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that developed it (S1, S2, S3, or S12). The number after the decimal is the number of the standard itself, the next number is the year in which the standard was developed or last revised. The number following the letter R is the year in which the standard was reaffirmed. Standards are reviewed on a regular basis but not always changed. For example, the indication (R 2004) allows us to know that the standard was reviewed by the committee responsible for it in 2004 and found to be suitable for continued use as of that date.
It is beyond the purview of this article to describe all the ANSI standards related to acoustics and hearing that have been developed. However, the annotated tables list the stan- dards that are most likely to be of interest to audiologists. Table 1 lists those related to equipment used to measure or test equipment that might be used in hearing testing. Table 2 lists those standards related to hearing conservation that might be used by audiologists and Table 3 lists the standards that are most likely to be used by audiologists in clinical set- tings.
These tables do not list all of the standards but a complete listing can be found on the ASA web page at (http://asa.aip.org). After accessing the ASA home page, use the link to the “ASA Store.” This site lists all of the standards in each area, provides a brief description, and allows one to purchase the standards online for immediate downloading. (Printed copies of docu- ments may be ordered from the Standards Office.) This site also lists International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standards that may be purchased through the Acoustical Society. For fur- ther information about other applicable standards (such as ISO and IEC) see Wilber, 2004.AT
Laura Ann Wilber received a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern Mississippi in Speech Correction; a Master’s from Gallaudet in Deaf Education; and a doctorate in audiology under Raymond Carhart from Northwestern University. After completing her doctor- ate she moved to the University of California, Los
Angeles (UCLA), to do research with Victor Goodhill. Later she moved to New York to serve as the Director of the Speech and Hearing Clinic at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Dr. Wilber was professor of Audiology at Northwestern University from 1978 until she retired in 2002. She served on the environ- mental control board in New York City as the “Noise Expert,” and has represented the United States on various International Organization for Standardization (ISO) working groups related to bioacoustics since 1977. She has been a member of several American National Standards Institute (ANSI) working groups and served as chair of Standards Committee S3. Dr. Wilbur also served as president of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). She is currently professor emeritus at Northwestern University.
References for further reading
1 W. Melnick, “What is the American National Standards Institute,” ASHA 10, 418–421 (1973).
2 American National Standards Institute (ANSI), “Purpose,” http://www.ansi.org/about_ansi/overview/overview.aspx?menui d=1 (retrieved June 25, 2007).
3 American National Standards Institute, List of Member Organizations, https://eseries.ansi.org/Source/directory/ (retrieved June 25, 2007).
4 Laura Ann Wilber, “What are standards–and Why do I care?,” in
Seminars in Hearing–Current Topics in Audiology: A Tribute to Tom Tillman (Thieme, New York, 2004) pp 81-92.
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