Professor David M. Howard

The InformationWeek article Device Promises Virtual Reality With Touch, Taste, And Smell said

At the Pioneer 09 science show in London on Wednesday, researchers unveiled a mock-up of a virtual-reality headset that will provide input to the five major human senses.
 
The Virtual Cocoon helmet is being developed by scientists from the Universities of York and Warwick, with funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, a U.K. funding agency.
 
Professor David Howard of the University of York, who’s leading the project, observes that virtual-reality projects tend to focus on sight and sound. He said he’s not aware of any other research group attempting to simulate sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell.
 
If that sort of total sensory immersion sounds a bit like the holodeck on Star Trek: The Next Generation or The Matrix, Howard is comfortable with the comparison.

David M. Howard, BSc (Eng), PhD, CEng, FIET, FIOA, MAES is Head of the Audio Lab, Intelligent Systems Research Group, Department of Electronics, University of York, U.K. He also teaches in music technology with colleagues from both the Department of Electronics and the Department of Music.
 
David is also Editor-in-Chief of the Journal Logopedics, Phoniatrics, Vocology published by Taylor and Francis, and a member of the Editorial Boards of Forensic Linguistics: The International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law published by the University of Birmingham Press, and Organized Sound published by Cambridge University press.
 
His first degree is a BSc (Eng) in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from University College London in 1978. He completed his PhD in Human Communication with the dissertation “Larynx frequency speech processing for cochlear stimulation” in 1985 under the guidance of Professor Adrian Fourcin at the Department of Phonetics and Linguistics, University College London.
 
David is a Fellow of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the Institute of Acoustics, a Founder Member of the International Association of Forensic Phoneticians, a Member of the Audio Engineering Society, and a Member of the British Association of Academic Phoneticians.
 
He coauthored Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, Third Edition. His papers include Cymatic: a real-time tactile-controlled physical modelling musical instrument, 2-D digital waveguide mesh topologies in room acoustics modelling, WinSingad: A real-time display for the singing studio, Real-time feedback in the singing studio: an innovatory action-research project using new voice technology, Using GAs to Create a Waveguide Model of the Oral Vocal Tract, and Real-Time Gesture-Controlled Physical Modelling Music Synthesis with Tactile Feedback.
 
David was the 1997/98 President of the British Voice Association, and the 1999–2001 Chair of the Committee of the Engineering Professors’ Council. He is involved from time to time in forensic speech and music analyses. He plays the pipe organ and sings in church choirs on a regular basis.
 
He is the musical director (from the tenor section!) of the Beningbrough Singers which gives three or four concerts per year in the York area. They have just released their first CD (Hear an extract), titled Beningbrough Singers ONE.
 
David also sings in other local choirs: as a deputy tenor Songman in York Minster; he used to be a deputy tenor Lay Clerk in Ripon Cathedral; and he sings and plays the organ on occasions with the St. Olave’s Church choir in York.
 
He is a member of Voice Matters; a vocal trio taking part in the “Music For Life” scheme in North Yorkshire organized by Sowerby Music, to give primary school children a taste of different types of music. He has been involved as a singer under this scheme every year since 1997 in North Yorkshire primary schools, and has now been heard by over 2,000 children.
 
When he is not at work, David might be found playing the organ or synthesizers.
 
Read Scientists warn of “vocal terror”.