Page 51 - Volume 9, Issue 3

Books and Publications
Allan D. Pierce
Acoustical Society of America Publications Office West Barnstable, MA 02668
Acoustics Today welcomes suggestions for what books and publications might merit having an independent and critical review published in this magazine. The primary desire is to inform our readership of the existence and merits of new and lesser- known older books on acoustics, but Acoustics Today also desires open and frank criticism. Authors are welcome to submit comments on reviews that have been published in the magazine.
Title: Technische Akustik: Grundlagen und Anwendungen (Technical Acoustics: Foundations and Applications)
Authors: Reinhold Lerch, Gerhard Sessler, and Dietrich Wolf
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 978-35402343302
Pages: 949
Binding: Hardcover
Publication date: September 8, 2009
50 Acoustics Today, July 2013
This book has probably been overlooked by most of those in the world’s acoustics community whose native language is not German. The present reviewer learned of its existence when he saw it cited in a recent submission to the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, and he subsequently managed to get a hold of a copy. The considered opinion is that it is a comprehensive introductory survey of most of acoustics. Any acoustics-oriented reader having a passing ability to read German is encouraged to take a look at it. The book, in terms of basic conceptual layout, is readable, but it is not ele- mentary; there are as many as 50 equations in any given chapter. However, the level is such that persons with a mastery of basic undergraduate physics or engineering should find it palatable.
One of the authors’ stated objectives was to produce a book that would be an “umfassendes Lehrbuch,” (a comprehensive textbook) covering what they term “classical and modern acoustics. “ Given the restriction to 949 pages, they have done about as well as is humanly possible. This achievement is attested to by the list of chapter titles, given in English translation below:
1. Introduction
2. Sound in gases and liquids
3. Reflection, diffraction, and refraction of sound
4. Nonlinear wave propagation in gases and liquids
5. Acoustic waves in solid bodies
6. Sound sources and sound radiation
7. Physiological and psychological acoustics
8. Room acoustics
9. Structural acoustics
10. Noise
11. Electromechanical analogies
12. Foundations of electro-acoustic transducers
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.