In Memoriam
10.28.2013 | HMMH |Many of us at HMMH knew Laymon Miller personally – he was an important early contributor to the practice of noise control. Laymon did much of the early work on aviation and highway noise control, as well as industrial acoustics, as described in this biography prepared for a University of Texas award that Laymon received:
- In 1954, Laymon became Employee No. 14 at Bolt Beranek & Newman (BBN) Inc. For the first two years, he worked largely under the guidance of Dr. Ira Dyer, on noise control for wind tunnels. In 1959, Laymon and Ira published a seminal paper on the parameters of “Cooling Tower Noise”. Some of the fundamentals of water splashing sounds were obtained in a home-made cooling tower model constructed and installed in his home shower stall.
- Leo Beranek and Laymon made the first detailed measurements of the French “Caravelle” airplane in 1957. In that same year, Bob Hoover and Laymon did similar work on the British de Havilland “Comet 4” airplane. In 1958, Leo, Laymon, and Weldon Clark measured the noise of the first production Boeing 707.
Most of Laymon’s consulting work was: (1) Noise and vibration control for HVAC (Heating, Ventilating, and Air-Conditioning) systems in buildings; (2) noise control for manufacturing plants, aimed at meeting OSHA noise regulations for the protection of workers’ hearing; (3) noise surveys and noise control aimed at protection of communities against the intrusion of excess noise from manufacturing plants, highways, power plants, airports, etc.; (4) noise and vibration control of products for customer acceptance; and (5) vibration isolation designs for achieving very low vibration levels for particular instruments or processes.
From my perspective, one of Laymon’s greatest contributions – not only to the field of acoustics, but also to the world – is Bob Miller, one of HMMH’s founders and former Chairman of the Board. Bob mirrors not just Laymon’s passion for acoustics, but his courtesy and grace, and is a constant reminder that scientific inquiry and curiosity are a wonder.
Laymon will be missed, and our thoughts and prayers go to Bob and his family.