PREPARED FOR NOISE/NEWS INTERNATIONAL, 1996 DECEMBER.
The Italian Acoustical Association (A.I.A.) was formed in 1972 as a non-profit association with the goal of promoting and spreading research, applications, and education on all the aspects of acoustics, as well as the dissemination and exchange of information among its members.
The Institute of Acoustics “O.M. Corbino” of the National Research Council of Italy provides the Secretariat of the Association.
The number of AIA members has grown from the 16 founders in 1972 to 770 in 1996. The members are divided into 5 categories: Honorary Fellows, Fellows, Individual Members, Collective Members (Institution, Companies, etc.), and Student Members.
The activities of the Association are guided by the Board of Directors — made up of the President, the past President, the Secretary, the Treasurer and 7 Fellows elected by the Honorary Fellows and the Fellows. The Board serves a four year term. Three auditors of account and the Coordinators of the three specialist groups, formed within the Association, participate as observers at the Board meetings.
The three specialist groups cover the fields of Speech, Environmental Acoustics, and Musical Acoustics. The activity of each group is guided by the Coordinator and a Committee, elected by all the Fellows and Members of the group.
The Speech Group was formed in 1988 and now has 85 Members, the Environmental Acoustics Group, founded in 1990, has 360 members. The Musical Acoustics Group, formed in 1992, has 70 Members.
Each year, the Association holds its three-day annual meeting covering all the aspects of acoustics. The papers presented (100 on average) are regularly published in the Proceedings of the meeting, a book of about 600 pages. In the last five years, there have been, on average, 150 participants. During the meeting the Giacomini Prize, in memory of the first AIA President, is awarded to the best degree thesis on acoustics of the year before the meeting.
In addition the specialist groups organize seminars and workshops on topical subjects during the year. Proceedings of these events are also published by AIA.
In 1977, AIA began the publication of a quarterly journal, Rivista Italiana di Acustica, which is the official magazine of the Association. Each issue contains research papers, technical notes, news from AIA and from the specialist groups, calendar of events, etc. Papers are usually in Italian with a summary in English, but also foreign languages (i.e. English and French) have been used by distinguished authors. Each issue is about 50 pages in length, and 900 copies are distributed to society members and other people in Italy and abroad. The Association retains close ties with the Italian Audiology Society and other national associations related to acoustics.
In achieving statutory objectives, AIA is active in establishing international links with foreign associations. In 1972, the Association was one of the founder Societies of the Federation of Acoustical Societies of Europe (FASE), and was among the founders of the European Acoustics Association (EAA) in 1992. AIA joined I-INCE in 1983,
The Association has hosted international conferences, including the 4th FASE Symposium on Acoustics and Speech in Venice (1981), the Conference on Acoustics and Recovery of Spaces for Music in Ferrara (1993), and the 18th AICB (Association Against Noise) Congress in Bologna (1995). In 2001, AIA will host the 17th International Congress on Acoustics (ICA) in Rome.