Launched in 2005, WellesleyWeston Magazine is a quarterly publication tailored to Wellesley and Weston residents and edited to enrich the experience of living in two of Massachusetts' most desirable communities.
Issue link: https://wellesleywestonmagazine.epubxp.com/i/819093
for legendary technology pioneer Leo Beranek. Today, he is associated with other Wellesley and Weston residents in their efforts to diminish or manage the impact of noise on our lives. Jack Heine, a Weston neighbor and longtime friend of Wood's, played a major role in capturing and analyzing acoustical data for U.S. naval defense purposes. Heine now is a principal at Cambridge Sound Management, which, as a collaborator with Acentech, has made many local public and private facilities more user-friendly. Wellesley resident Bob Hellweg is a noted acoustical engineer and is active along with his friend Wood in a National Academy of Engineering initiative called "Technology for a Quieter America." Hellweg's professional focus is on a topic of concern for communities everywhere: environmental noise and its impact on neighborhoods — a vocation we can all be grateful for. Sound, and the way it is managed is a relative thing, and if you've enjoyed a concert at the Katherine L. Babson, Jr. Auditorium at Wellesley High School, you've been touched by Wood's consulting work. Max Hobart, longtime conductor of the Wellesley Symphony, has attended a half-dozen student concerts in recent years, auditing jazz ensembles and chamber orchestras in the high school auditorium. "I always sit in the same seat in the back of the balcony," he notes, "and individual instruments are distinct and clear." Students at Weston's Field School have directly benefitted from the work of Wood's col- leagues, where Acentech engineers worked collaboratively with Heine and Cambridge Sound Management and devised and installed a classroom sound augmentation system that assists teachers and students alike. "It's in all our classrooms," says Field School Principal Matt Lucy, "making teacher-to-student and student-to student communication that much more audible and effective. Carefully-placed speakers and easy access to microphones facilitate instruction and save teachers' voices," he adds. C O U R T E S Y O F A C E N T E C H , I N C Katherine L. Babson, Jr. Auditorium at Wellesley High School 78 W e l l e s l e y W e s t o n M a g a z i n e | s u m m e r 2 0 1 7