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Professor Keith Attenborough

Profile summary

  • Visiting Formal Academic
  • Emeritus Professor
  • Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics
  • keith.attenborough

Professional biography

Keith Attenborough is Emeritus Professor of Acoustics at the Open University. He worked at the Open University from 1970 to 1999 before becoming Head of Engineering at the University of Hull between July 1999 and April 2002 and research profesor in Engineering between 2002 and 2007. In 2008 Keith returned to a part time appointment at the Open University and has been Emeritus Professor since 2013. He has carried out theoretical and experimental studies on linear and nonlinear acoustical characteristics of porous surfaces, acoustical methods for surveying soils, sound propagation through suspensions and emulsions and on outdoor sound propagation. These activities have been supported by eighteen Research Council Grants (3 SERC, 12 EPSRC, 2 AFRC and 1 BBSRC) and fifteen grants or contracts from other sources (including Ferranti International, Thorn -EMI, TRL, BRE, DOE, T&N Technology, ESDU International, MOD (QINETIQ), EC, DSTL, AEA Technology and the US Army). This research has resulted in twenty five Ph.D. theses, 152 papers in refereed journals and over 170 international conference presentations (including 15 invited). An important output of previous SERC and US Army-funded research on outdoor sound propagation and acoustic-to-seismic coupling, has been the development of a numerical Fast-Field propagation prediction code FFLAGS which has been used in research for Thorn -EMI (now TME), by the US Army Corps of Engineers and by researchers interested in ground vibrations due to helicopter overflights. Other numerical outdoor sound prediction codes developed at the OU for predicting outdoor sound propagation have been used by ESDU International plc. Research projects supported by EPSRC since returnng to the Open University have included sonic crystal noise barriers, non-invasive acoustic-seismic monitoring of soils and an investigation of acoustic metamaterials and surfaces for noise abatement which, as a result of periodically-spaced inclusions have properties not met in existing materials and surfaces. Another project ‘Holistic and Sustainable Actions against Noise by combinations of Natural and Artificial means’ (HOSANNA) was supported by EC FP7.  In 1996 Keith was awarded the Rayleigh Medal for contributions to acoustics by the (UK) Institute of Acoustics and was made an Honorary Fellow of the Institute in 2011. In 2012 Keith was awarded the Silver Medal (Noise) of the Acoustical Society of America for contributions to the acoustics of porous materials and to outdoor sound propagation. In April 2014 he received the 2013 'medialle etrangere' of the French Acoustical Society for contributions to acousttics and collaborations with French acousticians and in 2022 he received the inaugural Bob Peters award of the Institute of Acoustics for significant and sustained contributions to acoustics education and training.

Research interests

Current research concerns additive manufacturing of porous materials and acoustic metamaterials which, as a result of periodically-spaced inclusions, have properties not met in existing noise abatement materials. With current and former colleagues he is working on the exploitation and characteristics of audio-frequency surface waves, devising surfaces useful for reducing noise near surface transport, acoustical effects of 'greening' in cities and applications of acoustics in agriculture.

Teaching interests

Although not involved currently in teaching at the Open University, Keith works as (part time)  Education Manager for the Institute of Acoustics which offers a Diploma in Acoustics and Noise Control as well as short courses in various aspects of professional practice in acoustics and noise control includiung workplace noise risk assessment, measurement of environmental noise, management of occupational exposure to hand-arm vibration, building acoustics measurements, the Anti-Social Behaviour Act (Scotland) and acoustic report writing.

Impact and engagement

Keith has given talks on applications of acoustics and vibration in monitoring health and on applications of acoustics in agricuture.

External collaborations

Keith is a member of the UK Acoustics Network Plus, collaborates with colleagues at the Universities of Salford and Sheffield and Rothamsted Research and with colleagues in Europe on additive manufcaturing of sound absorbers and the creation of sound absorbing materials form wastes.

Keith works on 3D printing of sound absorbers with Tomasz Zielinski and Kamil Opiela at the Institute for Fundamental Research in Poland and helps Iranian colleagues with research into the creation of sound absorbers from waste agricultural materials such as wood chips and walnut shells.

