Technology for a Quieter America (TQA), published by in October 2010, is the culmination of a five-year study by the National Academies of Engineering (NAE) of the environmental noise situation in the United States. The report is available for free download from the National Academies Press:
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12928/technology-for-a-quieter-america
The report emphasizes the importance of Noise Control Engineering to Americans' quality of life. It highlights the role of noise control technology in making a quieter environment possible.
The TQA Report addresses:
The report includes findings and recommendations for government, industry, and public action that would mitigate or eliminate those noise sources that pose a threat to public health and welfare. Implementing the recommendations in the report would result in reduction of the noise levels to which Americans are exposed and would improve the ability of American industry to compete in world markets where increasing attention is being paid to noise emissions.
The TQA Working Group held a series of follow-on workshops from 2012 through 2023 to address specific areas of noise control.
INCE-USA is proud to host the Final Reports of the Workshops on Technology for a Quieter America.
In December, 1980, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a federal regulation on the noise emissions of motorcycles under the authority of the Noise Control Act of 1972. Although EPA’s Office of Noise Abatement and Control (ONAC) was defunded in 1981, the regulation is still part of the Code of Federal Regulations (40 CFR 205). After 32 years of experience with the regulation, there is general agreement that it has not accomplished its intended goal of reducing motorcycle noise emissions.
While the regulation has served to insure that all motorcycles entering commerce from major original equipment manufacturers (OEM) are in compliance with the regulation, as written, there are unintended consequences once the product enters service, including modifications that negate the noise control elements installed by the OEM. These regulatory deficiencies would benefit from clarifications and revisions. Motorcycle design has changed, the test procedure has proven difficult to implement, state and local government enforcement is rare, and there is widespread use of motorcycle exhaust systems that are not compliant with the regulation. Excessive motorcycle sound has become the single greatest threat to American motorcycling’s future. It’s among the most controversial and potentially divisive issues in motorcycling.
This report is a summary of a roundtable sponsored by the INCE Foundation and the Noise Control Foundation that was hosted by the National Academies of Engineering on October 24, 2012. This report includes recommendations for revisions to 40 CFR 205 that will increase benefits to the public, and assist state, and local authorities as well as manufacturers of motorcycles and aftermarket exhaust systems in assuring compliance with the regulation. Participants at the roundtable included motorcycle manufacturers and exhaust system manufacturers, trade associations, a standards organization, federal, state, and local government agencies, noise control engineers, and the public.
At highway speeds, the major source of noise is the interaction between tires and the road surface. Highway noise barriers have been used for many years and are the preferred solution for reducing highway traffic noise. Federal Highway Administration regulations for highway traffic and construction noise abatement (23 CFR 772) currently consider only noise barriers as an abatement measure for highway noise. Through the end of 2010, the Departments of Transportation of 47 US States and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico have constructed more than 2,748 linear miles of highway noise barriers at a cost of close to USD$5.5 Billion (in 2010 dollars).
However, pavement type can considerably reduce the noise generated from tire-road interaction. Yet considering pavement as a noise abatement measure is currently only allowed for pilot projects approved by the Federal Highway Administration.
Treatment of highway pavement is generally less costly than the construction of barriers, but the noise reduction achieved by a quieter pavement is typically less than the reduction from a well-designed barrier, at least for residents in the immediate vicinity of the barrier. However, quieter pavements produce a reduction of noise at its source, which means that it may be possible to increase the number of benefited receptors (the recipient of an abatement measure that receives a noise reduction at or above the highway agency’s chosen noise impact threshold value). A combination of barrier and pavement treatment may lead to cost-effective solutions to highway noise.
To evaluate the effectiveness of quieter pavements, a reliable measurement method for tire/road noise is needed. The method that is currently favored is measuring On-Board Sound Intensity (OBSI). OBSI data are collected in conformance with AASHTO TP-76,3 the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Standard Method of Test for Measurement of Tire/Pavement Noise Using the On-Board Sound Intensity (OBSI) Method.
This Technology for a Quieter America (TQA) final report summarizes the follow-up workshop hosted by the National Academies of Engineering (NAE).
The many references to occupational noise in the TQA report and the existence of both national and international regulations point to the importance of the control of occupational noise in America. The NAE currently has a project related to future manufacturing in the United States. To be successful, future manufacturing must create value by integrating manufacturing, design, and innovation. This effort has implications for the noise environment on future manufacturing floors, which has further implications for the design of both manufacturing facilities and manufacturing equipment.
Approximately a third of the workshop was devoted to the availability of effective low-cost techniques for the reduction of noise in industry, and design of low-noise machines for industrial use. The second third was devoted to techniques for reduction of noise through changes in industrial processes. The final third was devoted to the future manufacturing environment and its implications for new noise goals in manufacturing facilities. Lower noise goals will lead to the need to design low-noise machinery and equipment as well as low noise manufacturing processes.
COMPRESSED VERSION: Engineering a Quieter America: Progress on Consumer and Industrial Product Noise Reduction
This Technology for a Quieter America (TQA) final report summarizes the follow-up workshop on the progress made by noise control engineers in recent decades—specifically, in noise reductions of consumer products inside and outside the home, and industrial products for international and domestic markets. Projections are included on further noise technologies anticipated in the future.
