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Sound & acoustics: General resources

Recommended books

Recommended articles

Acoustic modernity”, special issue of Grey Room, #60, Summer 2015

Forsyth, Michael. "Acoustics", Grove Art Online, Oxford University Press, 2003

Recommended image resources

Fernandez Comesana, D., The Evolution of sound visualization: historical perspective, Microflown Technologies, 2014

Other resources

Dallas Taylor (Host & Executive producer), Twenty Thousand Hertz, podcasting since 2016 on all things acoustical 

First Sounds (“strives to make humanity's earliest sound recordings available to all”)

 

Recommended for all architectural research

Specialized resources on related topics

Beranek, Leo L., Music, acoustics & architecture, R.E. Krieger Pub. Co., ML3805. B34 1979

Egan, M. David, Architectural Acoustics, McGraw-Hill, TA365.E33 1988

Ermann, Michael, Architectural Acoustics Illustrated, John Wiley & Sons, 2015 (Available via ProQuest Ebook Central)

Forsyth, Michael, Buildings for Music : the architect, the musician, and the listener from the seventeenth century to the present day, MIT Press, ML3849.F74 1985

Fowler, Michael, Architectures of Sound : Acoustic Concepts and Parameters for Architectural Design, Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2017 (Available via ProQuest Ebook Central)

Long, Marshall, Architectural Acoustics, Elsevie, 2014 (Available via ProQuest Ebook Central)

Maekawa, Z., et al., Environmental and Architectural Acoustics, Taylor & Francis Group, 2011 (Available via ProQuest Ebook Central)

Mommertz, Eckard, Acoustics and Sound Insulation : Principles, Planning, Examples, Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2009 (Available via ProQuest Ebook Central)

Sioli, Angeliki & Elisavet Kiourtsoglou (Editors) The Sound of Architecture: Acoustic Atmospheres in Place, Leuven University Press, 2022 (Available via Jstor)

Von Fischer, Sabine, “A Visual Imprint of Moving Air: Methods, Models, and Media in Architectural Sound Photography, ca. 1930”, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 76, no. 3, 2017, pp. 326–48 (Available via Jstor)

Barron, Michael, Auditorium Acoustics and Architectural Design, Routledge, 2009 (Available via ProQuest Ebook Central)

Ergin, Nina, “The Soundscape of Sixteenth-Century Istanbul Mosques: Architecture and Qur’an Recital”, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 67, no. 2, 2008, pp. 204–21 (Available via Jstor)

Forsyth, Michael, "Concert hall", Grove Art Online, Oxford University Press, 2003

Jaffe, J. Christopher, The acoustics of performance halls : spaces for music from Carnegie Hall to the Hollywood Bowl, W.W. Norton & Co., NA2800.J34 2010

Newhouse, Victoria, Site and Sound: the architecture and acoustics of new opera houses and concert halls, Monacelli Press, NA6821.N45 2011

Toyota, Yasuhisa, et al., Concert halls by Nagata Acoustics : thirty years of acoustical design for music venues and vineyard-style auditoria, Springer, NA2800.A51 2020

Tallon, Andrew, “Acoustics at the Intersection of Architecture and Music: The Caveau Phonocamptique of Noyon Cathedral”, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 75, no. 3, 2016, pp. 263–80 (Available via Jstor)

Bijsterveld, Karin, Mechanical Sound : Technology, Culture, and Public Problems of Noise in the Twentieth Century, MIT Press, 2008 (Available via ProQuest Ebook Central)

Goldsmith, Mike, Discord : The Story of Noise, Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 2012. ProQuest Ebook Central,

Keizer, Garret, The Unwanted Sound of Everything We Want : A Book About Noise, Public Affairs, 2010 (Available via ProQuest Ebook Central)

Sim, Stuart, Manifesto for Silence : Confronting the Politics and Culture of Noise, Edinburgh University Press, 2007 (Available via ProQuest Ebook Central)

Bies, David A., & Colin H. Hansen, Engineering Noise Control : Theory and Practice, Fourth Edition, CRC Press LLC, 2009 (Available via  ProQuest Ebook Central)

Crocker, Malcolm J., & Jorge P. Arenas, Engineering Acoustics : Noise and Vibration Control, John Wiley & Sons, 2021 (Available via ProQuest Ebook Central) 