Publications

Wood chip sound absorbers: Measurements and models (2024-04)
Lashgari, Maedah; Taban, Ebrahim; Sheikhmozafari, Mohammad Javad; Soltani, Parham; Attenborough, Keith and Khavanin, Ali
Applied Acoustics, 220, Article 109963

Acceptability of Remote Monitoring in Assisted Living/Smart Homes in the United Kingdom and Associated Use of Sounds and Vibrations—A Systematic Review (2024)
Tong, Ki; Attenborough, Keith; Sharp, David; Taherzadeh, Shahram; Deepak Gopinath, Manik and Vseteckova, Jitka
Applied Sciences, 14, Article 843(2)

Modal model prediction of surface waves and resonant characteristics of rectangular grooved gratings (2023-05)
Mellish, Steve; Taherzadeh, Shahram and Attenborough, Keith
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 153(5) (pp. 2932-2943)

Extremely tortuous sound absorbers with labyrinthine channels in non-porous and microporous solid skeletons (2023)
Zielinski, Tomasz G.; Opiela, Kamil C; Dauchez, Nicolas; Boutin, Thomas; Galland, Marie-Annick and Attenborough, Keith
Applied Acoustics, 217, Article 109816

Pioneering study of outdoor sound propagation (2022-05)
Attenborough, Keith
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 151(5) (R11-R12)

Limitations on validating slitted sound absorber designs through budget additive manufacturing (2022-05)
Opiela, K. C.; Zielinski, T. and Attenborough, K.
Materials and Design, 218, Article 110703

The effect of organic carbon content on soil compression characteristics (2021-05)
Suravi, K. N.; Attenborough, K.; Taherzadeh, S.; Macdonald, A. J.; Powlson, D. S.; Ashton, R. W. and Whalley, W. R.
Soil and Tillage Research, 209, Article 104975

Analytical Approximations for Sub Wavelength Sound Absorption by Porous Layers with Labyrinthine Slit Perforations (2021)
Attenborough, Keith
Applied Sciences, 11, Article 3299

Use of a Modal Model in Predicting Propagation from a Point Source Over Grooved Ground (2020-11)
Mellish, Steve; Taherzadeh, Shahram and Attenborough, Keith
The Quarterly Journal of Mechanics and Applied Mathematics, 73(4) (pp. 367-382)

Benchmarks for microstructure-based modelling of sound absorbing rigid-frame porous media (2020-09-29)
Zieliński, Tomasz G.; Venegas, Rodolfo; Perrot, Camille; Červenka, Milan; Chevillotte, Fabien and Attenborough, Keith
Journal of Sound and Vibration, 483, Article 115441

Approximate impedance models for point-to-point sound propagation over acoustically-hard ground containing rectangular grooves (2020-01)
Mellish, Steve; Taherzadeh, Shahram and Attenborough, Keith
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 147(1) (pp. 74-84)

Point to point propagation over a phase gradient grooved surface (2020)
Mellish, Stephen James; Taherzadeh, Shahram and Attenborough, Keith
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 148, Article 2806

Macro- and micro-structure designs for porous sound absorbers (2019-02)
Attenborough, Keith
Applied Acoustics, 145 (pp. 349-357)

Acoustic surface wave generation over rigid cylinder arrays on a rigid plane (2019)
Berry, David L.; Taherzadeh, Shahram and Attenborough, Keith
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 146(4) (pp. 2137-2144)

Correspondence between sound propagation in discrete and continuous random media with application to forest acoustics (2018-02)
Ostashev, Vladimir E.; Wilson, D. Keith; Muhlestein, Michael B. and Attenborough, Keith
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 143(2) (pp. 1194-1205)

Microstructures for lowering the quarter wavelength resonance frequency of a hard-backed rigid-porous layer (2018-01-15)
Attenborough, Keith
Applied Acoustics, 130 (pp. 188-194)

Non-invasive estimation of the depth profile of soil strength with acoustic-to-seismic coupling measurement in the presence of crops (2017-09)
Shin, H. -C.; Watts, C. W.; Whalley, W. R.; Attenborough, K. and Taherzadeh, S.
European Journal of Soil Science, 68(5) (pp. 758-768)

Meteorological effects on the noise reducing performance of a low parallel wall structure (2017-06)
Van Renterghem, Timothy; Taherzadeh, Shahram; Hornikx, Maarten and Attenborough, Keith
Applied Acoustics, 121 (pp. 74-81)

On the theory of Brutsaert about elastic wave speeds in unsaturated soils (2016-03)
Shin, H.-C.; Whalley, W. R.; Attenborough, K. and Taherzadeh, S.
Soil and Tillage Research, 156 (pp. 155-165)

Exploiting ground effects for surface transport noise abatement (2016-02-22)
Attenborough, Keith; Bashir, Imran and Taherzadeh, Shahram
Noise Mapping, 3, Article 1(1)

On the inadvisability of using single parameter impedance models for representing the acoustical properties of ground surfaces (2015-10-23)
Dragna, Didier; Attenborough, Keith and Blanc-Benon, Philippe
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 138(4) (pp. 2399-2413)

