J O H N O ' K E E F E
B.A.Sc. M.Sc. P.Eng. FIOA

School: University of Toronto
Program: Acoustics Noise and Vibration Control

a) NAME: rank, status

O’KEEFE, John, Adjunct Professor
Member of the Graduate Faculty: Yes

Professional Affiliations
P. Eng. Member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario (1987 to Present).
CAA – Member of the Canadian Acoustical Association (1985 to Present).
ASA – Member of the Acoustical Society of America (1981 to Present).
IOA – Fellow of the Institute of Acoustics (1995 to Present).

b) DEGREES

M.Sc. (Acoustics and Vibration Studies), Southampton University (Southampton, UK), Institute of Sound & Vibration Research 1985.
B.A.Sc. (Electrical Engineering), University of Toronto (Toronto, Canada), Faculty of Engineering, 1981

c) EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

1981 - 1984 - Acoustical Engineering Consultant, Ontario Research Foundation
1986 - 1992 - Acoustical Engineering Consultant, Barman Swallow Associates
1992 - 2014 - Partner, Aercoustics Engineering Ltd.
1994 - 1997 - President of new music Ensemble Noir.
2000 - 2011 - Adjunct Professor of Acoustics, University of Toronto, Faculty of Architecture and Landscape Architecture.
2012 - Present – Adjunct Professor, University of Toronto, Faculty of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering.
2016 - Present - Board of Trustees, National Arts Centre/Centre National des Arts
2016 - Present - Acoustical Engineering Consultant, O’Keefe Acoustics.

d) HONOURS

1996 – Canadian Consulting Engineers Award of Merit, The Acoustical Renovation of The Orpheum, Vancouver Canada.
1997 – Canadian Acoustical Association Directors Award, Acoustical renovation of the Orpheum, Vancouver – I. Measurements prior to renovation, (Shared with John Bradley, National Research Council of Canada)
2007 – United States Institute of Theatre Technology (USITT) Award of Honor, Young Centre for Performing Arts.
2007 – Schreyer Award, Acoustic Design of the Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre.
2009 – United States Institute of Theatre Technology (USITT) Award of Honor, Telus Centre, Royal Conservatory of Music, (shared with Bob Essert, Soundspace Design).
2009 – Canadian Consulting Engineering Award, The Acoustical Renovation of The Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Vancouver.

e) SCHOLARLY AND PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

1986 – ICA Toronto Organising Committee member
1998 – Guest lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture, American University in Sharjah, Sharjah UAE
1994 – 1997 – President of Ensemble Noir.
2000 - 2011 - Adjunct Professor of Acoustics, University of Toronto, Faculty of Architecture and Landscape Architecture.
2012 - Present – Adjunct Professor, University of Toronto, Faculty of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering.
2016 – Present – Board of Trustees Member, National Arts Centre/Centre National des Arts, Ottawa Canada
2012 – 2013 – Co-chair, International Symposium on Room Acoustics, Toronto, Canada, 2013.

f) GRADUATE SUPERVISIONS (as outside advisor)

1. Kiyoshi Kuroiwa, Bachelor of Applied Science, Sanford Fleming University, 1999
2. Alison Norris, Bachelor of Applied Science, University of Toronto, 2003
3. Thineshan Kathirchelvan, Optimization of NURBS based acoustic reflectors using stochastic search techniques, Bachelor of Applied Science, University of Toronto, 2014
4. Eva M. Johnston-Iafelice, The Impact of Curved Surfaces in Performance Spaces, Master of Building Science, Ryerson University, 2018

g) GRADUATE COURSES

1999-2011 Architectural Acoustics
2012-Present Acoustics Noise and Vibration Control

i) 1. EXTERNAL RESEARCH FUNDING

Year, source purpose, type, amount per year
Two grants from the Ontario Arts Council in the mid 1990s, both for the subject of stage acoustics measurements in the range of $8000.

