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5. Expanding publications—inside and outside the Society • 1955–1990
The official theme of the 51st meeting held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University in June 1956 was “Sound and Man,” and covered three areas: 1) Bioacoustics and Noise Control, including Speech and Hearing, 2) Architectural and Musical Acoustics, and 3) Physical Acoustics and Sonics. It was also the occasion of the 2nd International Congress on Acoustics (ICA)—the first held in the United States—with 1230 registrants.
The Society also began increasing the size of its publi- cations in both size and number. The total number of pages in JASA increased from 1279 in 1955 to about 7,000 in 1990. In 1957 the publication frequency of JASA went from bimonthly to monthly. Two years before, in January 1955, the first issue of the Society’s publication NOISE Control appeared with Lewis Goodfriend as editor. In his introduc- tion to the magazine, then-president Leo Beranek said that “The magazine is directed to the reader who needs to know about noise control—whether he is an engineer, the manag- er of a factory, an audiologist, or an architect.” It was meant to provide helpful information on the practical application of acoustics, on current noise issues, and on noise legisla- tion and products. It also included ads. The magazine was replaced in 1962 with Sound Its Uses and Control. The rea- son for this change was given in the first editorial, namely that “the scope of NOISE Control has clearly been too nar- row, and the time has come to provide a broader coverage and give a grasp of the meaning of sound, its uses and con- trol in all aspects to a much wider audience.” The editorial goes on to state that one objective was “to provide practical information on the uses and control of sound unencum- bered by the heavy mathematical analysis of the conven- tional research paper.” The magazine contained patents, book reviews, calendars, new products and articles that every reader could understand. Robert Fehr (1911-1998), an Associate Editor of Sound, elucidated upon this point in the final issue of the magazine when it was hastily termi- nated by the Executive Council in December 1963: “It is no mean task to bring people together where some are science- oriented and others are thinking in terms of hardware—and in dollars and cents.” A small note was inserted in this issue noting the demise of the magazine, and that subscription payments would be refunded.
After WWII there were many examples of groups split- ting off from the Acoustical Society. Although no official complaints are to be found associated with these events, minutes and recorded oral interviews allude to concerns expressed by the leadership of ASA about losing these tech- nical fields and membership. In 1948 the Audio Engineering Society began as the hi-fi revolution took off. The report of ASA’s Committee on the Development and Promotion of the Society noted the appearance of the pub- lication of Transactions in Audio and Ultrasonic Engineering and the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society that the committee noted “suggest that there are areas, particularly in the area of applications of acoustics, that are not being adequately covered by the Journal or by the more recent
Society publication, NOISE Control.” In response to these new fields and publications, the Committee made several recommendations including forming new technical com- mittees.
In 1971, following an Acoustical Society Workshop on Noise Control at Arden House in Harriman, New York, the Institute of Noise Control Engineering of the USA (INCE/USA) was formed. Many acousticians are members of both ASA and INCE/USA resulting in the two organizations holding joint meetings. Also, the field of aeroacoustics shift- ed over to the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), and many Society members helped start the Association of Research in Otolaryngology (ARO). The Society eventually accepted the splitting off of new soci- eties, noting that the creation of new organizations in spe- cialties in acoustics is part of a natural evolution, and the best approach is to avoid conflicts of meetings, and to encourage joint and cosponsored meetings.
Concerns about the future of the Society prompted stud- ies that began with the aforementioned Committee on Development and Promotion of the Society that had been appointed in 1956. That Committee made a number of sug- gestions for revamping the Society’s operations—primarily as they affected technical operations. As a result the Society’s present day Technical Council/Technical Committee struc- ture was established. During the oral history interview of Wallace Waterfall, he mentioned a significant development in the Society’s structure in 1960. Waterfall recounted the grow- ing sentiment that members wanted an expanded role in con- ducting the activities of the ASA. In response, the current Technical Committee structure, and later the Technical Council were formed. Wallace felt that this development gave the ASA a “House of Representatives” with a large committee representation that could influence the direction of the Society—not only in administrative affairs, but the conduct of meetings and the Journal. Wallace commented that “I feel that a kind of grassroots representation has been very healthy. It certainly saved the Society from being broken up into actual sections...and it prevented the establishment of divisions.” A more detailed description of the history of the Society’s technical committees can be found in Chapter 3 of the book ASA at 75. In addition, the history of each of the current technical committees can be found in the individual chapters of that book, along with the histories of publications and standards.
A special committee to study the publication policies of the Society was established in 1957. The October 1957 issue of JASA (Vol. 29, No 10) carries an editorial titled “What sort of journal do we want?” and questions were posed as to how the Journal could be improved to better serve the acoustics community. Another poll of the membership was taken in 1966 and reported in JASA in 1968. Members were asked about the publication format and whether the technical areas were being served well. The members felt considerable pride and satisfaction in the quality of the content of JASA, but favored some sort of subdivision of the Journal. Also, split- ting JASA into two sections (Physical Sciences and Life Sciences) once again became a source of deep discussion in the early 1990s. However, the solution to this question was
40 Acoustics Today, October 2006