In celebration of the International Year of Sound 2020, we will explore how to answer the question “How big is sound?” and find out how an understanding of the mathematics of sound waves is helping researchers tackle noise pollution and improve our quality of life.

Watch as we use sound to make extraordinary moving patterns in sand, have a go at making unusual sounds with everyday objects, and get hands-on with our musical instruments to discover just how big sound waves can be, and why this matters for noise reduction. Explore our handling models to find out how we use maths to design materials with special acoustic properties to help reduce unwanted noise.