Volume 4, Number 1, March, 1996 - Noise News International

President's ColumnThe Need for ConsensusAs we celebrate the 25th anniversaryyear of INCEIUSA, it is appropriateto remind ourselves of theroots of the organization. The roots aregrounded in consensus. How was thatconsensus reached?In 1970, a list was compiled of theAmerican leaders of the then-burgeoningfield of noise control engineering.Of the 140 persons on the list, 85 participatedin a three-day workshop heldat Arden House in upstate New Yorkon1971 January 11-13. The topic underintense discussion was professionalismin the field of noise control engineering.The problems faced by those workingin the newly-expanding field wereconsidered in detail. At the end of theworkshop, a vote was taken on a singlequestion: "Do you approve of the formationof a new organization to furtherthe goals of the Arden House Workshopon noise control engineering?" The paperballots could be marked either"yes" or "no"; some participants hadalready departed from Arden Housewhen the vote was taken, and a fewpossibly abstained, but the results wereclear. Of the 70 ballots tallied, 50 wereaffirmative and 20 were negative.There was consensus that there was aneed for a new organization. The rest ishistory. This magazine is a direct resultof that vote taken 25 years ago.At recent meetings of the Board ofDirectors and General Assembly ofInternationalINCE, opinions have beenexpressed that there are today too manymeetings in the various sub-fields ofacoustics. 1995 INCEIUSA President,Louis C. Sutherland, in a recent messageto the membership, noted that"...from April to December of this year,there was a conference devoted to somefacet of noise, noise control, acousticsand/or vibration starting, on the average,about every 6 days, somewherein the world... This plethoraof meetings also seems to bereflected in the growth in publicationsin these fields." Thequestion is frequently asked:should not I-INCE andINCEIUSA take a more activerole in coordinating and consolidatingthese conferences?To initiate the celebration of the25th anniversary of INCEIUSA, a featurearticle is presented in this issue ofNoise/News International that presentsan overview of current activities inacoustics and noise control engineering.With apologies in advance for itslack of completeness, the article attemptsto survey the field. Many organizationsare involved. The activitiesof International INCE and INCEIUSAare reviewed from the perspective ofplayers in a large national and internationalenterprise - the development ofthe field of noise control engineering.After the interested reader has hadan opportunity to review the many activitiescurrently in progress, severalrhetorical questions are posed. Has aconsensus been reached that the worldneeds a new organization to competewith or ultimately replace the InternationalCommission on Acoustics whichcurrently serves as the umbrella organizationfor acousticians and noise controlengineers? Is there truly a place forsuch an organization? Does the worldneed another refereed internationalprint journal? And another series ofinternational congresses on the broadaspects of acoustics?The reader will decide if there isneed for a consensus on these importantmatters.- William W LangPresident, InternationalINCE4 Noise/News International 1996 March