
15:48help, you know, figure out how to
15:50mitigate those noise makers. And in
15:53construction doc documents, that's where
15:55we're the we're working with the design
15:57team to get the drawings and the
16:00specifications so that a contractor can
16:03look at all that stuff and know how to
16:05build the building.
16:07And that's where we get into lots of
16:09reviewing all the details that the
16:11architects have of the walls and the
16:15floor ceiling junctions and
16:18specifications on all acoustical
16:20treatment and things like that where
16:22we're getting into the nitty-gritty
16:23details.
16:27uh as acoustical consultants, our
16:29deliverable to our client is usually in
16:33the form of a report with
16:35recommendations or it's a report that
16:38says here's what we measured.
16:40This is what that measurement means and
16:43here's what we recommend to fix it. So,
16:46it's usually a report. Sometimes we give
16:48drawing details. Uh we're often like the
16:52architect produces a set of drawings and
16:54a PDF and we're marking up the PDF to
16:58make sure they've got all the acoustical
17:00details correct. So those are that's
17:03kind of our piece of the puzzle. We also
17:05our company also does a audiovisisual
17:07design and they produce drawings but
17:09that's a different whole different
17:11beast.
17:13The other part of our process is that we
17:15do construction administration. This
17:17means that so while the building is
17:19being built, um sometimes the
17:23contractors have questions
17:25uh on how something's supposed to be
17:28installed, we help answer those
17:30questions. We make sure that the
17:32products that they've purchased or
17:34they're they're going to purchase that
17:36are going to go in the building meet the
17:38specifications and we review those and
17:40make sure they meet. And then we also go
17:43on site while the building's being built
17:45to make sure it's the acoustical details
17:48are being implemented correctly. So this
17:51is an example of kind of some of the
17:53construction stuff we look at. So this
17:56may not make a ton of sense if you've
17:58never seen been in a building when it h
18:00when it's under construction.
18:03But the picture on the left is of a
18:07double stud wall. There's a one stud.
18:10There's the other stud. and a gap in
18:12between. This is like a really robust
18:15wall between two music performing spa,
18:18music rehearsal rooms. So, it's supposed
18:21to provide a lot of sound isolation.
18:23They put the electrical outlets back to
18:26back, which is a not good because the
18:29sound can go through the electrical
18:31outlet into the other side of the wall.
18:34So, we pay we look for things like that.
18:37We look for when the plumbing is
18:41touching the piping is touching
18:42structure is as the water flows through
18:45that pipe it causes the pipe to vibrate
18:48and if it's touching the structure then
18:51it that vibration transfers to the
18:53structure and that can transfer as noise
18:55into the space. So we don't want that.
18:58Um the other things we look at is are
19:01all the little holes hatched?
19:04Um, sound is like water. If there's a
19:08gap, it will go through. Um, so on this
19:13lower right picture, we have big gaps
19:16around the piping and the duct work in
19:19this wall. That's something where we
19:21would say you have to patch that and
19:23seal it up because the sound can go
19:25right through that.
19:27Um, an example I'm going to talk through
19:30a few example projects we did. This is
19:34that meat processing plant where I did
19:36measurements. Um, this is a drawing of
19:40their floor plan with all of their
19:42processing equipment. Um, so we did
19:46measurements of all that equipment and
19:48then created a sound map of their this
19:52one room to show where the sound is,
19:56where the big noise makers are. So the
19:59big noise maker is this area in cyan
20:03which is 96 dB.
20:06Uh a typical rock concert is like 110
20:10dB. So we're getting to rock concert
20:12sound levels right there.
20:15Um and then you get back into the corner
20:18and it's 90 dB. So that's really really
20:22loud. The limit for OSHA
20:26noise exposure standards is like 85 dB
20:29decibb. So they're well above that and
20:32that's that's the issue. So we did the
20:35sound model of their equipment as is and
20:39then we did a model where we with the
20:43recommendations we gave them and
20:46although we didn't reduce the noise
20:48levels by the big noise maker as you get
20:51farther from it the noise levels reduce.
