Editor’s View (Jun 2020)

Welcome to the June 2020 issue of Noise/News International. In this issue, we feature a novel acoustic camera developed by Seven Bel, we learn about a recent interactive workshop on environmental health in Vancouver, and Eric Ungar writes to tell us what happens at the critical frequency. And, as always, we have our regular NOISE/NOTES roundup of all news making headlines around the world.

The focus of this issue’s NOISE/NOTES is very much on the COVID-19 pandemic and how it is affecting all aspects of life. It was announced earlier this year that the organizing committee and I-INCE have decided to convert INTER-NOISE 2020 to an e-congress in August. This new format will allow congress registrants to see recorded presentations of papers on demand and participate in discussions with authors and other colleagues. While it is a little disappointing that we won’t be able to meet in Seoul, it is also very exciting. The e-congress brings with it a number of exciting opportunities and opens up the conference to a lot of people who might not have been in a position to travel to South Korea—plus, I’m looking forward to seeing how everyone approaches their video presentation.

Unfortunately, NOISE-CON 2020 has also been affected. Having originally been scheduled for June, it has been moved to November 16–18, 2020, still in New Orleans. There is more information on these changes later in this issue.

Let me conclude by wishing that you and your families are home, safe, and doing well. In the words of my favorite Irish poet, “If we winter this one out, we can summer anywhere.”

I hope to see you all soon.

Eoin A. King, PhD