Institute of Noise Control Engineering

Munjal, M. L., Noise And Vibration Control, World Scientific Publishing Company, 2013 (Available via ProQuest Ebook Central)

Noise Pollution Clearinghouse

Technology for a Quieter America, National Academies Press, 2010 (Available via ProQuest Ebook Central) 

U.S. Federal Highway Administration, “Noise Barrier Design Handbook,” 2000

Wagner, Kate, “Building the wall: highway sound barriers and the evolution of noise”, 99% Invisible, 12/8/2016

Beckerman, Joel, & Tyler Gray, The Sonic Boom : How Sound Transforms the Way We Think, Feel, and Buy, HarperCollins Publishers, 2014 (Available via ProQuest Ebook Central) 

Cowan, James P., The Effects of Sound on People, John Wiley & Sons, 2016 (Available via ProQuest Ebook Central)

Crocker, Malcom J., Encyclopedia of Acoustics, Wiley, QC221.5.E53 1997 volumes 1-4

Crook, Tim, The Sound Handbook, Taylor & Francis Group, 2012 (Available via ProQuest Ebook Central)

Helmholtz , Hermann L. F., On the sensations of tone as a physiological basis for the theory of music, Dover, ML3820.H42 1954

Pickles, James O., Introduction to the Physiology of Hearing, Brill, 2012 (Available via ProQuest Ebook Central) 

Bianchi, Frederick & V. J. Manzo (Editors), Environmental Sound Artists : In Their Own Words, Oxford University Press, 2016 (Available via ProQuest Ebook Central)

Goodman, Steve, Sonic Warfare : Sound, Affect, and the Ecology of Fear, MIT Press, 2009 (Available via ProQuest Ebook Central_

Kelly, Caleb, Sound (Documents of contemporary art), Whitechapel Gallery & MIT Press, NX650.S68S685 2011

Schrimshaw, Will, Immanence and Immersion : On the Acoustic Condition in Contemporary Art, Bloomsbury Academic & Professional, 2017 (Available via ProQuest Ebook Central) 

Vanel, Herve, Triple Entendre : Furniture Music, Muzak, Muzak-Plus, University of Illinois Press, 2013 (Available via ProQuest Ebook Central)

Volcler, Juliette, Extremely Loud : Sound As a Weapon, The New Press, 2013 (Available via ProQuest Ebook Central) 

Blesser, Barry, & Linda-Ruth Salter, Spaces Speak, Are You Listening? : Experiencing Aural Architecture, MIT Press, 2006 (Available via ProQuest Ebook Central)

Boucsein, Benedikt, Noise landscape : a spatial exploration of airports and cities, nai010 publishers, TL725.3.N6 B68 2017

Epstein, Marcia Jenneth, Sound and Noise : A Listener's Guide to Everyday Life, McGill-Queen's University Press, 2020 (Available via ProQuest Ebook Central) 

Gandy, Matthew & BJ Nilsen (Editors), The Acoustic city, Jovis, TD892.A368 2014

Krause, Bernie, Wild Soundscapes : Discovering the Voice of the Natural World, Yale University Press, 2016 (Available via ProQuest Ebook Central) 

LaBelle, Brandon., Acoustic Territories:  Sound Culture and Everyday Life, Bloomsbury Academic & Professional, 2019 (Available via ProQuest Ebook Central) 

Noises Off: Sound Beyond Music”, a special issue of Leonardo, v. 16, 2006

Schafer, R. Murray, The soundscape : our sonic environment and the tuning of the world, Destiny Books, ML3805 .S3 1994

World Forum for Acoustic Ecology

Please note

  • These guides are intended to provide initial orientation, and suggest a variety of different lines of investigation—not take the place of individual research.
  • All the resources cited here--print and digital--are available through the Kappe Library at SCI-Arc.Items not available at SCI-Arc are not included.
  • Surveys covering multiple projects are preferred over monographic studies focusing on specific works or individuals.
  • Resources on Los Angeles and Southern California are stressed.
  • Proprietary digital resources (Avery Index, Oxford Art Online, ArtStor, etc) can be accessed on-campus at SCI-ARC via any SCI-Arc internet provider. Off-campus they can be accessed 24/7 via the Kappe Library proxy server, and a valid SCI-Arc Network username and password.

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