Postdoc Gerd Høy Marbjerg continues her work on PARISM - phased acoustical radiosity and image source method.
Having completed her master degree in her home city at the University of Southern Denmark, Gerd worked for five months at the Danish Road Directorate, before accepting the opportunity to do a PhD at the Acoustic Technology department at DTU in collaboration with Saint-Gobain Ecophon.
"The Acoustic Technology group has a great tradition for research in room acoustics, and it is therefore the right place for me to be."
Gerd Høy Marbjerg
Three years on and having successfully completed her PhD in 2016, Gerd is now being funded by the Oticon Foundation and Ecophon to continue her work in a 2-year postdoc position at the Department of Electrical Engineering here at DTU.
Gerds main area of interest lies in room acoustics and in particular simulation of the acoustics of smaller rooms with absorbing surfaces. She states that "When choosing what to study, I wanted to find a field where physics was applied to something I could relate to. I have always loved the acoustics of special spaces like churches, so when realizing I could study acoustics, it seemed like a good option. Through studying acoustics, I have come to realise that it is not only the special acoustics that are interesting and important, but also the acoustics of rooms where we spend much of our time. One of the things that I really love about acoustics is that it is something that everybody can relate to and something that has a great influence on the daily loves of most people".
When asked what has motivated her to continue her research in this field, Gerd believes that room acoustics was from the beginning her main interest, so when being offered a PhD within that field, she could not turn it down. When she finished her PhD, she felt that there was still more to be done to make the results of her PhD more applicable. Gerd adds, "I am also very happy to be in the ACT group and therefore have not felt like leaving it yet".
Explaining a little more indepth, Gerd says that "In my PhD project, I developed the simulation tool PARISM with particular focus on rooms with absorbing ceilings. In my postdoc project, I am still working with PARISM, but now I focus on how to make it possible to listen to the results. At DTU, we have a laboratory where you are surrounded by 64 loudspeakers and in here we will then be able to recreate any sound environment that has been simulated with PARISM.
Another valuable point concerning working here at DTU says Gerd, is that the ACT group has a wide variety of interests within acoustics, and besides that, we have a sister group working within hearing research (HEA). This means that there are experts within many different aspects and that everyone in the two groups is open and willing to discuss problems and to lend their expertise.