Page 53 - Winter 2011

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: Chapter 145, “Hearing and the perception of sound” (in the series: Expert Evidence) Chapter editors: David Alais, Virginia Best, Paul D. Niall, Carolyn Semmler, and
Donald H. Woolford
Series Editors: Ian R Freckelton SC, Hugh Selby
Publisher: Thomson Reuters (Professional) Australia Limited ISBN 0 455 21078 0
Pages: 44
Binding: Looseleaf and pdf, online
This chapter addresses hearing and the perception of sound for use by litigators, judges, attor- neys, and expert witnesses as a guide in civil and criminal cases in the court system. Included are some basics on the ear and hearing: auditory neuro-anatomy and neural coding of sound, auditory perception; sound localization and distance cues; loudness, intensity and masking; cognitive psychology, memory for sound, voice and speech, the impact of context in sound
identification; audition in the multisensory brain: visual influences on speech perception; ventriloquism, individual differ- ences, auditory perception and blindness, and ambiguity in audition; abnormal hearing and deafness: hearing impairment: presbycusis, noise-induced hearing loss, diseases of hearing, oto-toxins, combinations of different sources of hearing damage, supra-threshold characteristics of damaged hearing, plus a section on compensation assessments of noise-induced hearing loss. Two appendices include brief information on the nature of sound and the theory of signal detection. The literature on the science and practice of hearing and the perception of sound is enormous, but the comprehensive references provide consider- able depth in the disciplines embraced. The chapter will facilitate increased possibilities in forensic analysis for hearing and sound perception, and assist courts to resolve issues in those categories.
Title: The Acoustics of Performance Halls Author: J. Christopher Jaffe
Publisher: W.W.Norton and Company ISBN-13: 978-0-393-73255-9
Pages: 208
Binding: Hardcover
The author describes the common misconceptions about what makes a successful classi- cal concert space, explains that sound reflections rather than geometry are the key to developing an outstanding hall, and shows how a series of simple principles related to how humans perceive musical quality can provide the ideal environment for classical music performances. Jaffe presents a proven methodology for designing successful ven- ues for symphonic performance in a variety of building types, including concert halls, music pavilions, multi-use theaters, and amphitheaters. An invaluable resource as a large- scale troubleshooting manual, this book should be read not only by acousticians but also by concert administrators, concert division directors, and operations managers, as well as theater consultants, architectural firms, and construction companies.
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.
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