WellesleyWeston Magazine

SUMMER 2017

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.

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expertise in the field that led to a job with a major manufacturer of jet aircraft engines, arguably the noisiest devices in the world. In working to reduce the sound level of jet engines, he first entered into the arcane world of noise control engineering that touches the lives of all of us in a myriad of ways. Technical standards and govern- ment regulation, including those of the Environmental Protection Agency, define much of what thousands of manufacturers of everything from cars to household appliances must do to ensure their products A Fond Memoir In his book, Sound Ideas, Wood recounts the multitude of technical challenges and personal contributions made by the hundreds of col- leagues with whom he worked over the years. While technical in nature, it is also a fond memoir, mentioning the spouses and children of scores of colleagues and giving generous credit to one and all for past accomplishments. Wood's interest in sound management can be said to have begun when he was a babe in arms. The son of a Marine commander in World War II, Wood was raised on an air corps base, where the roar of aircraft engines was a constant. But it was not until he arrived at the University of Hartford as an undergraduate engineering student that his lifelong engagement with noise took a serious turn. Thanks to an inspirational professor, Wood began to study the sources and management of sound in all its permutations, developing C O U R T E S Y O F A C E N T E C H , I N C left: Eric Wood as a young engineer in the 1980s making an acoustical survey of an electrical generation facility; right: Sound walls, as seen here on the Mass Pike, are limited in their ability to supress ambient noise unless constructed on a substantial scale. C O U R T E S Y O F B O L T , B E R N A N E K A N D N E W M A N , I N C , "Sound has a culture all of its own. Whether in the workplace, the home, or public spaces, when it occurs in the form of unwanted noise it can disturb and degrade our quality of life." – Eric Wood 80 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 A Little Quiet, Please!

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