[Univ of Cambridge] [Dept of Engineering]

Dr Hugh Hunt
The Engineering Science of Music


( Dynamics Videos: go to Hugh Hunt's movies page and for other stuff: go to Hugh Hunt's Cambridge University home page )

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Our ears are remarkable. The ear operates over a wide range of frequencies and volumes, and we have a tremendous ability to distinguish subtly-different sounds. For example we can identify a person from their voice on a crackly phone line and we can tell the difference between a flute and a violin on the radio. And the ear cannot easily be fooled, unlike the eye which falls for many optical illusions.

A musical ear is an asset to engineers and designers. The reason for this is that sound is directly related to the nature of the object producing the sound. If a machine is producing a sound then how much can we deduce about its operation?

I give lectures full of demonstrations and experiments. It should become apparent to the listener that no-one is really tone deaf and that we should all use our ears much more than we do. It would help to make the world a much better place!

Biographical Details:
Hugh Hunt is Professor of Engineering Dynamics and Vibration in the Department of Engineering at Cambridge University, and a Fellow of Trinity College. He took his first degree in Engineering from Melbourne University, Australia. As one of five children all learning instruments he grew up with music in every room. He uses music to illuminate his lectures in Vibration and Dynamics. He has a good website at www.eng.cam.ac.uk/~hemh1/music.htm with some thoughts on the physics of music.

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Contact Information: Contact Addresses

hemh1 (at) cam.ac.uk