PREPARED FOR NOISE/NEWS INTERNATIONAL, 2001 DECEMBER.
Svenska Akustiska Sallskapet or the Swedish Acoustical Society (SAS) was established focal point of interest in the field of acoustics within Sweden. The founding of SAS in Stockholm on 1945 March 21 was at the initiative of Stellan Dahlstedt, later of Akustik-Konsult, and Per Bruel, later co-founder of Bruel and Kj©¡r. The current president of the society is Leif Akerlof Ingemansson Technology AB, Stockholm. SAS publishes a journal three times each year. The editor-in-chief is Lena van Evelingen, Ingemansson Technology AB, Stockholm. Today, SAS has about 275 members.
Over the years, SAS has broadened the scope of its activities to encompass all areas of acoustics as well as several related disciplines-such as physiology and audiology. Initially, the activities of the Society were concentrated in Stockholm at the Royal Institute of Technology. A topic was chosen for a SAS meeting, a paper was presented and a lengthy discussion followed. Later, the activities were expanded to include, Gothenburg and Malmo, and indeed the whole of Sweden. It has now become a tradition of SAS to hold an annual meeting with several lectures and a social function. In 1954, SAS played an active role in the formation of the Scandinavian Acoustical Society (NAS), and the first meeting was held in Copenhagen, Denmark, with Paavo Arni from Finland as president. Members of NAS (today NAM) are the four acoustical societies of the Scandinavian countries. The societies take turns hosting the Scandinavian Acoustical Meetings. For example, SAS hosted the Scandinavian Acoustical Meeting (NAM ?8) in Stockholm during three days of September in 1998 with Leif Akerlof as chairman.
SAS is an active member society of International INCE. In 1990, SAS hosted INTER-NOISE 90 at the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg. The number of registered delegates at that congress exceeded 800 with participants coming from 39 countries. The largest delegation was, of course, from Sweden with over 200 participants. With the theme Science for Silence, the congress was focused on the need for applied science to support future improvements in environmental noise levels.
Testimony to the continuing interest in noise in Sweden was presented in 2000 when SAS participated in INTER-NOISE 2000 in Nice, France. About 5% of the lecturers were from Sweden. SAS continues its involvement as a society dedicated to spread knowledge in the field of applied acoustics, particularly as related to the noise problems in the world. Beginning in 1989, SAS organized sessions on noise at the world ecology congresses held in Gothenburg. At Ecology ?9, an overview was given of noise control measures and strategies to control environmental noise problems. The focus of the session at Ecology 91 was on external industrial noise. In 1992 at a congress on working environments, the session dealt with noise at the workplace. At Ecology?3, the special session organized by SAS described a special action plan to reduce community noise. SAS is today a link between all parts of the acoustical field in Sweden.