Careers...

For a complete list of Careers, please see the main ASA website.

Here are what a few of our members do:


 

• Architectural Acoustics
  
  Professional Acoustical Consultants provide services such as noise control primarily for the architectural, environmental, and industrial workplace markets. They help architects and engineers create more pleasant and useful environments, enhance and preserve value, reduce risk, and resolve existing problems in communities, schools, performance spaces, recreational areas, worship centers, and workplaces.
  
  
• Bio-acoustics
  
  Bioacoustics is a branch of science concerned with the production of sound and its effects on living systems. In particular, animal communication, deals with the production, meanings (animal linguistics and cognition), and effects of sounds generated by animals.
  
  
• Biomedical response to vibration
  
  Biomedical response deals with the interaction of sound waves with biological tissues in humans and animals. Much recent research in this area has been concerned with the use of high-frequency ultrasound in medical diagnosis and treatment. Use of ultrasound in diagnosis avoids some of the danger involved in using x rays and other types of radiation.
  
  
• Engineering Acoustics
  
  Engineering acoustics deals with transducers and sound measuring instruments of all kinds. A transducer is a device that converts sound energy into some other type of energy or vice versa. A microphone converts sound energy into electrical energy, a loudspeaker converts electrical energy into sound energy. Engineering acoustics also includes instrumentation for medical diagnosis, communications, seismic surveying, recording and reproducing speech and music, and other challenging problems.
  
  
• Musical Acoustics
  
  Musical acoustics deals with the way in which we hear and perceive musical sound, the instruments that produce it, and even the structure of melody and harmony. A number of researchers in this area study the way in which sound is produced in musical instruments. Others study subjective qualities of musical sound, such as pitch, loudness, and timbre. Much attention has focused recently on the use of digital computers to produce sound and to compose music. Persons with training and experience in musical acoustics frequently work in the entertainment industry, in education, in recording and film studios, or in the musical instrument industry.
  
  
• Noise
  
  Like air and water pollution, noise pollution increases with   population density. In our urban areas, it is a serious threat to the   quality of life. Noise-induced hearing loss is a major health problem. Noise also robs us of sleep and interferes with communication.  The best place to control noise is at the source, but frequently control of the path and protection of the receiver are necessary as well. Finding technical solutions to our environmental noise problems requires the work of scientists and engineers with considerable knowledge of acoustics. Since many problems require political or social action, knowledge of political science, sociology, and the law are important as well.
  
  
• Physical Acoustics
  
  Physical Acoustics deals with the way in which sound waves propagate in solids, liquids, gases, and plasmas, and how they interact with these materials. Of special interest are sound waves of very high frequency (more that one billion vibrations per second) and very high intensity. High-frequency sound waves in solids are called phonons because they behave like particles. At temperatures near absolute zero, scientists have observed some strange waves that are called "second sound," "third sound," etc. Observing their behavior has helped physicists understand the quantum behavior of liquids. Subatomic particles, such as protons, muons, and even the elusive neutrino, have been detected by the sound they make as they travel at high speeds through the ocean.
  
  
• Structural Acoustics and Vibration
  
  Vibration is a principal concern of engineers. Large machines must be designed such that their operation is "smooth," without unwanted vibration. Electronic components of aerospace systems can be damaged by excessive vibration and sudden jolts (mechanical shocks), but a clever engineer can put basic scientific principles to work to discover ways of either eliminating the possibility of such vibration or of isolating sensitive equipment from its vibrating environment. Many "disasters," such as the destruction of a building by an earthquake, the toppling of a tall smokestack, or the collapse of a suspension bridge in a windstorm, involve vibration, but engineers are continuing to learn new ways of lessening the chance of these disasters taking place.
  
  
• Underwater Acoustics
  
  The use of acoustic energy to "see" or detect objects underwater is analogous to the use of radar for detecting objects in air. In much the same way that an aircraft is guided through a blinding storm by its radar system, underwater vessels such as submarine are guided through the depths of the ocean by their acoustic systems. Since the characteristics of the water environment permit sound to be transmitted over very long distances, sometimes hundreds of miles, sound is an extremely valuable tool, not only for military applications but also for commercial use. Acoustic signals are used to detect the presence and location of commercially valuable fish, to map the sea floor to determine the safest "avenues" for supertankers, and to explore the Earth's geological formations or search for oil deposits beneath the ocean floor.