Using natural means to reduce surface transport noise during propagation outdoors (2015-05)
Van Renterghem, Timothy; Forssén, Jens; Attenborough, Keith; Jean, Philippe; Defrance, Jérôme; Hornikx, Maarten and Kang, Jian
Applied Acoustics, 92 (pp. 86-101)

Sound propagation over soft ground without and with crops and potential for surface transport noise attenuation (2015-01-01)
Bashir, Imran; Taherzadeh, Shahram; Shin, Ho-Chul and Attenborough, Keith
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 137(1) (pp. 154-164)

Reduction of surface transport noise by ground roughness (2014-09-30)
Bashir, I.; Hill, T.; Taherzadeh, S.; Attenborough, K. and Hornikx, M.
Applied Acoustics, 83(1) (pp. 1-15)

Measured light vehicle noise reduction by hedges (2014-04)
van Renterghem, Timothy; Attenborough, Keith; Maennel, Manuel; Defrance, Jerome; Horoshenkov, Kirill; Kang, Jian; Bashir, Imran; Taherzadeh, Shahram; Altreuther, Beate; Khan, Amir; Smyrnova, Julia and Yang, Hong-Seok
Applied Acoustics, 78 (pp. 19-27)

Surface waves over periodically-spaced strips (2013-12)
Bashir, Imran; Taherzadeh, Shahram and Attenborough, Keith
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 134(6) (pp. 4691-4697)

Ground vibrations produced by surface and near-surface explosions (2013-11)
Albert, Donald G.; Taherzadeh, Shahram; Attenborough, Keith; Boulanger, Patrice and Decato, Stephen N.
Applied Acoustics, 74(11) (pp. 1279-1296)

Non-invasive characterization of pore-related and elastic properties of soils in linear Biot–Stoll theory using acoustic-to-seismic coupling (2013-06)
Shin, H.-C.; Taherzadeh, S.; Attenborough, K.; Whalley, W. R. and Watts, C. W.
European Journal of Soil Science, 64(3) (pp. 308-323)

Estimating penetrometer resistance and matric potential from the velocities of shear and compression waves (2013-05)
Gao, W.; Watts, W. R.; Ren, T.; Shin, H.; Taherzadeh, S.; Attenborough, K.; Jenkins, M. and Whalley, W. R.
Soil Science Society of America Journal, 77(3) (pp. 721-728)

Diffraction assisted rough ground effect: models and data (2013-03)
Bashir, Imran; Taherzadeh, Shahram and Attenborough, Keith
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 133(3) (pp. 1281-1292)

Analytical approximations for low frequency band gaps in periodic arrays of elastic shells (2013-02)
Krynkin, Anton; Umnova, Olga; Taherzadeh, Shahram and Attenborough, Keith
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 133(2) (pp. 781-791)

Aperiodicity effects on sound transmission through arrays of identical cylinders perpendicular to the ground (2012-10)
Taherzadeh, Shahram; Bashir, Imran and Attenborough, Keith
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 132(4) (EL323-EL328)

The velocity of shear waves in unsaturated soil (2012-09)
Whalley, W. R.; Jenkins, M. and Attenborough, K.
Soil and Tillage Research, 125 (pp. 30-37)

Mathematics summer schools for acoustics research training (2012-03)
Attenborough, Keith; Wright, Matthew and Umnova, Olga
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 131(3) (pp. 2532-2538)

The velocity of shear waves in saturated soil (2011-10)
Whalley, W. R.; Jenkins, M. and Attenborough, K.
Soil Science Society of America Journal, 75(5) (pp. 1652-1657)

Wave propagation in stereo-lithographical (STL) bone replicas at oblique incidence (2011-06)
Aygun, Haydar; Attenborough, Keith; Lauriks, Walter; Rubini, Philip A. and Langton, Christian M.
Applied Acoustics, 72(7) (pp. 458-463)

Outdoor ground impedance models (2011-05)
Attenborough, Keith; Bashir, Imran and Taherzadeh, Shahram
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 129(5) (pp. 2806-2819)

Deduction of static surface roughness from complex excess attenuation (2011-03)
Nichols, Andrew; Attenborough, Keith and Taherzadeh, Shahram
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 129(3) (EL89-EL93)

Acoustic insertion loss due to two dimensional periodic arrays of circular cylinders parallel to a nearby surface (2011)
Krynkin, Anton; Umnova, Olga; Sánchez-Pérez, Juan; Chong, Yung; Taherzadeh, Shahram and Attenborough, Keith
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 130(6) (pp. 3736-3745)

