SINGAPORE — Evaluating the health of human hair, measuring hearing loss and monitoring air pollution may not appear to have much in common, but they all depend on metrology, the science of measurement.

To mark World Metrology Day on Monday, researchers and industry leaders gathered at a conference by the A*STAR National Metrology Centre (NMC) to share the importance of metrology in various industries.

Dr Thomas Liew, Executive Director of the NMC, said: “Precise measurements in design and manufacturing are critical for safe and high-quality products, and new measurement methods also enable technological advances and innovation. Metrology research at NMC has helped to develop high-quality and innovative products, as well as contribute to public well-being.”

For instance, with one-fifth of Singaporeans in their 50s suffering from hearing loss, the accurate measurement of acoustics is important in the work done by Ms Kek Tze Ling, Senior Audiologist of the National University Health System. “We use conventional audiometers, but we are also moving towards using software-based audiometers for hearing testing,” she said.

Dr Kai Fuu-Ming, a postdoctoral Associate at the Singapore–MIT Alliance for Research and Technology, conducts air pollution monitoring, and reliable measurement is part of his work. “We collect air samples in canisters and analyse them in laboratories,” he noted.

When it comes to determining hair loss that accompanies ageing, metrology makes the work more precise — allowing for more data to be processed, and at a faster pace.

Optical fibre diameter analysis, a measurement method first used to grade wool, rasters a laser beam over a mass of 2mm-long pieces of hair to measure their diameters faster and more precisely. ZARA ZHUANG