To understand the aerodynamics of a dental drill, which can contribute to odontophobia, Tomomi Yamada and her collaborators used Japan’s flagship supercomputer to conduct large-scale aeroacoustics simulations. They analyzed the internal and external airflow of the dental drill, which can generate high-pitched sounds reaching nearly 20 kilohertz, and tested its psychological effects with children and adults. Now, Yamada and her colleagues are working on optimizing the blade geometry and exhaust port of the drill to minimize the noise while maintaining the performance.