Scattering by coupled resonating elements in air (2011)
Krynkin, Anton; Umnova, Olga; Chong, Alvin Y. B.; Taherzadeh, Shahram and Attenborough, Keith
Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 44 (pp. 125501-125513)

Predictions and measurements of sound transmission througha periodic array of elastic shells in air (2010-12)
Krynkin, Anton; Umnova, Olga; Chong, Alvin Yung Boon; Taherzadeh, Shahram and Attenborough, Keith
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 128(6) (pp. 3496-3506)

Ultrasonic wave propagation in stereo-lithographical bone replicas (2010-06)
Aygün, Haydar; Attenborough, Keith; Lauriks, Walter and Langton, Christian M.
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 127(6) (pp. 3781-3789)

Predictions of angle dependent tortuosity and elasticity effects on sound propagation in cancellous bone (2009)
Aygün, Haydar; Attenborough, Keith; Postema, Michiel; Lauriks, Walter and Langton, Christian M.
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 126(6) (pp. 3286-3290)

Aircraft Noise: Assessment, prediction and Control (2011-05-13)
Zapoozhets, Oleksandr; Tokarev, Vadim and Attenborough, Keith
ISBN : 978-0-415-24066-6 | Publisher : Spon Press (Taylor and Francis) | Published : London, UK and New York, USA

Sound propagation over periodic roughness (2023-10)
Attenborough, K.; Mellish, S.; Taherzadeh, S.; Bashir, I. and Stronach, A.
In : ACOUSTICS 2023 (16-17 Oct 2023, Winchester, UK)

The science of soundscape - summary of the evidence base from the UK acoustics community (2023)
Rogers, P.; Aletta, F.; Attenborough, K.; Bentley, C.; Harvie-Clark, J.; Kang, J.; Lavia, L.; Torija Martinez, A.J.; Payne, S.R. and Waters, G.
In : Proceedings of the Institute of Acoustics (16-17 Oct 2023, Winchester, UK)

Audio-Frequency Surface Waves Over Multiple Width And Depth Grooves (2022-08)
Mellish, Steve; Taherzadeh, Shahram and Attenborough, Keith
In : Internoise 2022: 51st International Congress and Exposition on Noise Control Engineering, (21-24 Aug 2022, Glasgow)

Audio-frequency surface wave characteristics above porous and comb-like surfaces (2022-08)
Attenborough, Keith and Taherzadeh, Shahram
In : Internoise 2022: 51st International Congress and Exposition on Noise Control Engineering, (21-24 Aug 2022, Glasgow)

Manufacturing, modeling, and experimental verification of slitted sound absorbers (2020)
Opiela, K. C.; Zielinski, T. G. and Attenborough, K.
In : Proceedings of ISMA 2020 - International Conference on Noise and Vibration Engineering and USD 2020 - International Conference on Uncertainty in Structural Dynamics (7-9 Sep 2020, Leuven; Belgium) (pp. 409-420)

An investigation of the sound field above a surface with periodic roughness (2019)
Stronach, Alexander; Taherzadeh, Shahram and Attenborough, Keith
In : INTER-NOISE 2019 MADRID - 48th International Congress and Exhibition on Noise Control Engineering 2019 (16-19 Jun 2019, Madrid, Spain)

Air-borne acoustic surface waves generated over a periodic rough surface (2016-09-05)
Stronach, Alexander; Bashir, Imran; Taherzadeh, Shahram and Attenborough, Keith
In : Proceedings of the Institute of Acoustics 2016 (5-6 Sep 2016, Kenilworth, Warwickshire) (pp. 108-113)

Sound propagation through forests and tree belts (2016-09-05)
Attenborough, Keith and Taherzadeh, Shahram
In : Proceedings of the Institute of Acoustics 2016 (5-6 Sep 2016, Kenilworth, Warwickshire) (pp. 114-125)

Acoustic propagation over periodic and quasi-periodic rough surfaces (2016-09-05)
Berry, David; Taherzadeh, Shahram; Stronach, Alexander and Attenborough, Keith
In : Proceedings of the Institute of Acoustics 2016 (5-6 Sep 2016, Kenilworth, Warwickshire) (pp. 126-132)

Models for acoustical properties of green roof materials (2011-06-27)
Attenborough, Keith; Bashir, Imran; Taherzadeh, Shahram and Hill, Toby
In : Forum Acusticum 2011 (26 Jun - 01 Jul 2011, Aalborg, Denmark)

Effects of source side roughness on the acoustical performance of a traffic noise berm (2011-06-27)
Hill, Toby; Taherzadeh, Shahram; Bashir, Imran and Attenborough, Keith
In : Forum Acusticum 2011 (26 Jun - 01 Jul 2011, Aalborg, Denmark)