Engineering Noise Control: Theory and Practice, Fourth Edition

I have spent a number of years in the acoustics field and this book is the bible of industrial acoustics. Having said that, this is not the "easiest" book to read and understand. It is aimed for those pursuing advanced studies in acoustics and acoustic control, with the assumption the reader has a thorough understanding of the fundamentals of math and physics. The first few chapters in the book do give a brief introduction to sound (from a physics standpoint) and calculating sound levels for various sources. Anyone familiar with this information will recognize the information has not been significantly altered from Beranek's texts. Some information is given for current health & safety legislation but this is rather specific to the US. The initial chapters will not be adequate for someone new to the field of acoustics. The "meat" of the book gives substantial treatment to noise control methods, noise in rooms, design of abatement equipment (both indoor and outdoor), industrial applications etc. however again the primary approach is from a mathematical/physics development. This does not mean one cannot immediately use the information effectively. The simple truth is noise abatement is not a "simple" field and the book doesn't attempt to "simplify" the complicated material. The new edition of this book gives a good (if brief) description of the emerging field of active noise control. The primary limitation of this area is not the author's fault - there isn't enough practical data for active noise control at present. One downfall of this book as a text is that very very few examples are provided for a student, and in the new version no chapter questions are included. For a student, I would recommend acquiring the 2nd edition of the text for the chapter questions. Overally, an excellent resource for the experienced practioneer or advanced student.