Preface to the ASA Edition
The first edition of Vibration and Sound appeared in the mid-30's. It appeared because I could find no
text, to use in my class in acoustics, that combined the classical viewpoint of Rayleigh with the emerging
perspective engendered by quantum mechanics and the vacuum tube. I learned by classical acoustics
under Dayton Miller, when the ear was the ultimate measuring instrument and the equipment was all
mechanical. When I came to MIT and took on the responsibilities of teaching the senior acoustics course,
I had already become familiar with the analytic powers of wave mechanics and I began to learn the
experimental potentialities of electronic equipment. Spurred by my enthusiasm for the new vistas, by the
warm support of Professor Richard Fay, and by the continued interest of my students, I spent less than a
year in writing the book. I am occasionally told that it helped make MIT an acoustics research center
during and after World War II.