20:53So up in the corner we're down to 84 dBA
20:58whereas before we are at 90. um six dB
21:03is uh doesn't sound like much but it's
21:06actually quite a bit.
21:08So this is just kind of one of the
21:10examples of a project we have done um an
21:14ar uh architectural acoustics project.
21:18This is a um
21:22kind of performance space
21:24slashpresentation
21:25space for a university.
21:29And when we are designing for music, we
21:35usually want the sound in the space to
21:38linger. We call it the reverberation
21:39time. How long it takes for the sound to
21:42decay in the space. So when we have
21:46music, we really want the the sound to
21:49linger a little bit more and envelop
21:51you. Um but when we are really focused
21:56on speech, we don't want that because
21:58that when the sound lingers, it makes
22:01the speech muddy and you can't hear and
22:03understand what's being said.
22:06So like your classroom that you're in,
22:10it has a low reverberation time so you
22:13can hear and understand me and your
22:15professors and can communicate with each
22:18other. Um
22:21so this is a big space has a big volume
22:24and we recommended all this wood that
22:28you see to be an acoustically absorptive
22:31material. So it would absorb some of the
22:34sound and wouldn't make it so echoey.
22:37That's a it was a big money ticket to do
22:40all that. And the client wasn't sure
22:42they wanted to do it. So we did a
22:45computer simulation of what it will
22:48sound like without any treatment in the
22:50space and then what it would sound like
22:52if we made it super dead. Um and I will
22:57hopefully this will play.
22:59>> All right. All right. I want to thank
23:00all of you for agreeing to stay late and
23:01work this out. The boys in R&D have sent
23:04over the latest version of the product,
23:05and it's up to us to come up with a name
23:07for it. We're not going anywhere for a
23:08while.
23:09>> Yeah. Yeah. I think we can knock this
23:10one out quick. We can It'll be
23:12>> So, that was what it would sound like
23:15when it's really dead.
23:19>> All right.
23:31It would be fast.
23:33>> And that's what it sound like. If they
23:35didn't do anything. So that's second
23:39example. If somebody was trying to speak
23:42in there, you wouldn't be able to
23:43understand it. Um it might sound great
23:47for a choir or an organ, but not for
23:51speaking. So what we ended up doing is
23:54using these um examples. The client was
23:58okay with what we recommended which was
24:00in between those two where the sound
24:03would linger a little bit but not so
24:05much that you couldn't understand
24:06speech.
24:10Another type of uh project we do like I
24:13said is community noise. We want to know
24:15the noise impact of uh buildings on the
24:19adjacent comm community adjacent
24:21buildings or outside. So, this is a it
24:26you can't see it all, but it's kind of a
24:28map of a downtown area. The building in
24:31gray is a um
24:35like a concert venue. So, high sound
24:40level amplified sound um in this venue.
24:45And so, we and across the street over
24:48here on the left is a is a hotel. So,
24:52the concern was that the noise from the
24:55venue would be uh too loud for people
24:58that might want to go to sleep at 900
25:01p.m. and the concerts still go until
25:0311:00.
25:05So, we modeled the space based on what
25:07the architect designed for the walls,
25:09the roof, the doors, and we mapped we
25:14created a sound map to show how the
25:16sound was coming out of that space. Um,
25:19and then we we provided recommendations
25:22for
25:24upgrades to the walls, doors, windows,
25:27and you can see this pink blob on the
25:29left really significantly reduces on the
25:32right. So, um, that's kind of our what
25:37we did to there's a lot behind it, but
25:40that picture kind of shows what we were
25:42doing to help mitigate that noise, make
25:44sure we're not having a negative impact
25:47on the adjacent hotel.
25:50the lessons learned along the way. Um,
25:56these are things that are I'm constantly
25:58learning and that's one thing I think is
26:01helpful to recognize is that yes, you're
26:05going to learn those technical things,
26:06but these non-technical things, you're
26:10always finding ways to improve it and
26:12they are always going to be part of what
26:14you do.
