Volume 14, Number 4, December, 2006 - Noise News International

of experience to recognize problems
in design at the concept stage. You
may not have time to do modeling,
and you may not have all the details of
expected product performance. Virtual
modeling of the product comes later
when you start the detailed design. In
the early stages you are working with
a virtual development of the product.
An additional problem is that the
noise control and acoustics/vibration
specialists capable of this work are not
very well rewarded.
C: My job at Siemens was to reduce
the noise of large rotating electrical
machines to a level prescribed by the
consumer. This job required not only
knowledge of machinery acoustics
and mechanical engineering but, most
importantly, a spirit of good teamwork.
Good contacts with the other engineers
were essential. It is important when
you start with a firm that you have
detailed knowledge of the product you
will be working with; in particular, what
is essential for the design and cannot
be changed. At first the acoustical
engineer is an outsider and must
become accepted as a member of a
team. Others must be willing to hear
your arguments and you must be willing
to hear theirs. Only by cooperation can
good solutions be reached.
C: There are many who don’t have an
opportunity to go to the university. In
the U.S. auto racing is very popular with
modified vehicles. There are young
people in our high schools who are
making radical changes to the design of
the engine and the performance of an
automobile. They’re learning through
a mentor system. These young people
could make significant contributions.
High schools could offer technical
training in various aspects of noise
control that do not require calculus or
an understanding of the wave equation.
They don’t need to understand what
a dB is. They can measure it with a
meter—it’s a number. In the universities
there are not many noise control
engineering students. We could relieve
this shortage by training young people
in high schools who are interested in this
field. Professional societies could assist
with such a program to train students in
this field for jobs that do not require a
college degree.
Concluding Thought
C: I will end this discussion with a new
point of view. We will never get a
silent automobile or an automobile
that doesn’t have any bad emissions.
Here in Finland, dust is very bad when
the snow melts. Because of this dust,
people have difficulty breathing. Every
time an automobile goes by it blows up
the dust. We should not talk about how
to make a silent car or how to make a
silent train, we should talk about how
to create silent traffic. And to create
silent traffic we have another possibility
than cars, trains, and busses. We have
also bicycles; the roads were first made
for bicycles.
NNI
156 www.inceusa.org • www.noisenewsinternational.net • www.i-ince.org 2006 December