Volume 15, Number 4, December, 2007 - Noise News International

Overview of INCE/USA Technical ActivitiesStephen HambricINCE/USA Vice President — Technical ActivitiesStephen Hambric of the PennsylvaniaState University (sah19@only.arl.psu.edu) is now Vice President of TechnicalActivities for INCE/USA and chairs theTechnical Activities Board, comprised ofthe Technical Activitiy Committee Chairswho help: 1) produce special sessions atINCE/USA conferences, and 2) identifypromising papers for and organize specialtheme issues of Noise Control EngineeringJournal (NCEJ). Associated with theChairs are 13 committees. The TechnicalActivity Board meets on the first evening(typically Monday, 7-9 pm) of NOISE-CON and US-organized INTER-NOISEmeetings.Suggestions for conference session titles,volunteers for organizing and participatingin conference sessions, and ideas forspecial issues of NCEJ are all welcome.Please contact the relevant CommitteeChair if you are interested in becominginvolved in INCE technical activities. Thename of the chair(s) and the scope of eachcommittee is given below.Sources & PropagationChair: Victor Sparrow (VWSACS@engr.psu.edu) and Kai Ming Li(mmkmli@purdue.edu)This committee brings together INCEmembers with interests related to noisesources and how that noise propagates tothe listener. Regarding noise sources, thecommittee promotes the characterization ofnoise sources, understanding their radiationmechanisms, and devising noise controlmethodologies via source modification.Regarding propagation, the committeeseeks improved methods for measuring andpredicting the propagation of noise throughboth structures and air. Source alterationtechniques, outdoor and indoor soundpropagation, and scattering and diffractionare all within the purview of the sourcesand propagation technical committee. Thecommittee is committed both to developingnew understanding of how the sound fromreal noise sources is generated and gets tothe listener and to applying engineeringprinciples to minimize the noise.Passive ControlChairs: J. Stuart Bolton (Bolton@ecn.purdue.edu)The objective of the committee is topromote activities and disseminateinformation related to passive controlof noise and vibration. Areas of interestinclude, but are not confined to, analytical,computational, and experimental effortson: (1) reactive, dissipative, and hybridmufflers and silencers; (2) flow noise andsuppression; (3) flow-acoustic coupling andsuppression; (4) flow-structure interaction;and (5) acoustical materials used forsound absorption, damping, vibrationisolation, structures, and sound barriers.The foregoing objective is achievedby: (1) organizing technical sessionsat NOISE-CON and INTER-NOISEmeetings, thereby creating an effectiveexchange environment between researchand application communities; and (2)encouraging participants to publish theirworks in the Noise Control EngineeringJournal.Active ControlChair: Scott Sommerfeldt(Note: Scott will be stepping downshortly, and we are working to identify hissuccessor. If you are interested in workingin this committee, please email SteveHambric at sah19@only.arl.psu.edu)The purpose of the Active ControlTechnical Committee is to foster research,applications, unified practice andcommunication of new techniques in theactive control of sound and vibration.Areas of interest to the committee includenot only applications involving noise andvibration control, but also sound fieldreconstruction and other novel applicationsof active control. Subtopics of interestinclude physical principles of activecontrol, algorithms, transducers, sensingand actuating techniques, and hardwaredesign. To accomplish these objectives,the Committee seeks to do the following:(1) organize sessions for NOISE-CONand INTER-NOISE meetings; (2) providecontinued support for the ACTIVEsymposia which have been held on aregular basis; (3) encourage members andothers to publish active control researchand case histories in the Noise ControlEngineering Journal; and (4) provide aforum for information exchange as a meansof promoting research and unified practicein the field.Perception and Effects ofNoiseChair: Wade Bray (wbray@headacoustics.com)This group has focused on organizingsessions for conferences and one-daysymposia associated with INCE/USA andinternational INCE meetings. Topics ofinterest include:1. Sound quality modeling: metrics,psychoacoustic testing, standardization2. Binaural sound quality150 www.inceusa.org • www.noisenewsinternational.net • www.i-ince.org 2007 December