NOISE/NOTES (Mar 2018)

By Eoin A. King, NNI Editor and Eva Von Dell, NNI Social Media Assistant

NNI is on Facebook and Twitter—we try to keep our readers informed with noise news from all across the globe by highlighting interesting research and projects. Here is a roundup of some of the stories that have been making headlines. Follow @NNIEditor to stay up to date with all noise related news.

Cracking Down on Pressure Horns
The Tribune in India reports that the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) has removed around 7,000 pressure horns from buses, trucks, and other vehicles over the last eight months. They had received over 500 complaints about pressure horns. PPCB teams, with assistance from the district traffic police, set up several check-posts in Punjab to check for illegal horns on vehicles.

SpaceX Falcon Heavy Treats Onlookers to Sonic Booms!
The world’s most powerful rocket, SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, was successfully launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral Florida on February 6. The mission involved side boosters returning to Cape Canaveral to fly again on future flights. As the two side boosters returned to set down (in near synchrony!) onlookers were treated to a number of sonic booms.

Sound and Vibration Bids Farewell
After 51 years of continuous production and 612 issues, Sound & Vibration has published its last issue—the final curtain has fallen on a class act. For more than half a decade, S&V has served individuals with interests in noise and vibration control, dynamic measurements, structural analysis, computer-aided engineering, machinery reliability, and dynamic testing. Readers should note that back issues and articles can still be downloaded from www.sandv.com. We at NNI wish all involved the best for the future and thank you for all you’ve done for the noise control community.

Measuring Noise Emissions during Aircraft Take-Off
A recent study at Pisa International Airport (Italy) shows how airplane noise emissions are affected by ground speed and aircraft weight, and also offers suggestions for ways to decrease noise impact on surrounding areas. The study found that the actual takeoff weight and ground speed reached by aircraft during the initial climb phase would most significantly affect noise levels at nearby receivers.

Sound Absorption and . . . Pineapples!
A recent study published in Applied Acoustics reports the possibility of using fibers from a pineapple leaf as an alternative natural acoustic material. The researchers, from Malaysia and Indonesia, report that the pineapple leaf fibers can achieve sound absorption coefficient of 0.9 on average above 1 kHz by controlling the densities of the fibers and/or by introducing the air gap behind the samples.

Commercial Aviation—A New Era
The final report for the recent Technology for a Quieter America workshop, “Commercial Aviation—A New Era,” has been published and is available at www.inceusa.org. This site hosts a number of INCE-USA reports for free download.

Tired of Hearing the Roar of Snowmobiles?
Taiga Motors, based out of Montreal, Canada, has unveiled an electric snowmobile, the Taiga TS2. The folks at Electrek report that it is so quiet it can only be heard when you are in close proximity to it. It can achieve an impressive 0 to 60 mph in just 3 seconds.