Ben Mercer Noise and Vibration Engineer, Dyson

MEng Acoustical Engineering, 2011

The University of Southampton is well known for its excellence in engineering. The ISVR has professional quality anechoic and reverberation chambers, I don’t think many other universities have access to such facilities.

What was distinctive about your course?

Southampton is one of the few universities in the country that teach acoustical engineering. Like many of the students on the course, I was musically inclined and wanted to study an engineering subject linked to music, following my interests while working towards a degree that was directly relevant to the workplace. It was a good decision to study acoustical engineering.

How have you used the skills and knowledge you developed here in your career?

My degree has provided me with much of the knowledge and skills I regularly use at work . In my current job I work for Dyson in the motors department as a noise and vibration engineer. My job is to reduce noise generated by Dyson digital motors at the source. Reducing at source means there is less need for bulky silencers, so the product can be both quiet and compact.

What were the highlights of your time at Southampton?

In our Group Design Project (GDP) in the fourth year, three of us built a large array of loudspeakers and programmed software to create a 3D audio rendering technique and got all our classmates in to test it. Sound was coming in from all directions and flying around their heads. When you’re working in a small focused group you have to play to the strengths of each member but also tie it all together so you’re going in the same direction. I included my experiences of the GDP in my CV and when I went for job interviews, I was always asked about it.

On the social side, I decided to make the most of the groups and societies organised by the Students Union. I took up skiing and tried wind surfing. It’s a great way to do some activities it may never have occurred to you to get involved in before.

What are the facilities like?

The University of Southampton is well known for its excellence in engineering. The Institute of Sound and Vibration Research (ISVR) has professional quality anechoic and reverberation chambers, I don’t think many other universities have access to such facilities. In my second year we did a loudspeaker design project and tested it in the chambers.

Why did you choose to come to the University of Southampton?

I came here on a visit and was impressed by the demonstrations put on for potential students by the staff at ISVR. They had audio systems in research stage and could simulate the sound of a mosquito buzzing around your head. Another produced the sounds you’d hear if you were having a haircut and it was so lifelike you could almost feel the scissors in action. That really switched me on to acoustics and it was an easy decision to choose to come to Southampton.