Deymier Studying Acoustics in Permafrost with New Frontiers of Sound Consortium

MSE professor Pierre Deymier is director and principal investigator of New Frontiers of Sound, a consortium of researchers from eight universities working in topological acoustics. This field allows researchers to see and exploit properties of sound that were not previously visible. 

“So, let's suppose I rotate my source of sound by half a turn, then the room is filled with sound in a different manner, and I get a new sound field,” said Deymier in an interview with KJZZ. “It sounds very strange, and it is indeed very strange. But it is one of the characteristics of topological acoustic waves.”

Together with University of Alaska Fairbanks, the University of Arizona and NewFoS is monitoring permafrost by sensing how the ground’s acoustics change as it thaws.

“The only thing we have to do is pull up a number of seismic sensors and create a network of seismic sensors that are going to detect the phase of the seismic waves,” said Deymier.