OU Profiles homepage Edit my profile User guide Accessibility Statement
Picture of David Sharp

Prf David Sharp

Professor Of Musical Acoustics

School of Engineering & Innovation

david.sharp@open.ac.uk

Biography

Professional biography

David Sharp is Professor of Musical Acoustics in the STEM Faculty at the Open University. 

David's primary research activities are in the Acoustics Research Group, but he also co-supervises PhD research in the Music Computing Lab. His research interests are in musical acoustics, in particular measuring and evaluating the playing characteristics of wind instruments.

On the teaching front, David has chaired, authored on, and made presentation contributions to modules throughout the OU's engineering, environment and mathematics curriculum areas; as well as working on cross-faculty music technology curriculum.

David regularly delivers interactive talks on sound to both local schoolchildren and the general public. He was an academic consultant for four series of BBC Coast and appeared on the programme several times, carrying out acoustic measurements and demonstrations. He is also an academic consultant for the current BBC "Secret Genius of Modern Life" series.

Publications

Dataset

Sustained and attack sounds of the hybrid instrument evaluation, along with simulations. Mouthpiece pressure and external pressures. (2016)

Journal Article

Acceptability of Remote Monitoring in Assisted Living/Smart Homes in the United Kingdom and Associated Use of Sounds and Vibrations—A Systematic Review (2024)

Acceptability of Remote Monitoring in Assisted Living/Smart Homes in the United Kingdom and Associated Use of Sounds and Vibrations—A Systematic Review (2024)

The Pop Code: is it fit for purpose? (2020)

Findings from a survey of pitch drift (2020)

Assessing the sound of a woodwind instrument that cannot be played (2019)

Virtual Pitch and Pitch Shifts in Church Bells (2017)

Developing and evaluating a hybrid wind instrument (2017)

Testing a Spectral Model of Tonal Affinity with Microtonal Melodies and Inharmonic Spectra (2016)

An active mute for the trombone (2015)

Experimental demonstration of the modification of the resonances of a simplified self-sustained wind instrument through modal active control. (2015)

A spectral pitch class model of the probe tone data and scalic tonality (2015)

Simulations of modal active control applied to the self-sustained oscillations of the clarinet. (2014)

LIF measurement of the diluting effect of surface waves on turbulent buoyant plumes. (2014)

Partial frequencies and Chladni’s law in church bells (2014)

A numerical and experimental investigation of an axially symmetric RF plasma (2012)

A MIDI sequencer that widens access to the compositional possibilities of novel tunings (2012)

Investigating the consistency of woodwind instrument manufacturing by comparing five nominally identical oboes (2012)

Investigating perceptual differences between two trumpets of the same model type (2011)

Looking into a plasma loudspeaker (2011)

A single microphone capillary-based system for measuring the complex input impedance of musical wind instruments (2011)

Modelling the similarity of pitch collections with expectation tensors (2011)

Evaluating the suitability of acoustical measurement techniques and psychophysical testing for studying the consistency of musical wind instrument manufacturing (2010)

A psychoacoustical investigation into the effect of wall material on the sound produced by lip-reed instruments (2008)

Inverse potential scattering in duct acoustics (2006)

Increasing the axial resolution of bore profile measurements made using acoustic pulse reflectometry (2005)

Wideband measurement of the acoustic impedance of tubular objects (2005)

The problem of offset in measurements made using acoustic pulse reflectometry (2005)

The Acoustical Klein-Gordon equation: the wave-mechanical step and barrier potential functions (2003)

Singular system methods in acoustic pulse reflectometry (2003)

An Acoustical investigation into the effect of the crook profile on the sound produced by the bassoon (2003)

Distinguishing between similar tubular objects using pulse reflectometry: a study of trumpet and cornet leadpipes (2002)

Presentation / Conference

Application of psychoacoustic phenomena as a method of low frequency noise control for events (2024)

Bringing Timbral Shapes to Interactive Music Systems (2023)

Investigating the effects of modern music genres on the likelihood of annoyance for residents living close to music venues and how this may influence noise mitigation strategy (2023)

Rapid assessment of surface topography via non-destructive acoustic testing (2021)

An evaluation of UK and international guidance for the control of noise at outdoor events (2020)

Assessing engineered materials via non-destructive impact acoustics (2019)

Apparent asymmetry in discriminating between two closely spaced pitches (2019)

On The Accuracy Of Calculation Of The Impedance Spectra Of Woodwind Instruments (2018)

Sensor Grid Design For High Resolution 3D Acoustic Measurements Of Musical Instruments. (2018)

Development of a hybrid wind instrument—Some key findings (2017)

Improving the stability of a hybrid wind instrument using two microphones (2016)

Experiments with Choirs – Practice and Pitfalls (2016)

A comparison of single-reed and bowed-string excitations of a hybrid wind instrument (2015)

Play that funky music: Making 3D acoustic measurements of instruments under performance conditions. (2015)

Developing and evaluating a hybrid wind instrument excited by a loudspeaker (2014)

Pitch drift in a capella choral singing: the outcomes from an international survey. (2014)

Developing a hybrid wind instrument: using a loudspeaker to couple a theoretical exciter to a real resonator (2014)

Comparison of perceived sound qualities of five clarinets of different makes (2014)

Experimental validation of adjusting the resonances of a simplified bass clarinet through modal active control. (2014)

Simulations of modal active control applied to the self-sustained oscillations of the clarinet (2013)

Active control applied to simplified wind musical instrument (2013)

Pitch drift in a capella choral singing – work in progress (2013)

Analysing differences between the input impedances of five clarinets of different makes (2013)

The Mari-Cha lion - did it once roar? (2013)

Active control applied to wind instruments (2012)

Correlating differences in the playing properties of five student model clarinets with physical differences between them (2012)

Physical and perceptual differences between two trumpets of the same model type (2012)

Mutual benefits of collaborations between instrumentmakers, musicians and acousticians (2012)

Hex Player—a virtual musical controller (2011)

Characteristics of a transition discharge in air through N2 spectroscopy (2011)

Visualising gas heating from an RF plasma loudspeaker (2010)

Investigating oboe manufacturing consistency by comparing the acoustical properties of five nominally identical instruments (2010)

Spectral pitch distance and microtonal melodies (2010)

Ausio sound reproduction by thermal expansion in an RF generated plasma (2010)

Metrics for pitch collections (2010)

Cylindrical RF discharge with free boundary at atmospheric pressure (2009)

Investigating the consistency and quality of musical wind instrument manufacturing (2009)

A psychoacoustical investigation into the effect of wall material on the sound produced by lip-reed instrument (2008)

Acoustics by the sea with Coast (2008)

The problem of offset in acoustic pulse reflectometry (2007)

The effect of wall material on the structural vibrations excited and sound produced when lip-reed instruments are blown (2007)

The effect of wall material on the structural vibrations excited when lip-reed instruments are blown (2006)

An optimisation approach to the location and sizing of multiple leaks in a duct (2006)

Thesis

Acoustic pulse reflectometry for the measurement of musical wind instruments (1996)