26:16Um we work I work on a multidisciplinary
26:19teams. I work with architects,
26:21mechanical engineers,
26:24electrical engineers, structural
26:25engineers, plumbing engineers, you name
26:28it. All the things that go into a
26:30building. There's there lots of
26:32engineers that help. So, it's important
26:34to be curious about what all those other
26:38people do to contribute to this project
26:41because
26:43what I recommend impacts what they're
26:45doing, what they're doing impacts what
26:47I'm doing. So, being curious about your
26:49teammates, even if they're not
26:51multiddisciplinary, if they're in the
26:52same discipline, being curious about
26:54what your teammates do to kind of
26:56understand what their constraints are,
26:59where they're coming from, helps you do
27:00a better job.
27:03um document everything you do. Uh that's
27:08always a work in progress. Um
27:11you have to document for your you know
27:13you document you take notes in class,
27:16you document your lab processes, but
27:20when out in the real world you have to
27:22document what you do because sometimes
27:24you start a project
27:27um but somebody else takes over that
27:29project. Sometimes you start a project,
27:31it pauses because there's funding
27:33issues, whatever it you come back to it.
27:37There's lots of reasons where you can
27:39start and stop a project. So you have to
27:40have good documentation internally so
27:43people know what you did. You know what
27:45I did? I I need it for myself to know
27:47what I did. Um and for others. The other
27:52piece is for the the because people live
27:56in the buildings that we are helping
27:59design. Um there are code requirements,
28:03you know, legal requirements that that
28:05need to be met as part of our designs.
28:08We have to document what decisions are
28:10made that impact that. So documenting
28:14that we made this recommendation and the
28:17design team decided not to implement it
28:20and then later the the user comes along
28:22and complains then we have documentation
28:24to say well we recommended this but you
28:28guys didn't put it in that's you know
28:31not not our fault. Um so that's another
28:36piece of it. There's lots of reasons to
28:38document but those are the two big ones.
28:42listening to the other people on your
28:45design team, your clients. It's very
28:48important.
28:49We have to kind of
28:52uh I think this is universal for any
28:55engineering discipline. You have to
28:57explain what you do to people who don't
28:59know what you do. Um and explain it in a
29:03way they can understand. Uh, and
29:05acoustics is one of those things people
29:08can't see, so they have trouble
29:11understanding what we do and why it's
29:14important. Like I said earlier, fixed DB
29:18of reduction is significant. And you're
29:20like, what does that mean?
29:22You know, we have to find ways to
29:24explain that. Um
29:28so
29:30uh communicating clearly, listening to
29:33our clients so that they you know
29:38uh you kind of kind of translate what
29:40their issues are into acoustical terms.
29:44Um
29:46those are very very important things. Uh
29:49the communication piece like I said is
29:52also about like communicating what we do
29:55clearly. so people can understand and
29:58make good decisions about what they want
30:01to implement or not uh is important.
30:05But also just the kind of mundane
30:08communication of somebody sends you an
30:10email, asks a question, and you can't
30:13get to it.
30:16communicating, I can't get to it, but
30:18I'll answer your question in two days,
30:21is a big deal because people don't want
30:24to think they're forgotten and don't
30:26want to have to pester you. They're
30:27busy. They don't want to have to pester
30:29you for answers. So, being responsive in
30:33that way and communicating is a big
30:35thing. All of these are things that that
30:38I work on that our sta my staff works on
30:41all the time. So just remember that this
30:45is an ongoing process.
30:48If you are interested in acoustics, I'm
30:52going very fast. I realized um
30:56[laughter]
30:57if you are interested in acoustics,
30:59there's
31:01um typically you can take uh digital
31:06signal processing
31:08or
31:10um vibrations or an acoustics class.
31:15usually in your junior or senior year.
31:18Um there's usually at least one or two
31:21you can take depending on um the
31:24programs. So that's one thing to get a
31:27little taste of it. Uh if you want to
31:30know more about acoustics and not just
31:33building acoustics, which I talked
31:35about, the acoustical society of America
31:38has developed this amazing page um
31:41explores.org that talks about all the
31:44different careers in acoustics and you
31:47can dig into the details, but there's a
31:50lot there. So, um really really
31:54interesting from musical acoustics to
31:57music education to underwater acoustics
32:00to speech and perception. It's all
32:03there. So, you can look into that more.
