Exploring the world only for its sounds may at first seem to be a limited endeavor, but instead it provides insight into an endless number of interesting questions. How is the squeal of a train wheel intimately connected to the heavenly tones of a violin? Could sound waves replace hypodermic needles and scalpels in the hospital of the future? Do babies begin to learn their native language even before birth?

These and many other questions will be addressed at what will be the biggest conference ever devoted exclusively to the science of acoustics: the Joint 16th International Congress on Acoustics (ICA) and the 135th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), to be held June 20-26, 1998 at the Seattle Sheraton Hotel and Towers and the Westin Seattle Hotel in Seattle, Washington.

At the meeting over 1500 papers will be delivered from acoustical scientists and engineers from 49 countries, including Japan, Italy, France, England, Estonia, Brazil and many others. The ICA is held every three years under the authority of the International Commission on Acoustics, an affiliated member of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP). The ASA is the largest scientific organization in the United States devoted to acoustics, with nearly 7000 members.

For the first time at an ASA meeting, we will operate a newsroom and offer a series of news conferences. A list of news conferences and newsroom phone numbers will be available in early June. Reporters interested in attending the meeting should pre-register by returning the form at the end of this release, or register on-site by supplying the appropriate credentials.

Before and during the meeting, we encourage you to visit ASA's "World Wide Press Room" (http://www.acoustics.org). Right now at this website, you can access a searchable database of meeting abstracts, including all those mentioned in this
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Contact: Ben Stein
bstein@aip.acp.org
301-209-3091
American Institute of Physics
13-May-1998