A £5 grant for noise research

Abstract

In these days when computers, correlators, theories of stochastic processes and innumerable other exotic methods and devices are coming to be thought of as inevitably necessary for scientific and technical progress in noise control as in other things, it is sobering and perhaps salutary to recall that not so long ago, when such amenities were not available, a great deal of work could be done, and was done, by basic physical reasoning together with a few simple and ingenious experiments. The post-war generation has no direct experience of these earlier days, and this is in some ways a pity, because the stimulation and satisfaction one could derive from the intellectual discipline forced on investigators in this less lavishly endowed period perhaps more than compensated for the lack of material resources. To remind all of us of some of the qualities and enduring lessons of this kind of research, I asked Wing-Commander Cave-Browne-Cave to indulge in some reminiscences of his early experiences in noise control work, urging him to be as critical as he liked of the expensive trappings of modern research. I hope that all readers, of whatever generation, will enjoy reading his account of several satisfying and useful investigations started, literally, with £5, good will and a stethoscope, and I also hope that they may agree with him that these methods still have a valuable role to play in today's research.