There is already the beginning of a crack in the wall separating the "expert" and the public, the beginning of a dialogue wherein both can exchange their views. In 1967 it was unusual for a promoter of noise abatement, thought of as "the other side," to find himself offered a platform at the 74th semi-annual meeting of the Acoustical Society of America. Yet a surprising number of the acousticians in the audience responded favorably to my thesis that the noise expert was neglecting his everyday human environment. One of them, speaking of his participation in the meeting, said: "It helps me to be a better acoustician in the civic sense."
The Acoustical Society subsequently invited Dr. Rosen, CQC's Board Chairman, to address its 77th semi-annual meeting. Papers on urban noise are proliferating.
One thing I learned in speaking to regional groups of noise experts: the rank and file has more of a people-orientation than the policymakers. There is a deep-seated desire to hear the public's point of view, and an eagerness to learn more about how to participate in the campaign for noise abatement.
Acousticians are starting to listen to criticism of their esoteric, incomprehensible decibel world. As president of the Acoustical Society, Ira Hirsch conceded: "Our scientific jargon is not easily communicated to those who must quiet our noise sources, who must build the buildings in which people live or work, who must write the codes or municipal laws to protect the citizen, or who must enforce such codes...We must be willing to share our knowledge while translating it into ordinary English and algebra..."
Note the novel objective written into the preliminary report of one standards writing group: "The ultimate goal is to achieve a maximum amount of human privacy from intrusion by noise and vibration acoustically induced." The people-oriented chairman of this group had appointed a sociologist and an informed member of the lay public to work with the representatives of industry and the acousticians.