Physics Colloquium

Dr. Carl Haber, LBNL

"The Restoration of Early Sound Recordings using Optical Metrology and Image Analysis"

4:00pm, The John A. Wheeler Lecture Hall (RLM 4.102).

Coffee and cookies will be served at 3:45pm in RLM 4.102.

Abstract: Unlike print and latent image scanning, the playback of mechanical sound carriers has been an inherently invasive process. Some of the earliest sound recordings contain material of great historical interest, may be in obsolete formats, and are damaged, decaying, or are now considered too delicate to play.  We will discuss the use of optical metrology and numerical methods to acquire and analyze high resolution digital images of the original media.  The results will be illustrated with sounds and images.