Four experimental methods are described in a tutorial way for use with a laser interferometer in measuring vibrational displacements and mode shapes of a transducer face. The relative merits and experimental difficulties of the methods are discussed. Quantitative data to show the type of experimental agreement that one might expect between the various methods and two illustrative mode shape measurements are given. In general, by proper choice of one or more of the methods, displacement measurements of magnitude 0.1–6000 Å at sonic and ultrasonic frequencies can be made at a point 0.1 mm in diameter. Mode shapes are determined simply by moving the laser beam a measured distance between points. Displacement data presented show a random error for all methods of 5% in the range 0.5–80 Å and less than 5% above 80 Å.

MOD ABSOR ACOUS SOUND produces the following list of the words that are most frequently associated with the words ABSOR, ACOUS, and SOUND: FIELD, MEASU, ?RO?A, RADIA, TRANS, WATER.A Boolean or fractional request that involved the words ABSOR, ACOUS, SOUND may then be made more specific by inclusion or exclusion of some of the new words. The list of associated words may be increased to be of length 63, and a measure of the association is also displayed. It appears that the retrieval procedure as described is satisfactory for retrieval of papers in acoustics journals. Its value could be increased significantly by inclusion of titles of reports in addition to journal articles. The programs are written in FORTRAN and are not restricted to use with any particular computer. As presently used with an IBM 360 model 67 computer, the searches for the above requests of SEAR and BOOL over the period 1955-1966 occupy approximately 1 min of computer time. Program modifications could be made in order to effect considerable reduction of this time. The main feature of the program is the ease with which the titles are prepared; thus further journal articles and reports may be added at little cost.

This paper presents an overview of noise impact considerations in modern Hawaii, emphasizing those which are different from most mainland situations. The favorable year-round climate encourages outdoor recreation in public parks and the natural ventilation of residential and school buildings. However, this lack of closure often causes the noise from modern transportation systems to be excessive. Also, because of limited useable land, the high density of open housing often causes problems with acoustical privacy. Examples of the variation in freeway traffic noise with height in an “open” high-rise building will be shown. The high background noise levels created by the tradewinds in certain tropical foliage will be cited and examples shown of use as an acceptable masking noise. Likewise, the use of surf noise in planning deluxe condominium complexes will be cited. Two unique transportation noise sources will be discussed: 24-h sugar cane hauling operations and gas-turbine-powered interisland hydrofoils. Noise-abatement efforts at Honolulu International Airport will be cited, including the effectiveness of a new runway built on an ocean reef and a fixed, 15-sensor noise-monitoring system with a unique feature to log aircraft type automatically. Some noise problems related to the tourist industry will be discussed, e.g., the containment of entertainment sounds, tour bus noise, and hotel mechanical equipment noise affecting naturally ventilated homes.