Noise and vibration engineering
Introduction
Acoustic engineering is a discipline specialized in the control and development of the emission, transmission and reception processes of sound waves through different physical media, in addition to studying the nature of sound. Every day this specialty takes on more prominence due to the notable increase in noise pollution, caused mainly by industrial activities, urban vehicular traffic and air traffic, compromising these activities and the acoustic quality of homes and workplaces, which in turn compromise people's health (excessive noise is harmful to human health).
In its areas of development, noise control and vibration control stand out, the preparation of noise maps, mitigation of environmental noise, the development of predictive models of urban noise, conditioning of rooms for isolation purposes or improvement of indoor acoustic quality. There is another application or emphasis, related to musical production, management and development of audiovisual media, such as the development of real logical sound reproduction systems Dolby Surround Sound and a range of effects for the film industry.
In general, Acoustic Engineering specializes in studying sound waves corresponding to the range of 20 Hz, 20 kHz, which is the characteristic hearing range of human beings. But there are also specialties within this same science that studies waves that are outside the range of hearing. Below this range, that is, frequencies less than 20 Hz, is known as the infrasonic range and the range above 20 kHz is known as ultrasonic. The latter has many applications in medicine, mining and geology among other sciences.
Today there are several acoustic schools in the world, for example, in countries such as Portugal, France, the United States, Denmark, Spain, England, Brazil.
In South America, the following stand out: the School of Acoustic Civil Engineering of the Austral University of Chile (since 1967). Also, in Mexico City, the National Polytechnic Institute stands out within the Higher School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (ESIME). In Argentina, the Sound and Acoustics Engineering degree is taught at the National University of Tres de Febrero. It is the only public university in the country that offers this degree.
In 2008 the first postgraduate degree at the Faculty of Engineering Sciences of the Universidad Austral de Chile began to be taught. The Master's program in Acoustics and Vibrations, directed by Dr. Jorge Arenas (academic of the Institute of Acoustics), is the first postgraduate degree in this specialty in Chile and the only one in Spanish speaking in Latin America.