The first group of the 25 workshop presentations summarizes engineering noise control progress during recent decades for consumer products such as appliances, yard-care equipment, and automobiles. The second group of presentations summarizes noise control efforts on a wide range of commercial and industrial products including gen sets, motors, compressors, electric transformers, valves, gears, off-road mobile machines, mining equipment, and natural gas pipelines, as well as military equipment and noise standards. The report includes a summary of findings based on the workshop presentations.
COMPRESSED VERSION: Engineering Technology Transfer: Research and Development for Engineering a Quieter America
This Technology for a Quieter America (TQA) final report summarizes the follow-on workshop, "Engineering Technology Transfer: Research and Development for Engineering a Quieter America," hosted by the National Acadamies of Engineering (NAE) at the Keck Center in Washington, DC on Oct. 11–12, 2016.
The workshop focused on issues related to the transfer of technology related to noise control. It looked at current noise control research conducted by the government, academia, and the private sector and considered what holds promise for translation into innovative noise control solutions. Presentations examined noise control approaches at various levels of technology readiness, and their potential for transfer and ultimately for improving the ability of engineers to solve problems and improve the competitiveness of U.S. industry.
COMPRESSED VERSION: Commercial Aviation: A New Era
This Technology for a Quieter America (TQA) final report summarizes the follow-on workshop "Commercial Aviation: A New Era", hosted by the National Academies of Engineering (NAE) in Washington, DC on May 8–9, 2017. The workshop was organized by the INCE Foundation in cooperation with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
This workshop on the future of commercial aviation centered around the importance of commercial aviation to the U.S. economy, and what it will take for the U.S. to maintain global leadership in the aviation sector. One specific, forward-looking topic of the workshop was more environmentally friendly aircraft designs.
A principal focus of the workshop and this report is the necessary step-changes in aircraft engineering technology that must now be addressed with the development and testing of flight demonstrators together with significantly increased funding of public-private partnerships. These changes are necessary for the U.S. aviation industry to maintain its global leadership and positive trade balance. Aviation technology investments in Europe and China are now significantly exceeding those in the U.S.
NOTE that this document is very detailed. For a brief overview, please refer to "Commercial Aviation: A New Era", also published by the NAE TQA program.
COMPRESSED VERSION: Engineering a Quieter America: UAS and UAV (Drone) Noise Emissions and Noise Control Engineering Technology
This Technology for a Quieter America (TQA) final report summarizes the workshop, "UAS and UAV (Drone) Noise Emissions and Noise Control Engineering Technology", hosted by the National Academies of Engineering (NAE) in Washington, DC, on Dec. 13-14, 2018. The workshop was organized by the INCE Foundation in cooperation with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Session topics at the Workshop included:
This Technology for a Quieter America (TQA) report summarizes a special session on noise control engineering education, held on August 27 during the NOISE-CON 2019 conference in San Diego. The session, held in association with the National Academy of Engineering, came 12 years after another TQA workshop on the same topic, which was the partial basis for the 2010 TQA Report 1 Chapter 9, “Education Supply and Industry Demand for Noise Control Specialists.”
COMPRESSED VERSION: Noise Control Engineering Education
This Technology for a Quieter America (TQA) final report summarizes the follow-up workshop, "Noise Control Engineering Education", hosted by the National Academies of Engineering (NAE) Keck Center in Washington, DC on Dec. 12–13, 2019. The workshop addressed issues surrounding noise control engineering education.
Three overarching recommendations emerged from the TQA Report:
The purpose of the October 2021 "Advances in Noise Control Engineering" workshop was to examine the progress made in several fields of noise control engineering. While many areas in noise control have been studied for a long time, this workshop focused on various current and forward-looking aspects related to noise control technology. These include:
The "Noise Around Airports; A Global Perspective" workshop, held in November 2022, examined the state of airport noise globally; and progress made in various countries toward reducing airport noise and its negative effects on the public. The workshop included welcome remarks each day, tributes to the Technology for a Quieter America program founders, and twenty-three presentations under four main themes: community response, noise situations around airports, the impact of noise around airports, and relevant technology considerations.
The subject of this workshop has a long history and much progress has been made over the years. All told, 30 presentations were made during the workshop, all of which are summarized in this report. Meeting participants were welcomed with opening remarks each day by Adnan Akay, professor at Sapienza University of Rome; Alton D. Romig, Jr., NAE executive officer; Eric Ducharme, NAE member; Robert Bernhard, I-INCE president; and Guru Madhavan, NAE member. Presentations by experts were provided for airports in Australia, Brazil, France, Norway, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Spain, and the United States. Tributes for our colleagues George Maling and William Lang are also included in this report.
The October 2023 "Occupational Noise Exposure: Risks and Controls" workshop examined the risk of occupational noise exposure for US workers and progress that has been made in controlling it. As noted by James Thompson in his workshop opening remarks, the issue of occupational noise exposure has long been recognized, and significant progress has been made in this area, yet significant challenges remain. With as many as 23 million American workers estimated to be overexposed daily, this is not a problem to be ignored.
This workshop focused on four questions:
