Professor David M Howard
Professor David M Howard is Head of the Audio Laboratory in the Department of Electronics at the University of York, and until October 2008, a Senior Media Fellow for the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council committed to popularising science. David also works occasionally on demand as a forensic audio scientist and he was involved as an Expert in the Who wants to be a millionaire trial. Away from work David is involved in music performance; he sings as a Deputy Tenor Songman at York Minster and he directs the Vale of York Voices (an occasional email choir that sings evensong in York Minster approximately once a month) and the Beningbrough Singers (a 12-strong a capella choir that sings concerts in and around the York area).
The Senior Media Fellowship gave David the opportunity to engage the public with science, engineering and technology through media appearances, written articles, lectures, visits to schools, demonstrations, public events and exhibitions. You may have seen him on programmes such as BBC4's The Voice or The Castrati.
David's main research interests include the analysis and synthesis of singing, speech and music. In addition, he is interested in as well as the role of audio in a real virtual world where one might gain a fully immersive perceptual experience of somewhere else without going there; a virtual cocoon. His main lecturing activities are to students reading for degrees in Music Technology (BA, BSc, MEng, MA, MSc Diploma) and Electronic Engineering with Music Technology Systems (MEng, BEng).