The Acoustical Society of America’s historical contributions to noise and its control
Leo L. Beranek, William Warner Lang · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 2000
The Society’s contributions to noise and its control, a subfield of the broad subject of acoustics, have been significant and constant over the years since the first noise paper was presented at the Society’s first meeting in 1929. The major contributions are considered in an historical context—during the period before World War II when the Society first produced national standards for instrumentation used for noise measurement, during the War and the Postwar Era when there was considerable government support for airborne acoustics research, during the 1950s when Noise Control magazine was published, followed by the 1960s and the later years of the 20th Century. Of the ASA members expressing interest in the 13 different subfields of acoustics, the number concerned with noise is near the top of the list. But ASA is no longer alone. Nearly a dozen other professional organizations in the U.S.A. have groups that are involved with noise and its control. Over the past three-quarters of a century, ASA has played a leadership role in developing the subfield of acoustics focused on noise control, and in producing a broad range of American National Standards on noise and vibration. In the future, ASA must take concrete, positive steps to retain its position of leadership.