Page 94 - Winter 2020

Letters to the Editor
Acoustics Today welcomes “Letters to the Editor.” Letters (maximum 150 words) can be on any topic related to acoustics or any comments on material in recent issues of Acoustics Today. Letters will be published on a space- available basis. Letters should be sent to apopper@umd.edu.
Dear Editor,
Mark Hamilton’s “Sound Perspectives” essay in Acoustics Today [volume 16(2), p. 81; acousticstoday.org/asabooks] on the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) Books Committee provided a welcome review of their history and recent expansion beyond reprinting “classic books in acoustics at very low prices.” The Committee’s decision to publish new books in collaboration with Springer has resulted in 30 books in the span of 16 years. Not mentioned is that these books are
available to ASA members in the B&W paperback “MyCopy” versions for just under $25!
Another interesting option in the ASA Press/Springer collaboration has recently become available. In October, their first “open access” book became available as a free e-book download worldwide. The MyCopy print version will still be available for $25, and the cost of the hardbound, color version was also reduced significantly.
Books enhance the mission of the ASA by (hopefully!) integrating accumulated knowledge into a coherent context in a way that individual journal articles and conference presentation cannot.
Steven Garrett
sxg185@psu.edu
Dear Editor,
I greatly enjoyed the article by Amaral et al. in the Summer 2020 issue of Acoustics Today (see http://bit.ly/3l0F5ejAmaral). I do feel that three important sources of wind farm sound were understated or might have been added.
First, site selection for the farm and cable routes requires geophysical surveys with multibeam sonars, airguns, or other common geophysical survey sound sources.
Second, acoustic deterrent devices (ADD) may be required by some regulators to mitigate the risk of marine animals getting too near the piling operations.
Third, vessel sound is not a trivial part of the sound associated with wind farms, as might have been inferred from the example provided in the article, particularly during construction.
Again, kudos to the authors for a highly informative and readable introduction to offshore wind technology.
Robert Gisiner
gisiner@aol.com
94 Acoustics Today • Winter 2020