Page 77 - Spring 2015

letters to the editor
Dear Editor,
I thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated the Leo Beranek is- sue of Acoustics Today, and appreciated the write-up on con- cert hall acoustics, but I believe more should be said about the importance of Dr. Beranek’s work on seat and audience sound-absorption. The importance of the use of area to re- place number of seats in determining the sound-absorption of the audience was due to nearly all post WWII halls con- structed up to that change having reverberation times con- siderably lower than predicted, causing unhappiness among the musicians and audiences.1 Thus, a number of halls for which BBN consulted and for which Dr. Beranek’s new data were applied were the pioneering halls (at least in North America) for which reverberation time measurements con- firmed design goals and calculations. These included the Jerusalem Congress Hall/Binyanai HaOohmah, the Jack- sonville Civic Auditorium, the Dartmouth Hopkins Center Spaulding Auditorium, and Butler University Cloughs Hall, Indianapolis.
Dear Editor,
Thank you for your excellent fall 2014 edition of Acoustics
Today in which you highlighted the life of Leo Beranek.
I would like to add to the chorus of reminiscences by telling of my unique view of Leo’s impact on people’s lives. Leo set a good example in the way he conducted his life, benefiting all whose paths lead to him. I see Leo’s contributions as going beyond his technical achievements to the personal world.
Leo has always had a positive attitude. When he is with someone, they can feel that, at that very moment, they are the center of his attention. Leo cares about what people have to say. While efficient with his time, he remains focused on those he is interacting with. This of course is a sign of re- spect.
Leo once gave this advice in an ASA plenary lecture, say- ing “Be kind to young acousticians.” I and many others have been the recipient of that kindness. Thanks, Leo, for your positive, friendly and respectful nature. You have given us a wonderful gift.
Sincerely,
Jerry Hyde, FASA, FIOA
Physicist, Consultant on Acoustics (Ret.) Box 55
St. Helena, California 94574 jerry@occtech.com
David Lloyd (ben Yaacov Yehuda) Klepper
daveklepper@yahoo.com
1
Royal Festival Hall, London, is possibly the best example. See L. L. Beranek, Concert Halls and Opera Houses, Music Acoustics and Architecture, Springer-Verlag. New York, 2003, available from Acoustical Society of America, Woodbury, 245-248. Also discussed in L. L. Beranek (1960). “Audience and Seat Absorption in Large Halls,” Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 32, 661-670.
letters to the editor
Email to:
Arthur N. Popper apopper@umd.edu
Mail to:
Acoustical Society of America
Publications Office
P.O. Box 274, 1170 Main Street West Barnstable, MA 02668
obituary | Floyd Dunn | 1924-2015 Continued from page 74
References
Dunn, F. (1957). Comments on mechanical mechanism of destructive ef- fects of sound on tissue. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 29, 395-396.
Dunn, F. (1962). Temperature and amplitude dependence of acoustic absorp- tion in tissue. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 34, 1545-1547.
Dunn, F., and Fry, F. J. (1971). Ultrasonic threshold dosages for the mam- malian central nervous system. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineer- ing 18, 253-256.
Fields, S., and Dunn, F. (1973). Correlation of echographic visualizability of tissue with biological composition and physiological state. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 53, 809-812.
Hawley, S. A., and Dunn, F. (1964). UHF acoustic interaction with biologi- cal media. Naturwissenschaften 51, 555-556.
Law, W. K., Frizzell, L. A., and Dunn F. (1981). Nonlinear ultrasonic propa- gation in biological media. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 69, 1210-1212.
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