Some 45 members and guests of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Section of The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers gathered aboard the Princess Louise for a recent meeting. The evening's paper, titled "Shipboard Noise," was presented by Dr. Robert Saucedo, president of the Casde Corporation.
The timely paper addressed the problems associated with the common practice of correcting shipboard noise problems at the completion of the construction period rather than establishing a viable noise-control program as part of the initial contract definition. Dr. Saucedo postulated several basic prerequisites, applicable to any ship design and construction program, that would aid in predicting noise problem areas and provide a means of continually updating the builder's specifications throughout the construction period.
Some typical prerequisites would be: establishing of commonly accepted limits for noise (a melding of Navy, MarAd, and OSHA requirements); methodology for implementation of the noise control program; establishment of specific test criteria to verify predicted problem areas; procedures for substitution of excessively noisy equipment or addition of isolators, acoustic absorbtive treatments, etc., based on cost trade-offs; and a viable means of compensating the shipbuilder for "as-found" noise problem corrections.