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Table 1. International Congresses on Acoustics
authorized the President to submit an application to ICSU for Union membership and to seek formal support from the var- ious National Scientific Members and Scientific Union Members of ICSU, both of which were completed.
In its application to ICSU, the ICA stated the reasons for seeking Union membership. First, the current affiliated status within IUPAP and IUTAM is no longer adequate to serve the broad international field of acoustics wherein there is a need for a stronger and more unified voice. Second, Union membership would serve the growing num- ber of national societies and their members as well as more specialized international and regional organizations. It would also provide recognition for the important economic and social benefits achieved through the application of acoustics, and thereby recognize the important contribu- tions of acousticians to society. This was exemplified in the title and papers of the most recent International Congress on Acoustics “Acoustical Science and Technology for Quality of Life.”
Other international organizations which offered support for ICA to seek Union membership included the International Institute of Noise Control Engineering (I- INCE), which was founded in 1974 as a worldwide consor- tium of organizations concerned with noise control, and the International Institute of Sound and Vibration (IIAV), which became an Affiliate Organization of IUTAM in 1997. Likewise regional organizations such as the European Acoustics Association (EAA), the Western Pacific Commission on Acoustics (WESPAC), and the Iberoamerican Federation of Acoustics (FIA) have expressed their support for ICA’s Union membership within ICSU. Also letters of support have been received from eight of the pres- ent Scientific Union Members, including IUPAP, and from six of the National Scientific Members.
To summarize, there is a vast body of support from with- in the international acoustics community for the consolida- tion of acoustics through Union membership within ICSU. This would greatly promote the cooperation and unify the activities in acoustics around the globe in this rapidly expanding important field. This initiative will undoubtedly be for the overall benefit of the world’s acoustics community.
The ICA submitted its application to ICSU for Union
Organization (UNESCO) and the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS). More information on ICSU can be found at their website [www.icsu.org].
Proposal for ICA to become a scientific union
To better assume its role as the representative interna- tional body in acoustics, the ICA recently undertook a new initiative, namely to become a Scientific Union member like IUPAP and IUTAM. As noted above, the ICA now reports to IUPAP and IUTAM. But the ICA has realized that over the years the activity of its members in physics and mechanics within the member societies is not as prominent as it had been in the past. For example within the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), which has a strong international member- ship, only about 15% of its members selected physics as their professional identification, while in 1989 this statistic was 23%. Over the years other fields such as speech, hearing, biol- ogy and other areas of professional identification have broad- ened the range of acoustics, and hence the sense was that the ICA should seek Scientific Union membership within ICSU.
The ICA Board has had extensive discussions on the desirability for becoming a full fledged member of ICSU as a Scientific Union. An action plan was initiated during its annual Board meeting in 2001, and in 2003 the Board authorized the ICA President to write an informational letter to obtain the opinions of all ICA Member Societies about seeking Union membership. Responses from the Member Societies showed unanimous support for this plan. During the 2004 General Assembly of the ICA in Kyoto the Board
Table 2. International Commission for Acoustics Member Societies. Listed in alphabetical order by country. (O) Indicates observer status
International Commission for Acoustics 27