Over a career spanning decades, Dr. William Lang made seminal contributions that birthed the discipline of noise control engineering. As one of the first scientists applying physics principles to systematically reduce noise emissions, Lang‘s pioneering work at IBM and across academic and government bodies established noise mitigation as a pressing public health priority. The organizations Lang founded, standards he instituted and technologies he patented laid foundations transforming noise pollution from an overlooked byproduct into a rigorously quantified environmental hazard addressed through engineering innovations.
This profile explores Lang‘s upbringing, key noise breakthroughs, and enduring impacts across industries. It paints a picture of a persistent innovator who followed his vision to raise awareness of noise and develop solutions protecting generations of hearing health. Lang‘s friends and colleagues also shed light on his humor and care for students alongside an incredible work ethic driving discoveries that redefined acoustics from abstract science into engineering practice improving daily life.
Cultivating a Pioneer Across Scientific Disciplines
Born in 1926 in Boston, Lang’s inventor instincts stirred early on as the sole child to technically-minded parents. His father Warner’s military service as World War I fighter pilot fed Lang’s lifelong fascination with engines and aviation. After graduating high school in 1943, Lang began radar technician training in the Navy reserve improving submarine detection systems.
When a shortage of naval officers arose, Lang received orders to maintain sonar systems aboard the USS Duluth cruiser. Serving in Shanghai through 1946 fostered skills troubleshooting and optimizing electrical hardware that prepared him for engineering. As Lang later told students, fond memories with sailor friends discovering cultures overseas cemented his global perspective and early ambition to innovate impactful technologies.
After World War II, Lang attained bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physics and acoustics from Iowa State and MIT. Gifted mentors like pioneer acoustics professor Leo Beranek at MIT spurred Lang’s specialty in noise studies rarely pursued then. Conducting graduate research characterizing artificial ear devices, Lang demonstrated creative aptitude optimizing measurement tools integral to sound science.
Launching an Illustrious Career Solving Noise Problems
Upon finishing his physics M.S. from MIT in 1949, Lang taught briefly at Naval Postgraduate School. In 1952, he seized an opportunity that defined his life’s work – spearheading an acoustics division for IBM. Seeking expertise calming noisy electromechanical office products aggravating customers, IBM recruited Lang to establish one of corporate America’s first industrial acoustics programs.
Arriving at IBM’s Poughkeepsie, New York plant, Lang built cutting-edge “anechoic” sound chambers enabling laboratory isolation and analysis of product noise sources. With physics insights unavailable to old-school trial and error tweaking, Lang crafted engineering interventions that slashed sound levels emanating from clacking typewriter platens, whistling card sorters and whining computer tape drives.
Pioneering noise control methodologies, Lang traveled to troubleshoot issues across IBM facilities implementing his protocols enterprise-wide. His systems thinking bridged previous divisions between electrical, mechanical and acoustic product domains. Within years Lang built a 45-person division mitigating noise amidst the computing giant’s exponential rise, serving as IBM’s acoustics chieftain into the 1990s.
Breakthrough Contributions Establishing Noise Control Engineering
Beyond advances muting IBM computers, Lang recognized noise’s broad societal impacts. He observed noise complaints growing amidst postwar urbanization and industrialization, while scant scientific frameworks addressed sound‘s physiological effects. With industry and academia focused elsewhere, Lang made establishing the interdisciplinary noise control field his life‘s work.
Lang spearheaded pivotal developments institutionalizing noise control science and engineering:
1971 – Co-founded the groundbreaking Institute of Noise Control Engineering (INCE), organizing US academics/industry to share knowledge solving noise issues. This professional body cultivated rigorous noise measurement standards and pioneered modern sound absorption materials.
1972 – Advised US Senate developing the landmark Noise Control Act legislating science-based sound level monitoring and controls across sectors. Catapulted national awareness of noise pollution‘s public health threats.
1976 – Established pathbreaking INTER-NOISE conferences convening global experts developing noise policies and innovations. Grew into the world‘s largest noise congress attracting 2,000+ attendees annually.