2. INTERNAL RESEARCH FUNDING

Year, source purpose, type, amount per year
Mr.O'Keefe has funded all his own research in the areas of stage acoustics, acoustic design of performing arts venues, HVAC noise control and small scale acoustical modelling. The only exception is the two Ontario Arts Council grants mentioned above.

j) PUBLICATIONS

1. Life-time Summary

Item	Number
Chapters in books	2
Papers in refereed journals	3
Invited Papers	4
Papers in refereed conference proceedings	36
Technical reports	See note
Other (workshops presented, guest lectures)	7
TOTAL	51

Note: As a practicing professional acoustical engineer Mr. O'Keefe has written too many technical reports to count. Many of them were formidable tomes and had a significant effect on the projects he was working on, and, was they were designed, many subsequent ones.


Papers in Refereed Journals
O’Keefe J., Acoustic Conditions in and Propagating from Orchestra Pits, Canadian Acoustics, October 1994
O’Keefe, J. Acoustical renovation of the Orpheum, Vancouver – I. Measurements prior to renovation. Canadian Acoustics, Vol. 28 No. 1. March 2001
O’Keefe, J. Reflection Density and Attenuation on Stages and Rehearsal Halls, International Symposium on Room Acoustics - Melbourne, August 2010.

Papers in Conference Proceedings
O'Keefe, J.P.M., Measurements of Speech Intelligibility in British Theatres, Canadian Acoustical Association, 1985
O'Keefe, J.P.M., Modern Acoustical Measurements on Canadian Stages, Canadian Acoustical Association, 1991
O'Keefe, J.P.M., Application of Modern Room Acoustical Techniques to the Design of Two Auditoria, Canadian Acoustics, March 1992
O'Keefe, J.P.M., Bracken, M., Modern Acoustics Measurements on Three Types of Concert Platform, J. Acoustical Society of America, May 1991
O'Keefe, J.P.M., Acoustics and Architecture, Canadian Architect, October 1993
O'Keefe, J.P.M., The Acoustic Design of the New Mirvish Theatre in Toronto, Canada, J. Acoustical Society of America, May 1993
O'Keefe, J.P.M., The Acoustic Design for the Princess of Wales Theatre, Professional Sound, June 1993
O'Keefe, J., On the Sensitivity of Stage Acoustics Measurements, J. Acoustical Society of America, June 1994
O'Keefe, J., Modern Stage Acoustics Measurements in Orchestra Pits, J. Acoustical Society of America, June 1994
O'Keefe, J., Testing The Sensitivity Of Stage Acoustics Measurement Techniques, Canadian Acoustics, October 1994
O'Keefe, J., Room Acoustics Considerations for Loudspeaker Systems in a Large Reverberant Space, Canadian Acoustics, October 1994
O'Keefe, J., Acoustical Measurements On Concert And Proscenium Arch Stages, Inst. of Acoustics - Opera House & Concert Hall Symposium, February 1995
O'Keefe, J., Acoustic Conditions In Orchestra Pits And Proscenium Arch Theatres, Inst. of Acoustics - Opera House & Concert Hall Symposium, February 1995
O'Keefe, J., The Acoustic Design for the new Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto, Canada, Inst. of Acoustics - Opera House & Concert Hall Symposium, February 1995
O'Keefe, J., A Preliminary Study of Reflected Sound on Stage, International Congress on Acoustics - Trondheim, Norway June 1995
O'Keefe, J., Measurement of Stage to Pit Balance in Four Proscenium Arch Theatres, Inst. of Acoustics - Acoustics at the Millennium, Belfast, May 1997
O'Keefe, J., Balance Measurements in Canadian Theatres, Canadian Acoustics, October 1997.
O'Keefe, J., Echo Suppression in a Large Fan Shaped Auditorium, Canadian Acoustics, October 1997.
O'Keefe, J., Muncy, N., Barbar, S., Cox, T.J. Modern measurements, optimised diffusion and electronic enhancement in a large fan shaped auditorium, International Congress on Acoustics - Seattle, USA July 1998
O'Keefe, J., Soloudre, G., Bradley, J. Acoustical renovation of The Orpheum Theatre, Vancouver Canada, International Congress on Acoustics - Seattle, USA July 1998
O'Keefe, J. Sound Strategies, Canadian Architect Vol. 43 No. 3 March 1998.
O'Keefe, J., The Influence of Height to Width Ratio and Side Wall Boxes on Room Acoustics Measurements, Inst. Acoustics, Manchester, October 1999
O’Keefe, J. Acoustical Problems In Large Post-War Auditoria, Inst. of Acoustics, London 2002.
O’Keefe, J, The Esplanade In Medicine Hat, Canada: From Plenum To Flytower, Inst. of Acoustics, Copenhagen 2006.
O’Keefe, J. Acoustical Renovation Of The Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Vancouver: Spatial Sound In A Wide Room, International Congress on Acoustics - Madrid, 2007.
O’Keefe, J. Acoustic Renovation Of Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre: 2006 – 2009, Canadian Acoustics, October 2007.
O’Keefe, J. Acoustic Design Of The Esplanade Arts And Heritage Centre, Medicine Hat, Canadian Acoustics, October 2007.
O’Keefe, J., Ashtiani, P., Grant, D. A new software tool to facilitate NURB based geometries in acoustic design, International Symposium on Room Acoustics - Toronto, 2013.
O’Keefe, J. HVAC displacement system noise control – a new method to quantify noise control performance, Canadian Acoustical Association, 2017
O’Keefe, J. An acoustician’s journey into hearing aids, Canadian Acoustical Association, 2017
O’Keefe, J. The application of nurbs to acoustical science, Canadian Acoustical Association, 2017
O’Keefe, J. A novel approach to counting waves in a room, Canadian Acoustical Association, 2017

j) PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Mr. O’Keefe was responsible for the acoustic design of the following performing arts venues.

Venue	Type of Work	# of seats
Queen Elizabeth Theatre	Renovation	2,750
SFU School for Contemporary Arts	New Building	400 + studios and cinema
Telus, Royal Conservatory of Music1	New Building	1,000 + practice studios
Bell Lightbox, Toronto Int’l Film Fest.	New Building	5 cinemas
Paul Davenport Theatre	Renovation	375
Four Season's Opera House1	New Building	2,000
Esplanade Arts & Heritage Centre	New Building	700 + 200 + museum
Young Centre (Soulpepper Theatre)	Renovation	250, 200 + Studios
Vancouver East Cultural Centre	Renovation	210
Perimeter Institute Recital Hall	New Building	205
P.C. Ho Auditorium	New Building	600
Isabel Bader Theatre	New Building	500
Country Day School	New Building	350 + studios
Magnus Theatre	New Building	250
Showplace Theatre	Renovation	600
Hummingbird Centre	Renovation	3,000
The Orpheum	Renovation	2,800
National Archive Auditorium	Renovation	325
Havergal College	New Building	400 + rehearsal rooms
Ron Maslin Theatre	New Building	600
York Woods Theatre	New Building	400 + rehearsal rooms
Evergreen Cultural Centre	New Building	250 + Art Gallery
University Centre, U. of Regina	New Building	450 + studios
CanWest Global Theatre	New Building	400
John Diefenbaker Theatre	New Building	750 + 150
Ruth Seaton James Theatre	New Building	600
Rimex Auditorium	New Building	600
Prince Salman Auditorium	New Building	500
T. Gil Bunch Perf. Arts Centre	New Building	450 + rehearsal room
Princess of Wales Theatre	New Building	2,000
Theatre Aquarius	New Building	750 & 120
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre	Renovation	175
Gravenhurst Opera House	Renovation	450
Victoria Hall	Renovation	500
Ed Mirvish Theatre	New Building	2,000

¹In association with Sound Space Design, Robert Essert in charge of acoustic design.