32:07the Institute of Noise Control Engineers
32:09is another resource
32:12and the National Council of Acoustical
32:14Consultants. Um,
32:18that one that's mainly companies that do
32:21what I do. Uh,
32:24and
32:25you can kind of find if you have an
32:27interest, you can find some near you uh
32:31that you could maybe go talk to somebody
32:34in person and ask them more about what
32:36they do. Um, there's acoustics is at
32:40least what building acoustics what I do
32:42is a niche
32:44field. Um, it's there aren't many
32:50firms that do this. There's like 10 in
32:54Illinois,
32:56four or five in Oregon. You know, the
32:59like there's a a lot in, you know, in
33:03bigger cities is really where these
33:06where
33:08um the firms are located. I mean with
33:12COVID people are working remotely on
33:14their own in different areas but most of
33:18the time the base
33:20uh the home base for an acoustical
33:23consulting firm is in a big city. So uh
33:28because that's where most of the
33:29buildings are. That's what we're
33:30building.
33:32Um and that's where the architects are.
33:36And so that's kind of why that is. But
33:39it is a smaller field but it's growing
33:42and there are a lot of um firms that
33:47really want people to go into acoustical
33:50consulting. We're always looking for
33:52more. Um so uh I think that is it. We
33:58have question.
34:03>> That's great Melinda. Thank you very
34:04much. You did not go too fast. I think
34:06you left some ample time for questions
34:08which is great. So first of all I want
34:11to give uh I think everybody wants to
34:12give you a round of applause
34:20and I already have a question from the
34:22chat here some somebody who seems like
34:24they're uh interested in uh building
34:27acoustics. They say when presenting that
34:30big space for speech that had a ver
34:33reverberation problem. You mentioned
34:35that the client and her team agreed on a
34:38middle ground between no treatment and
34:40fully treated wood walls. What was this
34:43middle ground?
34:45>> Okay, so the
34:49uh
34:50the middle ground was the the wood
34:54acoustical walls to go to that example
34:58where it was really really dead.
35:01We had to cover like absolutely every
35:04surface, floor, ceiling, everything with
35:07a really absorptive material. So, um,
35:11the middle ground was
35:14maybe not all of that was acoustical.
35:16All that wood was acoustical, but a good
35:19percentage of it was an acoustical
35:20treatment.
35:23>> And I assume that the client was was
35:25satisfied with the result.
35:27>> Yes. Yes. Yes. They Yeah, they really
35:30enjoyed it.
35:34>> All right, we're looking for questions
35:35in the room. Um, but um, there are more
35:38questions in the chat or at least one
35:41here. While Chris is chasing down the
35:44imperson one, I'm going to ask this
35:45question. Do acoustic engineers work
35:48with cars and planes also? Yeah, there
35:53um actually there's a quite a a
35:59there's an area of acoustics that's
36:01called uh NVH. I can't remember what the
36:04H stands for, but the N and V are noise
36:06and vibration. Um but it's basically
36:09vehicle noise. So, a lot of NVH
36:12engineers are in the Detroit area for
36:15cars. Um the airplanes as well, that's a
36:19big part of it. I did an internship at
36:22Boeing
36:23um when I was in my undergrad and it was
36:26one of the things we had to deal with
36:28was the or I got exposed to is that
36:30noise issue of uh on flames. Um
36:35but that's a big area some people work
36:37for like yeah even the you like farm
36:41equipment vibration isolation for farm
36:44equipment and things like that. So
36:45there's definitely applications there.
36:49>> Yeah. Thanks. I think I'm reminded of a
36:52commercial with uh Matthew McConna
36:54closing a door of a Lincoln Continental
36:56and showing up in his
37:00>> Exactly.
37:02>> I wanted to ask about uh software. So,
37:06there's like no acoustic module on
37:10Fusion 360. Uh and I can't find anything
37:13that's more advanced than horn rest. It
37:16goes straight from horn rest to multi-
37:18thou like thousands and thousands of
37:20dollars software. Is there anything that
37:23an amateur can get their hands on to try
37:26and learn a little bit about like
37:29resonance chambers and whatnot?
37:32>> Um
37:34that's a good question. I don't know any
37:37of the software that you just listed. Uh
37:40that is none of that is familiar to me.
37:42Um but I am sure there are some things
37:48out there. Uh there are like
37:53the one of the programs that we use is
37:55called ease uh ease I mean but it's uh
38:01the ease stands for something. Um,
38:06and they sometimes have trial versions
38:08or school versions that the student
38:11versions that you can use. And that's
38:12like a room modeling program where, like
38:15you said, you can model a room, you can
38:18find out how reverberant is, you can put
38:20treatment in, um, look at the room
38:23modes, things like that. Uh, but I don't
38:28know any off the top of my head that are
38:30just like easy. uh easy access ones.
38:36>> Yeah, it it doesn't have to be free, but
38:38like something that's in hundreds of
38:40dollars would be a lot more accessible
38:42than multiple thousands.
38:44>> Yeah. Well, that ease the student
38:46version of ease. There's
38:48>> there might be something there. Um
38:54I'm sorry. I just I know there's more
38:56out there, but I I just don't know them
38:58off the top of my head.
39:01Um, I also have a second question really
39:03quick. Um, do you for acoustic
39:07treatments, do you ever treat a space
39:11like as a band pass and route the sound
39:14back into itself?
39:17>> No.
39:19No, we don't have any applications that
39:22um we would do something like that. Uh,
39:26most of the time we're trying to either
39:32control where the sound goes in a space
39:34like with the performance spaces based
39:36on the shaping of the walls and the
39:39ceiling or we're just trying to absorb
39:42it so it's not too lively. So, we're not
39:45usually
39:47trying to bring the sound back in. We're
39:50trying to get rid of it most of the
39:51time.
39:57>> All right. There there's another
39:58question here from the chat. Um,
40:00somebody's asking if you come from a
40:02musical background. Did that affect your
40:05decision to go into acoustics or not? Or
40:09was it more so the physics and mechanics
40:11side of it that interested you?
40:14>> Um, I
40:17definitely well I came from a music
40:19background. I played the clarinet since
40:21I was 11. Um, and I played the clarinet
40:26uh all the way through grad school and
40:29beyond.
40:31Um, so music was a big part of that.
40:34Most of my staff
40:36are musicians. Like we have we can have
40:39our own band if we wanted to. Um,
40:42so although music was a big pull for me,
40:46I knew I didn't want to be like a
40:48professional musician or a music
40:50educator. I liked science. So, um, I
40:54went into engineering. I didn't know
40:56acoustics was an option. I didn't know
40:58this job was an option. Otherwise, I
41:01probably would have maybe made a few
41:03different decisions. But, um, but I
41:06liked the idea of joining that music and
41:10engineering to, you know, have to work
41:14on band rooms and uh, performance spaces
41:18is really fun as a musician. So, um, I
41:23have that background, but it wasn't it
41:26it played into my decision, but I knew,
41:29you know, it was a balance of of the
41:32engineering and the uh music that pulled
41:35me this way. Yeah, there's very few,
41:39well, they do exist, but the people that
41:41go into building acoustics, there's very
41:43few that don't have some sort of musical
41:46background. It's just because we all
41:48like science and we like music and this
41:50is where we land.
41:55>> Yeah, I for one would attend a gig
41:57played by the uh ABD engineering and
42:00design [laughter] firm.
42:03>> It would be a little out out of balance
42:05because we have like two drummers, a
42:07trombone player and a bass player.
42:10But yeah,
42:13we have some singers.
42:18>> I think um I think that might wrap up
42:21our questions. So um I think once again
42:23we're going to give you another round of
42:25applause.
42:30And as always, thank you again, Melinda.
42:33>> Thanks.
42:35>> All right, take care.

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of EGR 100 Guest Speaker Series, November 9, 2026, Melinda Miller by Chris Athanassopoulos, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 5,918 words across 905 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to choose a caption track available on the video.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, caption language selection, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.