Page 20 - Master Handbook of Acoustics

Introduction

I have traveled the world, poking my head into research laboratories, anechoic chambers,

engineering cubicles, recording studios, home theaters, and countless classrooms. Often tucked
away with other books is a copy of the Master Handbook of Acoustics. I’ve seen old editions, new
editions, and everything in between. I am especially happy to see the well-used print copies with
dog-eared covers and underlined passages. All of this is testament to Mr. F. Alton Everest, the

original author of the book. He created a valuable tool that we know and trust, a book that has become
a classic. The acoustical engineering community grieved when Mr. Everest passed away in 2005 at
the age of 95. He was a giant in the field of acoustics, and a great example of the high caliber of the
engineers of his generation. He will be missed.
I was honored when McGraw-Hill asked me to prepare a fifth, and now this sixth edition of the
Master Handbook of Acoustics. I had used the handbook since it was first published in 1981, and

was well familiar with its value as a teaching text and reference book. Readers who are familiar with
another of my books, Principles of Digital Audio, may be surprised to learn that my passion for
digital technology is equaled by my enthusiasm for acoustics. I taught courses in architectural
acoustics (in addition to classes in digital audio) for 30 years at the University of Miami, where I
directed the Music Engineering Technology program. Throughout that time, I also consulted on many
acoustics projects, ranging from recording studio to listening room design, from church acoustics to

community noise intrusion. As with many practitioners in the field, it was important for me to
understand the fundamentals of acoustical properties, and also to stay current with the practical
applications and solutions to today’s acoustical problems. This essential equilibrium was the guiding
principle of Mr. Everest’s previous editions of this book, and I have continued to seek that same
balance.
Occasionally, and particularly among newbies to the field of acoustics, the question arises, “Why

is it important to study acoustics?” One reason, among many, is that you will be joining in, and
hopefully contributing to, a noble scientific undertaking. Since antiquity, some of the world’s greatest
scientists and engineers have studied acoustics and its elegant complexities. Greek philosophers
including Pythagoras, Aristotle, and Euclid began the exploration of the nature of musical harmonics
and how we hear sound. The great Roman engineer and architect Vitruvius carefully analyzed echo
and reverberation in his building projects. Over the years, heavyweights such as Ptolemy, Galileo,

Mersenne, Kircher, Hooke, Newton, Laplace, Euler, D’Alembert, Bernoulli, Lagrange, Poisson,
Faraday, Helmholtz, Ohm, Doppler, and Sabine all made contributions. In all, countless men and
women have worked to evolve the science of acoustics to a high degree of sophistication. But,
pressing the question, in today’s binary world, is acoustics still important? Consider this: We rely on
our eyes and ears. Our eyes close when we sleep; we cannot see in the dark; someone can sneak up
on us unseen from behind. But from birth to death, awake or asleep, in light and in dark, our ears are
always sensitive to our world all around us. Whether we are hearing sounds that give us pleasure, or

sounds that alert us to danger, whether they are sounds of nature, or sounds of technology, the
properties of acoustics and the way that architectural spaces affect those sounds is woven into every
moment of our lives. Is acoustics important? You bet it is.