Acoustical and Audio Engineering with Foundation Year

Acoustics explores the physics of sound and the psychology behind how people react to noise and vibration. Discover how you can create a better sounding world with our BEng Acoustical and Audio Engineering with Foundation Year degree.

We come into contact with acoustics and audio every day. From headphone moments and live music to the vibrations and loud noises made by our transport systems, sound – good or bad – makes a difference to our wellbeing. By studying the fascinating field of acoustics, you can open up exciting career opportunities where you can create, shape and manage sound, noise and vibration.

Learn to create a better sounding world
Located in our Peel Park campus, minutes from buzzing central Manchester, our acoustical and audio engineering degree will guide you through this creative blend of science and engineering. We use small-group teaching to deliver carefully-designed modules that embed theoretical knowledge and creative application, and help you to build technical and transferable skills for your future career.

Our Foundation Year route is designed to prepare your knowledge base and skills, so you're ready to study our full BEng (Hons) Acoustical and Audio Engineering degree. During an initial year of introductory study, you will develop your mathematics and physics knowledge, and build essential higher education study skills, so you are ready to succeed.

On successful completion of the foundation year, you will progress on to the full degree, where you will expand your understanding of acoustics, exploring analogue electronics, digital signal processing and microphone and speaker design. You will shape your degree around your interests, choosing optional modules in areas such as psychoacoustics, environmental noise and room acoustics.

Build skills using world-class facilities
Scheduled for opening mid-2027, our new Acoustics Building will be one of the world’s most advanced centres for studying, testing and shaping sound. Featuring some of the quietest rooms on the planet and cutting-edge labs for everything from whisper-level measurements to full-scale vehicle and engine testing, the new building is part our multi-million pound Campus Connectivity plan and will give students unparalleled access to world-class facilities driving the future of sound, technology and research.

Get closer to industry
With the legendary Manchester music scene on our doorstep, you will have plenty of opportunities to see acoustics and audio in action. Along with a network of major media companies surrounding our MediaCity campus, you will be in the right place to add some practical experience too. On the full BEng degree, you also have the option to include an industry placement year between years two and three, and add 'with professional experience' to your final degree award.

Features
• Build essential knowledge and skills, so you can progress to study a fascinating BEng course that combines physics, computing, engineering and psychology
• Complete experiments and projects in our world-class acoustics facilities and laboratories that include one of the few fully anechoic chambers in the UK
• Explore acoustic design principles behind smartphones, cars and loudspeakers, as well as recording studios, public spaces and live venues
• Discover how music, speech and other sounds are perceived, and how this influences the design of applications, products and buildings
• Gain professional-level knowledge and skills by including a placement year to apply your knowledge and develop additional transferable skills
• This course is recognised by the UK Institute of Acoustics as a route to future Chartered Engineer status

This course is not open to international students.

Course Modules

Foundation Year:

• Foundation Mathematics 1 and 2

• Foundation Physics A

• Foundation Physics B

• Foundation Physics Laboratory

• Foundation IT and Study Skills

Year One:

• Introduction to Acoustics

• Analogue Electronics

• Mathematics (Acoustics)

• Acoustics Laboratory

• Studio Production

• Signal Chain Theory

Year Two:

• Digital Signal Processing

• Microphone and Loudspeaker Design

• Principles of Acoustics

• Industrial Studies and Career Management

• Group Design Project

• Electromagnetism

Year Three:

• Final Year Project

Choose two options from the following:

• Room Acoustics (BEng/MEng)

• Digital Signal Processing and Machine Learning

• Psychoacoustics and Musical Acoustics

• Noise and Vibration Control

Plus two further options from:

• Computer Simulation for Acoustics

• Environmental Noise Measurement and Modelling

• Measurement Analysis and Assessment

• Immersive Sound Reproduction

You will be assessed using a combination of formats. These include:

• Examinations which will assess your immediate response to a set of unseen problems
• Assignments which will assess your response to a larger problem
• Practical tests in acoustics laboratories which will assess your ability to apply appropriate skills to a problem
• Projects which will assess your ability to create a plan, identify possibilities, make decisions, deliver the plan, and reflect on outcomes