1978 – Elected to National Academy of Engineering for contributions establishing noise control central to engineering. Highest recognition of technical achievement cementing the field‘s legitimacy.
| Decade | Major Noise Control Innovations / Impacts |
|---|---|
| 1950s | Developed sound measurement instruments and pioneering control methodologies mitigating noise hazards at IBM |
| 1960s | Instituted product noise test standards for IBM systems |
| 1970s | Founded INCE organizing US noise control efforts; advised landmark US Noise Control Act passage |
| 1980s | Published seminal Textbook Principles of Noise Control; led development of ANSI workplace noise exposure standards |
| 1990s | Co-invented CREST manikin dramatically improving hearing protector testing accuracy |
| 2000s | Directed NAE “Technology for a Quieter America” initiative investigating solutions for growing urban noise pollution |
Throughout six decades’ advancing the nascent noise discipline, Lang displayed vision recognizing noise‘s health impacts long before regulatory action. Colleagues describe Lang maintaining a friendly bedside manner while tirelessly leading multiple major organizations, convening experts worldwide to build noise control into an established engineering specialty.
Lasting Noise Innovations Protecting Hearing Health
Alongside these monumental contributions establishing the noise control infrastructure, Lang never stopped creating technologies protecting hearing directly.
The prolific inventor developed breakthrough products like the first reliable self-sealing earplug (1963) and a manikin system (1996) realistically testing hearing protector performance for different wearers. Lang authored over 100 papers on noise hazards and hearing protection advances, while participating extensively in standards bodies translating findings into protective guidelines.
Former student Jérémie Voix lauded Lang’s ingenuity and hands-on approach: “He advanced hearing conservation on so many fronts – from policy, to technology R&D, to mentoring young engineers." Indeed, Lang consulted both private companies and governments to implement cutting-edge methods minimizing dangerous occupational/urban noise decades before regulators took action.
Spurring Progress through Students and Organizations
In addition to individual noise innovations, Lang multiplied his impact by nurturing people and institutions driving progress long-term. As MIT and Columbia professor for 20+ years collectively, Lang trained generations of students (including several female pioneers defying era gender barriers) advancing acoustics and health physics into award-winning careers.
At IBM Lang spearheaded the IBM Academy of Technology in 1989, an elite network promoting innovation by linking 800 top scientists with business divisions. The IBM model has since fostered technology excellence through academies in India, China, Australia and Africa. Colleagues attribute Lang‘s six patents after age 70 partially to staying in touch with latest research through the academy he founded.
The noise control infrastructure Lang erected also grew exponentially after its conception. INCE expanded into the International Institute of Noise Control Engineering (I-INCE) as global noise experts organized. From 30 inaugural attendees in 1971, Lang‘s INTER-NOISE conference swelled into the 2,000+ person nexus of the industry. These groups share technical knowledge and policies combating noise worldwide, tracing directly back to Lang’s early vision uniting specialists from silos.
Lasting Memory and Monumental Legacy
Those who worked alongside Lang describe his passion for cultivating students’ potential alongside tireless engineering drive. In his personal life Lang found love serendipitously meeting his wife Asta (herself an accountant breaking gender barriers) at an Acoustical Society conference where he accepted the Noise Control award. The two were inseparable companions until Asta’s early passing from cancer in 2003. Lang devoted his remaining 13 years wholly to noise control progress in Asta’s memory.
When Lang passed away in 2016 at age 90, he left behind noise control engineering as an established scientific discipline improving millions of lives. Once a sparse field Lang pioneered at IBM, noise control grew into a thriving industry mitigating the WHO-estimated $22 billion annually lost to noise-induced U.S. health conditions.
From personalized soundscaping easing open office distractions, to optimized hospital designs aiding healing, the ongoing push mitigating noise traces directly to innovations pioneered by Lang. The medical imaging techs, wind turbine engineers and city soundscape designers applying noise reduction principles today follow in Lang‘s footsteps working towards the quieter product and living environments he first envisioned. With organizational, political and technological impacts spanning decades, William Lang undeniably earned his moniker as the founding father of noise control engineering.
