The European research project »Experimenting Acoustics in Real environment using Innovative Testbeds«, or »EAR-IT« for short, won the »Best Paper Award« at the »12th e-Society conference« in Madrid on 9 March 2014. The award was given to a study on the acceptance of acoustic monitoring in public spaces. The authors Anna Ståhlbröst, Annika Sällström, both from the Luleå University of Technology, and Danilo Hollosi, Fraunhofer IDMT, conducted a survey of around one thousand persons from five different countries. Whereas reservations were generally expressed towards acoustic monitoring, 65 percent of those surveyed had a positive view of the use of acoustic monitoring for security applications in public spaces or streets.

Within the scope of the European research project EAR-IT, potential solutions and methods are being investigated over a period of two years that will allow use of acoustic data in intelligent buildings and networked cities for applications in the fields of security, traffic management and energy efficiency. The project runs until September 2014.