Popular papers with short case stories on acoustics and vibration for practical engineers and students

• Published in: Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics Vol. 19; no. 1
• Main Author: Vinokur, Roman
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: 02.06.2013
• ISSN: 1939-800X
• DOI: 10.1121/1.4801419

One of the reasons for using foam wedges or cones in hemi-anechoic rooms is a gradual change of the acoustical impedance in order to reduce the reflection of incident sound waves from the sound absorbing walls. By analogy, popular papers on science (in particular, in acoustics and vibration) facilitate a smooth introduction to new theories because of their small cognitive "impedance" to understanding the written information. Such papers are relevant mostly for extramural reading but they help engineers and students to promptly perceive important effects and applications via interesting case stories and simplified physics and mathematics. Generally speaking, this approach is not new: in particular, it was successfully applied by Y. Perelman in his book "Physics for Entertainment". But in author's opinion, for better effectiveness such texts should be limited in size and include 3-4 related short case stories from actual engineering or consulting practice, history, news, or literature. To illustrate this method, several one-page papers published in the "Sound and Vibration" magazine will be briefly discussed: "Haunted Buildings and Other Acoustical Challenges", "Vibroacoustic Measurements without Transducers", and "Only the Best Will Do".