Can You Hear Me? - Making the World a Quieter Place

This is a story of achievement on a grand scale, of the fulfillment of a lifelong vision by the creation of an innovative and widely respected company adapting and manufacturing noise control products to meet the needs of new and challenging industries. From a childhood in near poverty and, as a Jew growing up in Berlin during the 1930s with little prospect of a better future, Martin Hirschorn built a path to success by a combination of early family support, good fortune, determination and hard work. The first part of his story is written as a narrative that intertwines personal, political and business aspects of his life.

The description of a struggling family in the turbulent between-war setting of western Europe sets the stage for his determination to do better. With the encouragement of his parents (who remained in Berlin) and support from an overseas relative, he emigrated in 1937 to England, where he completed his technical education prior to a second emigration and an engineering and manufacturing career in the United States. The remainder of the story describes the creation of a company finely tuned to the expanding need for noise control methods in the post-war years.

Hirschorn's graphic description of the difficulties encountered by his family living between Germany and Poland, in the era when restrictions on people of Jewish descent first began to make themselves felt, should be of interest to anyone who had the blessing of a government-supported university education. From the stimulating postwar environment of the GI Bill, our own society has now evolved into one where the shortage of unskilled work and the constantly increasing cost of higher education are together depriving many young people of the chance for a productive future.

Life in wartime England was not as difficult as he might have thought for one born in enemy Germany, according to Hirschorn. Learning a new language with neither money nor family support, but through a variety of jobs he was able to pay for an education and also to test his inventive skills. Completion of an engineering degree eventually led to his decision to seek the greater opportunities of a career in the post-war industrial growth of the United States. Here, the technical experience gained in England facilitated employment and opportunities to take part in designing new noise control devices for industry. With the assurance of a viable skill and confident in his ability to market new ideas, Hirschorn was now ready to start out on his own.

Industrial Acoustics Company, now recognized world-wide as IAC, was launched in 1949 with no resources beyond office space in his aunt's small apartment and his determination to succeed. However, the support of companies interested in his ideas and positive response to an article in an engineering journal paved the way for the first successful IAC projects and the decision to combine manufacturing with his demonstrated abilities hi noise control design. Here we begin to see development of the other dimensions of a successful enterprise: a clearly understood goal, attracting and keeping strongly motivated, talented employees and economical production methods, with unceasing dedication to the hard work of gaining recognition in the engineering and architectural industry.

There can be no doubt that the timing was fortunate. Expanding commercial aviation, whole new industries and the advent of large-scale air conditioning for buildings brought with them an immediate need for noise control on a large scale. Early success with large industrial silencers led to systems for control of noise from gas turbines and jet engine test cells that became a major IAC production line. In architectural acoustics, air intakes for the first U.S. high-rise, curtain-wall office building were a step toward developing standard products that were economical to produce and suitable for both outdoor and indoor applications.

Advances in the rapidly growing science of acoustics were harnessed to production of reliable and economical devices for control of noise. An entire range of products was developed to meet the needs of power, manufacturing and building industries. Evaluation of performance through rigorous testing in special facilities led to participation in establishing standard ratings for silencers and other components.

Factory-built enclosures with soundabsorbing linings for noisy machines were assembled from modular panels adaptable to many other uses, including anechoic chambers, audiometrie testing booths, music practice rooms and sound-isolating movable partitions. A close examination of any of these systems will demonstrate the level of understanding required to translate a specified acoustical requirement into a completed product, portable and rugged enough for shipping and readily applicable to both traditional and advanced methods of building construction.

Each of these markets required close attention and product evaluation with design refinement if needed, calling for well organized and trained field representatives and sales staff dealing with innovative designs without losing sight of evolving customer needs. During the course of almost a half century, Hirschorn presided over an impressive series of products that set a high standard of quality and reliability, ranging from jet noise suppressors for the Concordé and very large anechoic test facilities to special duct silencers for hospitals, sound isolating doors and windows, and even an advanced sound level meter.

With the establishment of a viable nationwide operation, IAC embarked on overseas expansion. Branches in England and Germany became very successful but some other markets were less so for reasons ranging from politics and competition to unwise business decisions. After 49 years of heading the company, Hirschorn found a group willing to buy IAC and the sale was completed in 1998.

Hirschorn concludes with a tribute to his late wife and with recognition of the people in the many facets of IAC who espoused the company goals and made substantial individual contributions to its years of success. In summary, this is a fascinating history that will be of interest to people who have known and worked with IAC, to newcomers who know little of the growth of architectural and engineering acoustics and to budding entrepreneurs. This is not the place to look for details of design solutions, or even the origins of most of the design principles employed. However, it provides an insight into how a dedicated group applied ingenuity in acoustics and practical understanding of engineering systems and customer needs to successfully stay ahead of both competitors and imitators for half a century, which in every respect is quite an accomplishment.

© 2008 Acoustical Publications, Inc. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved.