[EN] Acoustics, the science of sound, was born and has been developed as a discipline directly linked to the persons and their relation with the environment. There is no other kind of radiation field with such strong interaction with individuals, either in the negative aspects (noise) or in the positive ones (oral communication, music). At present, Acoustics is a wide spectrum discipline with incidence in numerous fields of science, technology and art. Relating to the Life Sciences, the role of Acoustics in Medicine, Biology, Physiology and Psychology constitutes a growing contribution that we summarize in this article. Specifically, this article reviews, in a very general way, the most important aspects of the present status of Biomedical Ultrasonics, Psychophysiological Acoustics and Animal Bioacoustics.

PACS: 43.64, 66, 80.-- Artículo publicado en la Revista Española de Física. Vol. 2, nº 3, 2007.

Peer reviewed