Here is the Ig Informal Lecture by the winners of the 2020 Ig Nobel Acoustics Prize. The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that make people LAUGH, then THINK. In the Ig Informal Lectures, some days after the ceremony, the new Ig Nobel Prize winners attempt to explain what they did, and why they did it. [In non-pandemic years, […]
Tag: helium
Helium-voice singer dangers (report)
Are you a singer? Are you endeavouring to reach ever higher notes? With the assistance of helium inhalations? Maybe think again. “A 23-year-old singer inhaled helium from a high-pressure tank to produce a change in his voice. The last of the eight inspiratory efforts was accidentally done without pressure reduction. As described by his colleagues, […]
Do Frogs in Helium Get Squeaky Voices? (Podcast #94)
Do frogs get all high-voiced when they breathe in some helium, the way people do? A research study explores that very question, and we explore that study, in this week’s Improbable Research podcast. SUBSCRIBE on Play.it, iTunes, or Spotify to get a new episode every week, free. This week, Marc Abrahams discusses a published helium-filled study, with dramatic readings from Dany Adams, a biology professor at Tufts University […]
Animal squawks squeaks and songs (with helium)
Although a considerable body of scholarly work has examined the effects of Helium (2He) on human voice production [see, for example (Helium-assisted) High note research] we are by no means the only animals to have been investigated in this respect – here is a (non-exhaustive) list of examples of other creatures who have squawked, croaked, […]
Robots and humans interact – part 3 of 3
Improbable’s final (previous here) look at the RO-MAN Workshop 2012. – the 21st IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, which was held September 9-13, Paris, France. Part 3 : Floating-in-the-air ‘bot ‘Humanoid’ robots go back a long way, and nowadays there are numerous flying robots in the skies, but there are very […]
(Helium-assisted) High note research
Does subglottal resonance have a significant influence on register transition when singing falsetto? To find out, investigators at the University of Iowa decided on an innovative approach – involving helium. Or, more accurately, Helox (a.k.a. Heliox) a mixture of helium and oxygen [see safety note below]. Because helium is considerably less dense than normal air […]