Page 8 - January 2009

FROM THE EDITOR
Dick Stern
Applied Research Laboratory, The Pennsylvania State University State College, Pennsylvania
This issue contains a new department—Co-sponsored
Meeting Reports. These are
reports of meetings for which the
Acoustical Society of America
(ASA) is a co-sponsor along with a
university or another professional
society but plays only a secondary,
supporting role. This is contrasted
with a joint meeting of two or more
professional societies in which each
society plays a major role (such as
Acoustics ‘08 Paris). These reports
have appeared in the Journal before
now but usually have been buried in the seven hun- dred or so pages of an issue and are found only by those readers who are specifically looking for them. Remember, one of the missions of Acoustics Today is to let everyone know what everyone else is doing. We hope that most readers are interested in this issue’s report. It is the first international meeting on Audible Acoustics in Medicine and Physiology.
You will notice from the cover and table of con- tents that this issue of Acoustics Today has an interest- ing theme, Acoustics in the Seventeenth Century. Perhaps the title of the issue should be Yesterday’s
Acoustics Today. We thought that many of our readers might be inter- ested in the forward thinking of two individuals, Athanasius Kircher and William Derham who lived in Italy and England, respectively, and who are virtually unknown and seldom mentioned in today’s books about acoustics.
Finally, a word to the Chairs of ASA’s Technical Committees. We hope that the concept of a theme issue of Acoustics Today might attract you to think about suggest-
ing one to your committee members. It is a great way to let the society know about your committee’s cur- rent activities. It takes only three members that are each willing to write a magazine article about their work. Send their names and topics to AcousticsToday@aip.org and I’ll do the rest. If you remember, the October 2007 was a theme issue about speech and hearing. This issue is about seventeenth cen- tury acoustics. One of the next issues could be yours.
See you in Portland. Dick Stern
From the Editor 7