Acoustical Society of America

In the summer of 1928, Floyd R. Watson and Wallace Waterfall (1900–1974), a former doctoral student of Watson, were invited by UCLA's Vern Oliver Knudsen to an evening dinner at Knudsen's beach club in Santa Monica. The three physicists decided to form a society of acoustical engineers interested in architectural acoustics. In the early part of December 1928, Wallace Waterfall sent letters to sixteen people inquiring about the possibility of organizing such a society. Harvey Fletcher offered the use of the Bell Telephone Laboratories at 463 West Street in Manhattan as a meeting place for an organizational, initial meeting to be held on December 27, 1928. The meeting was attended by forty scientists and engineers who started the Acoustical Society of America (ASA). Temporary officers were elected: Harvey Fletcher as president, V. O. Knudsen as vice-president, Wallace Waterfall as secretary, and Charles Fuller Stoddard (1876–1958) as treasurer. A constitution and by-laws were drafted. The first issue of the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America was published in October 1929.

The Society has 13 technical committees that represent specialized interests in the field of acoustics. The committees organize technical sessions at conferences and are responsible for the representation of their sub-field in ASA publications. The committees include:

The first meeting was attended by forty scientists and engineers who started the Acoustical Society of America (ASA). Some of those members include: Edward Joseph Schroeter Harvey Fletcher Floyd K. Richtmyer Dayton Miller Harold D. Arnold Frederick Albert Saunders Floyd R. Watson Irving Wolff

The ASA offers membership and conference attendance to students at a substantially reduced rate. Conference attendance is further promoted by travel subsidies and formal and informal student meetings and social activities. The ASA also expanded services to students in 2004 by introducing regional student chapters.

The Acoustical Society of America publishes a wide variety of material related to the knowledge and practical application of acoustics in physics, engineering, architecture, noise, oceanography, biology, speech and hearing, psychology and music. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA) - founded in 1929, this is a peer-reviewed academic journal operating on the traditional subscription model. JASA Express Letters (2021–present) online archive- this is a peer-reviewed academic journal operating on the open access model. Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics (POMA) (2007–present) online archive - repository for conference proceedings. Acoustics Today (2005–present) online archive a general interest magazine on acoustics. In 2021, the ASA Publications' Office began producing Across Acoustics, a podcast to highlight authors' research from these four publications.

Echoes (1991-2013) online archive - Quarterly newsletter. Acoustics Research Letters Online (2000-2005) online archive - Launched as an open access journal. It became a section of the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America from 2006 to 2020, then in 2021 became the current journal JASA Express Letters. Noise Control (1955-1961) online archive Sound: Its Uses and Control (1962-1963) online archive - A continuation of Noise Control, with broadened scope.

Acoustical Society of America miscellaneous publications, 1934-2016, Niels Bohr Library & Archives ASA Office of the President Edward Christopher Wente records, 1929-1946, Niels Bohr Library & Archives