Video Examples
Video Examples
On this page, we have collected a range of videos which demonstrate our products being used in real-world situations. Some of these videos were created the Oxford Wave Research staff when a particular scenario piqued our interest, while others were made by customers who use our products in everyday life. The videos are arranged in chronological order, from the most recent to the oldest.
Do face coverings affect identifying voices? A small experiment using VOCALISE and PHONATE
In the lockdown months of 2020, like many others around the world, we have had to adjust to the new normal of wearing masks in various places like supermarkets and other public spaces. We found ourselves (minorly) annoyed that some biometric identification, like face recognition, doesn’t quite work when wearing masks. This made us wonder how well voice biometric solutions could work when speakers are wearing masks, and we decided to perform a small experiment to analyse this.
Ear into the ocean
In this clip from Ocean Autopsy: The Secret Story of Our Seas, we see our iOS app SpectrumView being used to visualise subaquatic sounds in a spectrogram. These sounds are captured with an external hydrophone (underwater microphone), connected to an iPad. SpectrumView helps Dr Czerski to identify the frequency of the sounds, allowing her to narrow down the source of the noise.
Ultrasonic Scavenge Hunting: Meet ‘Ultracache’
In this video, the researchers at ISVR Southampton demonstrate an unusual and fun way of using our SpectrumView iOS app – they play inaudible sounds from an ultrasonic speaker to spell out words on the spectrogram. They intend to use the technology for scavenger hunts, as the ultrasonic speakers could be hidden and used to give clues in a quirky but unobtrusive manner, while the only equipment each team of hunters would require would be a phone with SpectrumView installed.
Oxford University Mathematics Public Lecture
The clip from a lecture by Jon Chapman attached to this tweet shows our SpectrumView iOS app in action, demonstrating the various harmonics of strings on the guitar. The lecturer is using the app on his phone, which he is streaming to the projector, to allow all the students to see the live spectrum visualisations which SpectrumView is producing for the notes he is playing on his instrument.
What is going on when you pluck a guitar string? In this clip from our latest @OxUniMaths Public Lecture, Jon Chapman plays guitar and maths. pic.twitter.com/J7ersUJdw4
— Oxford Mathematics (@OxUniMaths) November 4, 2019
What Americans Heard in Cuba Attacks: The Sound
In this video produced by the Associated Press in 2018, our SpectrumView iOS app is used for spectrum visualisation of the high pitch sound heard by United States diplomats at their hotel in Cuba. Some attributed the diplomats’ ill health to exposure to this sound, triggering a number of allegations from both countries. SpectrumView helps the researchers identify the constituent frequencies of the noise concerned, and offers a tangible, visual explanation of the materials at hand to the audience.
How fast is a Fidget Spinner?
In this video, Matt Parker, the maths stand-up comedian, uses our SpectrumView iOS app to discover the maximum rotational speed of his fidget spinner. He uses the app to record the hum produced by the rotating toy, noting down the frequency of the noise from the spectrogram both live and during playback. You can now use the free tap for frequency feature to measure the frequency at any point on the spectrogram more precisely.
Spectral analysis of the incredible polyphonic overtone singing by Anna-Maria Hefele
When we first heard Anna-Maria Hefele’s overtone singing, we were amazed by her control over this tricky technique. We decided to play audio of her singing on SpectrumView, our iOS app, so that we could not only hear, but also see, the overtones. From the spectrogram produced by SpectrumView, it is very easy to differentiate the full voice harmonics from the otherworldly emphasised overtones.
How to Connect Your Smartphone to a Bat Detector
In this video about using an ultrasonic frequency detector with a smartphone, Tom August demonstrates the versatility of our iOS app SpectrumView. He connects his external device to his iPhone and iPad, and visualises the audio in our app as a spectrum and spectrogram. Tom shows the various functions of SpectrumView which he found particularly beneficial for his use case of analysing bat calls, such as being able to tap to find frequencies in the spectrogram, and SoundCloud integration, which enables him to access his library of previous recordings from other devices while in the field.
Smoothride by Pro-Cut – free iPhone app
We worked with Pro-Cut, a leading on-car brake lathe manufacturer in the USA, to develop (in their own words) ‘the coolest app for wheel and brake service you will ever see’. SmoothRide uses the accelerometer in the iPhone to analyse the vibrations of your car to determine whether the wheels were balanced or whether the brakes were warped. We are proud to have worked with Pro-Cut on the analysis algorithms and the app and are excited to see SmoothRide launched in the US Apple app-store.
SpectrumView Spektralanalyse-App – Bits und so #340
For our German-speaking customers, here is a 2013 review of our SpectrumView iOS app from Bits und so, which demonstrates the basic functionality of the software.