A Modest Research Proposal: The Sounds of Paleontology at #2013SVP

I have a research proposal for the attendees of the annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP). I need your help.

You see, I know when I’m at an SVP meeting based upon the sound of conversations whether in bars or in poster sessions or anywhere.  Do you know what I’m talking about?

I’ve been to lots of professional conferences: Geological Society of America, American Geophysical Union, American Chemical Society, among others. All of these meetings have events that involve crowding into a small space and discussing the science at hand.

But SVP meetings have a special sound.

One has but to step into the host hotel lobby and listen for moment to know that there are vertebrate paleontologists gathered there.

There’s just something in the tone of a mass of conversing vertebrate paleontologists that is uniquely identifiable. I want to know what that is. I want to quantify it.

I want to know if I’m the only one who’s noticed this.

Do you notice that vertebrate paleontologists produce a special sort of din in an enclosed space?

Do you have any ideas on how to measure and quantify this phenomenon?

Help me out here. Please offer your thoughts and suggestions in the comments. Please.