Page 38 - Spring 2006

The relationship between ASA and INCE/USA continues to be a strong one. In fact, an ASA-INCE/USA
4 Agreement presently exists. The pur-
pose of the Agreement, “...is to provide for cooperation in the holding of certain meetings and in the publication of cer- tain educational periodicals.” Because the Agreement will expire in June 2006, it is important to highlight some of the details of the present Agreement and also to suggest some areas that might be included in its next iteration.
Standards
The ASA is secretariat for American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Committee S12 Noise. INCE/USA is an S12 organizational member with a representative appoint- ed by the INCE/USA Board of
4
This standard includes acoustical criteria and design requirements for control of noise and reverberation in classrooms and other learning spaces. There were 54 partici- pants in the working group for this standard; 15 were members of both ASA and INCE/USA, 21 were mem- bers of ASA only, and 2 were members
of INCE/USA only.
Participation of our organizations
in the development of international standards in acoustics and noise con- trol (through the International Electrotechnical Commission and the International Organization for Standardization) is less obvious. There is little participation of our acoustics experts in reviewing documents as they are being developed. Perhaps a reason for this is the financial commitment for experts to attend international meet- ings. The present author is not in a posi- tion to earmark ASA or INCE/USA funds for such travel, but the topic is one that needs discussion and resolution by the standards leaders from the our two organizations. This is important because it will benefit USA manufacturers, workers, and consumers.
The federal and state governments are expected to increase the funding for development of alternative sources of electrical power. An important candi-
A recent example of ASA- INCE/USA collaboration in the area of standards is ANSI S12.60-2002 on
5,6
Directors.
classroom acoustics.
date is the use of multiple wind tur- bines on wind farms. There have, how- ever, been some significant violations of community and recreational land- use noise ordinances due to some of these wind farms now in operation. Several areas need input from acousti-
7
Acoustical standards must be developed for wind turbine noise measurement and for the instrumenta- tion used to measure this noise. The microphones on most sound level meters are only useful down to 20 or 30 Hz, but wind turbines generate emis- sions at frequencies lower than 20 Hz. The proposed new standard will address this issue. The human and ani- mal response to these very-low fre- quency sounds also needs careful study. Although not part of standards development per se, acoustical experts from INCE/USA, ASA, and the National Council of Acoustical Consultants (NCAC) should be avail- able to assist local authorities in the development noise ordinances that are
cal experts.
applicable to wind farms.
Meetings
The first collaborative meeting held by ASA and INCE/USA occurred on the occasion of the United States’ bicentenni- al celebration in Washington, DC. The semi-annual ASA meeting and INTER- NOISE 76 were held back-to-back in dif- ferent hotels. Unfortunately, different fees were charged for registration that made it impossible to have reciprocity of badges between the two meetings. Those confer- ees interested in attending both meetings were not happy because of the additional fees required; thus, there was little coop- eration or interaction during these meet- ings. Fortunately, those early problems have been corrected and ASA and INCE/USA have had three fruitful joint meetings within the last decade: 1997 in State College; 2000 in Newport Beach; and 2005 in Minneapolis. In 2006, the 152nd Meeting of the ASA will be held back-to-back with INTER-NOISE 06 in Honolulu; both meetings are co-spon- sored with the Acoustical Society of Japan and INCE/Japan, respectively.
Clearly, there are on-going efforts to continue holding joint meetings. We should strive to have two joint meetings per decade. A joint meeting is one of the
best ways to bring our members togeth- er for professional collaboration and social interactions. Joint meetings strengthen the ties between the Technical Council of ASA and the Technical Activities Board of INCE/USA because it is the members of these groups that suggest and organize the technical sessions of the meetings. The executive branches of ASA and INCE/USA must develop and refine the policy for holding joint meetings, including a master “memorandum of understanding” that can be used (with appropriate modifications) for each suc- ceeding meeting. Key elements of the policy would include the selection of venues, dates, and chairs, hotel negotia- tions, financial management, short courses, seminars, manufacturer’s expo- sition, social events, and management of printed materials including programs, proceedings, and CDs.
USA Noise Policy
The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) has initiated a proj- ect to collect and analyze data from gov- ernment and private-sector sources on the impact of noise on the quality of life, on the current state of noise control tech- nology, the role of noise control technol- ogy in international competitiveness, and the implications of all of the above on noise policy. The study is expected to develop recommendations for public- and private-sector action to reduce the adverse effects of noise. The development and execution of the NAE noise initiative is being undertaken in two distinct steps: (1) a project initiation (planning) work- shop was convened on 13-15 September 2005; a prospectus for a consensus study has since been prepared and approved. (2) The consensus study will be conduct- ed over a 30-month period of time by the NAE staff and an appointed committee made up of experts from several areas of acoustics and noise control. It will involve a variety of fact-finding activities such as additional workshops, background research, commissioned papers, and informal interviews. All of this will lead to the issuing of a consensus report with specific findings and recommendations for a follow-on implementation effort. This important project will involve many individuals from ASA, INCE/USA, and
36 Acoustics Today, April 2006