The Importance of Engineering Acoustics Tor Kihlman,Wolfgang Kropp, Krister Larsson CHALMERS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY Division of Applied Acoustics E-mail: wolfgang.kropp@chalmers.se 1 Why dealing with acoustics ? In this section you will find brief description of the importance of acoustics as discipline, it main applications and its relation to our daily life at work and at home. 1.1 Introduction Acoustics is an own discipline with a strong interdisciplinary character. Engineers who are experts in acoustics will find their tasks in a wide area of applications such as aero acoustics, vehicle acoustics, product development, community noise, architectural acoustics, psychology, virtual reality applications, telecommunication etc.. They will also support other professions, such as medical doctors, psychologists, biologists, oceanographers, designer, engineers in different areas of mechanics and so forth. Figure 1 is an attempt to illustrate the area from the core – fundamental physical acoustics – to its applications and relations to a range of disciplines. Figure 1 Acoustics and its relation to other disciplines and applications (shadowed area indicates the field of activity at the Department of Applied Acoustics, Chalmers University of Technology)