With over 1000 participants from all fields of acoustics the conference was a melting pot of ideas for the applications of acoustics from bioacoustics to biomedical studies and optimisation of musical instruments and room acoustics.

Our newly appointed marine consultant Federica Pace will be presenting her work on the automatic classification of humpback whale songs at two upcoming acoustics conferences this summer.

Researchers from from the New England Aquarium in Boston, Massachusetts, USA have recently completed a study that links high levels of low frequency vessel noise to increased levels of stress hormone in one species of large whale.

It was covered by the BBC last week.

The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) of the US published its report last month from the marine mammal and sound workshop held in July 2010. It's online here http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/permits/mammals_sound_workshop.htm

Baker Consultants Limited has made a significant move to expand our in-house capability in marine ecology with appointment of Dr Anna McGregor and Federica Pace. As well as being marine biologists Anna and Federica both bring new skills and expertise to our established bioacoustics team.

I had thought that 2011 would be a year of consolidation however it turned out to be one of continued expansion and forward planning. Not only did our client base increase along with turnover but we also expanded the in-house team with Carlos Abrahams joining us as Technical Director