Page 65 - Volume 12, Issue 2 - Spring 2012

negotiations too numerous to mention, the Noise Control Act was passed by both houses of Congress on the last day of the 92nd Congress.
One of the outcomes of the Act was the publication by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency of the 1974 report titled “Information on Levels of Environmental Noise Requisite to Protect Public Health and Welfare with an Adequate Margin of Safety.” This report, often called the EPA Levels Document, is probably the most widely distributed and used EPA report on the subject of noise. Ken Eldred was a principal author of this report.
Ken made significant contributions to the world of standards as related to our noise control engineering pro- fession. Standards development in the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) began in 1930, and Ken was involved in standards for more than half of those years, taking his first leadership position in 1968 as Chair of S1/WG 45 Sound Level Meters and their Calibration. Ken organized and chaired a special standards meeting in Deerfield Beach, Florida, with the purpose of establishing what is now the S- 12 Committee on Noise.. The purpose of this new commit- tee was to deal with noise measurements including environ- mental, occupational, and other special purpose noise measurements. It has been an important component of the ASA standards program to this day. He served as Standards Director of the Acoustical Society of America (1987-1993, Chair of S12 (1984-1987, and Chair of ISO/TC 108 (1994-
1998). Ken’s additional service included Chair of S1/WG 74 Guidelines for Standard Procedures for Measurement of Sound Source Emission through the mid-70’s, Chair of S1/WG 45 Sound Level Meters and their Calibration (1968- 84), Chair of S2/WG 83 Acoustic Vibration Testing (1983- 1986), Chair of the ANSI Acoustical Standards Management Board in the mid-1970s, Chair of the ANSI Standards Planning Panel in the mid-1970s, Chair of the ANSI Panel on Noise Abatement and Control (1976), and an Individual Member of S1 and S2.
Ken was a member of the Department of Transportation Supersonc Transport (SST) Advisory Panel for Noise, a con- sultant for the President’s Aviation Advisory Commission, and principal consultant to the State of California Department of Aeronautics for the development of the first comprehensive regulations for airport noise. He was a regis- tered professional engineer in the states of California and Alabama, a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the Institute of Noise Control Engineering, a Director of the INCE Foundation, and a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America. In 1994 he received the Silver Medal in Noise from the ASA.
The authors would like to thank Paul Schomer and Richard Potter for their assistance with this tribute.
Eric W. Wood and George C. Maling, Jr.
ASA has learned of the passings of: Igor V. Nabalek
64 Acoustics Today, April 2012