Page 40 - Spring 2010

Books and Publications
Dick Stern
Applied Research Laboratory, The Pennsylvania State University PO Box 30, State College, Pennsylvania 16804
Acoustics Today welcomes contributions for “Books and Publications.” There is no charge for this service. Submissions of about 250 words that may be edited in MSWord or plain text files should be e-mailed to <acousticstoday@aip.org>. Cover graphics should accompany the text and must be at least 300 dpi. Please send the text and graphics in separate files.
Title: Architectural Acoustics: Principles and Practice, Second Edition Authors: William J. Cavanaugh, Gregory C. Tocci, Joseph A. Wilkes Publisher: Wiley
ISBN: 978-0-470-19052-4
Pages: 352
Binding: Hardcover
A widely recognized, comprehensive reference to acoustic principles, Architectural Acoustics, Second Edition provides design professionals with up-to-date information on technologies for controlling wanted or unwanted sound within and around buildings. Architectural Acoustics covers fundamental acoustic principles, design criteria, acoustical materials, control strate- gies, and methods for a wide variety of building types, including educational, healthcare, recreational, residential, commercial, industrial, and transportation facilities. Particular attention is given to places for listening and performance such as theaters, churches, concert and recital halls, outdoor arenas, classrooms, multiuse auditoria, libraries, music practice and rehearsal rooms, recording and broadcast studios, sports venues, home theaters, and other spaces that people meet to communicate and enjoy performance.
Title: Tulips to Thresholds: Counterpart Careers of the Author and Signal Detection Theory Author: John A. Swets
Publisher: Peninsula Publishing
ISBN: 078-0-932-146-71-7
Pages: 138 Binding: Softcover
Signal detection theory based on theories of statistical inference and decision making was developed in communications engineering with reference to radar and sonar by W. W. Peterson and T. G. Birdsall at the University of Michigan in the early 1950’s. Working with them, W. P. Tanner, Jr., and J. A. Swets carried the theory into psychology to study visual and auditory processes. They found that concepts of ideal observers reflected the behavior of human observers. The rapid development of the theory and its extensive application to sub- stantive problems, with contributions also by D. M. Green and J. P. Egan and others, were car- ried out mainly in psychoacoustics in the fertile bed of the technical meetings and journal of the Acoustical Society of America. In this memoir, Swets begins with his family influences and his childhood among the tulips, and describes his attraction to a group of emerging sci- ences. He tells how his career and the career of signal detection theory developed as coun- terparts over 50-plus years, highlighted in later years by the ubiquity of the theory in medical diagnosis.
Editor’s Note—The items printed in “Books and Publications” are reported for informational purposes only and are not nec- essarily endorsements by the Editor, Acoustics Today, or the Acoustical Society of America.
36 Acoustics Today, April 2010