The
Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is an international scientific society dedicated to increasing and diffusing the knowledge of
acousticsAcoustics is the interdisciplinary science that deals with the study of sound, ultrasound and infrasound . A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician. The application of acoustics in technology is called acoustical engineering...
and its practical applications.
The ASA was instigated by Wallace Waterfall, Floyd Watson, and
Vern Oliver KnudsenVern Oliver Knudsen was an American acoustical physicist.He received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Chicago in 1922. Vern Knudsen's publications include two seminal books, "Architectural Acoustics," published in 1932, and "Acoustical Designing in Architecture" with Cyril M...
. On December 27, 1928, approximately 40 scientists and engineers interested in acoustics met at the
Bell Telephone LaboratoriesBell Laboratories is the research and development organization of Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company .Bell Laboratories has had its headquarters at Murray Hill, New Jersey, and it has research and development facilities...
in New York, NY, to consider the formation of a scientific society for acoustics.
The
Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is an international scientific society dedicated to increasing and diffusing the knowledge of
acousticsAcoustics is the interdisciplinary science that deals with the study of sound, ultrasound and infrasound . A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician. The application of acoustics in technology is called acoustical engineering...
and its practical applications.
History
The ASA was instigated by Wallace Waterfall, Floyd Watson, and
Vern Oliver KnudsenVern Oliver Knudsen was an American acoustical physicist.He received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Chicago in 1922. Vern Knudsen's publications include two seminal books, "Architectural Acoustics," published in 1932, and "Acoustical Designing in Architecture" with Cyril M...
. On December 27, 1928, approximately 40 scientists and engineers interested in acoustics met at the
Bell Telephone LaboratoriesBell Laboratories is the research and development organization of Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company .Bell Laboratories has had its headquarters at Murray Hill, New Jersey, and it has research and development facilities...
in New York, NY, to consider the formation of a scientific society for acoustics. Just a few months later, the Acoustical Society of America held its first meeting on May 10-11, 1929, with approximately 450 charter members. In 1931 the Acoustical Society joined with three other scientific societies to form the
American Institute of PhysicsThe American Institute of Physics is an international body representing physicists and publishing physics related journals. It was founded in 1931....
.
Technical committees
The Society has 13 technical committees that represent specialized interests in the field of acoustics. The committees organize technical sessions at conferences and are responsible for the representation of their sub-field in ASA publications. The committees include:
- Acoustical oceanography
Acoustical oceanography is the use of underwater sound to study the sea, its boundaries and its contents.Acoustical oceanography is that branch of physics,which deals with the study of sea,its boundaries and its contents using underwater sound.-History:...
- Animal Bioacoustics
Bioacoustics is a cross-disciplinary science that combines biology and acoustics. Usually it refers to the investigation of sound production, dispersion through elastic media, and reception in animals, including humans. This involves neurophysiological and anatomical basis of sound production and...
- Architectural Acoustics
Architectural acoustics is the science of noise control within buildings. The first application of architectural acoustics was in the design of opera houses and then concert halls. More widely, noise suppression is critical in the design of multi-unit dwellings and business premises that generate...
- Biomedical Ultrasound
Ultrasound is cyclic sound pressure with a frequency greater than the upper limit of human hearing. Although this limit varies from person to person, it is approximately 20 kilohertz in healthy, young adults and thus, 20 kHz serves as a useful lower limit in describing ultrasound...
/Bioresponse to Vibration
- Engineering Acoustics
Acoustical engineering is the branch of engineering dealing with sound and vibration. It is closely related to acoustics, the science of sound and vibration...
- Musical Acoustics
Musical acoustics or music acoustics is the branch of acoustics concerned with researching and describing the physics of music — how sounds employed as music work...
- Noise
In common use, the word noise means unwanted sound or noise pollution. In both analog and digital electronics, noise or signal noise is an unwanted random addition to a wanted signal; it is called noise as a generalisation of the audible noise heard when listening to a weak radio transmission...
- Physical Acoustics
- Psychological and Physiological Acoustics
Psychoacoustics is the study of subjective human perception of sounds. Alternatively it can be described as the study of the psychological correlates of the physical parameters of acoustics.- Background :...
- Signal Processing in Acoustics
Audio signal processing, sometimes referred to as audio processing, is the intentional alteration of auditory signals, or sound. As audio signals may be electronically represented in either digital or analog format, signal processing may occur in either domain...
- Speech Communication
- Structural Acoustics and Vibration
Vibration refers to mechanical oscillations about an equilibrium point. The oscillations may be periodic such as the motion of a pendulum or random such as the movement of a tire on a gravel road.Vibration is occasionally "desirable"...
- Underwater Acoustics
Underwater acoustics is the study of the propagation of sound in water and the interaction of the mechanical waves that constitute sound with the water and its boundaries. The water may be in the ocean, a lake or a tank. Typical frequencies associated with underwater acoustics are between 10 Hz and...
Standards
From its inception, the ASA's members have helped develop acoustical standards. In 1932, the
American National Standards InstituteThe American National Standards Institute or ANSI is a private non-profit organization that oversees the development of voluntary consensus standards for products, services, processes, systems, and personnel in the United States. The organization also coordinates U.S. standards with international...
(ANSI) appointed the Acoustical Society as sponsor of a committee to standardize acoustical terminology and measurements. In 1957 this committee split into three follow-on committees: S1 on Acoustics, S2 on Mechanical Shock and Vibration, and S3 on Bioacoustics, with a fourth, S12 on Noise, added in 1981. The ASA also distributes ISO and
IECIEC may refer to:In education:* International Education Centre* Information, Education, and Communication* International Electrotechnical Commission - An international standards organization dealing with electrical, electronic and related technologies.* Institut d'Estudis Catalans, Catalan Studies...
standards.
Publications
The ASA publishes the
Journal of the Acoustical Society of AmericaJournal of the Acoustical Society of America is a scientific journal in the field of acoustics, published by the Acoustical Society of America. It contains technical articles on sound, vibration, speech and other topics.Access to articles is by subscription or purchase, though most universities...
(JASA), the
Acoustics Research Letters Online (ARLO), and a wide range of books and videos on topics related to acoustics.
Awards
The ASA presents awards to individuals for contributions to the field of Acoustics. These include
- Gold Medal
The ASA Gold Medal is an annual award presented by the Acoustical Society of America to individuals in recognition of outstanding contributions to acoustics. The Gold Medal was first presented in 1954 and is the highest award of the ASA. Past recipients, which include the Nobel Laureate Georg...
- R. Bruce Lindsay Award
- Wallace Clement Sabine Medal
- Pioneers of Underwater Acoustics Medal
- Trent-Crede Medal
- von Békésy Medal
- Silver Medal
The ASA Silver Medal is an award presented by the Acoustical Society of America to individuals, without age limitation, for contributions to the advancement of science, engineering, or human welfare through the application of acoustic principles or through research accomplishments in acoustics...
Student Activity
The ASA offers membership and conference attendance to students at a substantially reduced rate. Conference attendance is further promoted by travel subsidies and formal and informal student meetings and social activities. The ASA also expanded services to student in 2004 by introducing the regional student chapters.
External links