OXFORD, Miss. – From roaring jets in the sky to honking cars on the
road, residents of urban and suburban environments hear it all – and
then some.
To help filter some of that noise, researchers with the Mid-South
chapter of the Acoustical Society of America have planned a forum on
outdoor sound generation. Sponsored by the National Center for Physical
Acoustics at the University of Mississippi, the forum hopes to reveal
why urban residents may find it difficult to live in peace and quiet.
“Everyone can understand the need for quiet living and working areas, so this prompted the chapter’s desire to feature general audience lectures on outdoor sound and noise,” said Mid-South ASA representative William Slaton of the University of Central Arkansas. “This meeting is part of the ASA’s commitment to public outreach and education on all matters of acoustics.”
The third annual meeting of the Mid-South ASA chapter is set for Sept. 5-6, at the NCPA, located on the Oxford campus. Researchers are welcome to submit poster abstracts by Sept. 1, and the lectures are free and open to the public.
The meeting features two prominent names in the area of atmospheric acoustics: Kenneth Gilbert, NCPA associate director for basic research, and Keith Attenborough, research professor in acoustics at Open University and emeritus professor of engineering at the University of Hull, both in Great Britain.
“My lecture will give a non mathematical discussion of sound propagation during the day and at night with special emphasis on the connection between the properties of the atmospheric boundary layer and how sound propagates through it,” Gilbert said. “I hope to explain why noises can be heard at long distances at night but not in the daytime.”
While Gilbert addresses why sound behaves in certain ways, Attenborough plans to examine the way that behavior affects humans and their environment in his lecture, “Noise and Its Control.”
Gilbert’s lecture starts at 7 p.m. Sept. 5, and Attenborough speaks at 10 a.m. the following day, both at the NCPA Theater.
The Mid-South ASA chapter plans to hold one meeting a year that features general audience acoustics lectures and another meeting that focuses on current acoustic research topics at government labs, universities and companies across the Mid South, Slaton said.
For a full schedule of events, visit the Mid South ASA Web site at http://www.acosoc.org/RegChapters/MidSouth . For assistance related to a disability, call 662-915-7236.