Human Rights and the Human Rights and the Acoustical Society of AmericaAcoustical Society of America

Edward J. WalshBoys Town National Research Hospital

Omaha, NE

The Acoustical Society of America (ASA)The Acoustical Society of America (ASA)

7000 members

International in scope; 68% U.S.

AIP (American Institute of Physics) association

Standards Secretariat

Executive Council (EC) - officers + 6 elected members

Technical Council - VP, VP-elect, Chairs of TechnicalCommittees

13 Technical Committees - arrange technical sessions at semiannual meetings

ASA Technical CommitteesASA Technical Committees

Acoustical Oceanography

Animal Bioacoustics

Architectural Acoustics

Biomedical Acoustics

Engineering Acoustics

Musical Acoustics

Noise

Physical Acoustics

Psychological and Physiological Acoustics

Signal Processing in Acoustics

Speech Communication

Structural Acoustics and Vibration

Underwater Acoustics

Human Rights and the ASA Human Rights and the ASA Panel on Public Policy (PoPP)Panel on Public Policy (PoPP)

Panel on Public Policy (PoPP); prior experience in human rights’ realm

Society President delegated responsibility to PoPP to explore the Coalition question and return a recommendation to EC

Panel is small

Discussion was energetic

Enthusiastic advocacy for the initiative was critically important

Discussion was limited to a small segment of the Society; is that good?

Questions and ConcernsQuestions and Concerns

What does this have to do with acoustics?

Would ASA be expected to automatically adopt Coalition positions?

Would ASA be implicated by association regardless ofdisagreement re specific positions?

What precisely is the definition of human rights? Aren’t subjective/interpretational differences problematical?

Is such an association consistent with the ASA mission?

Avoid radical activism

Scientific societies should not associate with political movements

Human Rights Issues in AcousticsHuman Rights Issues in Acoustics

Acoustic weapons

Acoustic eavesdropping

Science censorship

Acoustic harassment/torture

Classroom acoustics

Anthropogenic noise

The right to acoustic …

Approval ProcessApproval Process

Panel voted unanimously to recommend that the ASA join the Coalition

Aligning with Coalition at the affiliate level mollified skeptical members

Energetic discussion among members of the EC

EC unanimously authorized affiliation

The intervening yearThe intervening year

Participated in SHRC meeting last summer

Successfully advocated for joint Special Session at the 159th ASA meeting; (Science and Human Rights’ Coalition: The Interface Between the Human Rights’ and Scientific Communities)

Small but enthusiastic turnout

Great speakers

Was our approach the most appropriate?

Where to from here?Where to from here?

Plan to organize an SHRC event at each meeting; a non-trivial goal (planning for Cancun has come and gone – problem of semiannual meetings)

Regular contributions to newsletter; immediate plan is to report on the four SHRC working groups

Encourage submission of papers dealing with human rights issues at semiannual meetings; a really

tough goal to achieve