Our aim is to help establish an acoustic environment which contributes to a higher quality of life.

As the leading Swiss competence center we make a significant contribution at the technical and scientific level to the noise reduction process and to the shaping of our acoustic environment. We reproduce and disseminate the current state of international technology and help to convert this into practical usage.

We focus on the following thematic areas:

• Outdoor sound propagation
• Noise control at the source
• Sound transmissions in buildings and rooms

We work in an interdisciplinary manner together with national and international partners at the highest scientific level.
We transfer our know-how to society in general and collaborate with industrial partners to create marketable innovations.

In the Materials and Systems Group, one area in which we concentrate our activities (among others) is the reduction of radiated sound and the transmission of noise and vibration. Here we deal primarily with the transmission of sound in lightweight constructions and assemblies which we are able to study in our new test facility. In our Building Acoustics Laboratory we undertake acoustic investigations of the highest quality in accordance with international scientific and technical regulations.

The propagation of sound outdoor and the characterization of technical sources of noise form the focal point of our activities in the Environmental Acoustics Group. We develop calculation methods which take into account the effects of weather conditions on sound propagation outdoor and increasingly integrate into the process the exact solution of the wave equation. We (further) develop and use new methods for the characterization of noise sources such as road, railway and aircraft traffic, etc. The method of calculating aircraft noise developed by the Acoustics / Noise Control Laboratory is currently permanently in use for the study of noise emissions in the vicinity of airfields and airports.

• Kurt Eggenschwiler, Head of Laboratory, Room Acoustics, Environmental Acoustics, Aircraft Noise, Lecturer at ETH Zurich
• Rudolf Bütikofer, Deputy Head of Laboratory, Building Acoustics, Vibro-Acoustics, Aircraft Noise
• Dr. Jean Marc Wunderli, Group Leader Environmental Acoustics, Lecturer at ETH Zurich
• Dr. Armin Zemp, Group Leader Materials and Systems
• Dr. Kurt Heutschi, Senior Scientist, Environmental Acoustics, Electro-acoustics, Lecturer at ETH Zurich
• Christa Amacher, Administrative Assistant