Trevor Cox

I carry out research, teaching and commercial activities in acoustic engineering, focusing on room acoustics, signal processing and perception. I was an EPSRC Senior Media Fellow and have presented 18 documentaries for BBC radio. I am a former President of the Institute of Acoustics (IOA). I was awarded the prestigious Tyndall Award by the IOA as well as their award for Promoting Acoustics to the Public.

I carry out research in performance room acoustics, investigating how room conditions can be improved for good speech communication, and quality music production and reproduction.

I have worked extensively on surface diffuser and absorbers. I pioneered the concept of optimised diffusers to help solve the dilemma of getting correct visual and acoustic design. My designs can be found in listening rooms (Sony M1, New York), cinemas (Cinema, Seattle) and concert halls (Hummingbird Centre, Toronto).

For 15 years, I have been communicating acoustic engineering to the public, working on projects worth more than £1 million. I was a finalist at Famelab, an ‘X Factor-style’ competition to find science communicators for television. I have been involved in projects to produce teaching resources, the latest having reached more than a quarter of a million pupils. I have developed and presented science shows seen by 15,000 children, including appearances in London at the Royal Albert Hall, the Purcell Rooms at the South Bank Centre and the Royal Institution. My research has attracted worldwide news coverage in stories such as ‘Does a duck’s quack echo?’. I have appeared in features on BBC1, Teachers TV, Discovery and National Geographic channels, and as an expert in news items on a variety of television and radio programmes.