member societies

German Standards Committee Acoustics, Noise Reduction and Vibration of DIN and VDI
Prepared for Noise/News International, 1998 December

Germany has a long-standing tradition in tackling noise and vibration problems. This applies to the VDI, the Association of German Engineers (founded in 1856) as well as to the DIN, German Institute for Standardization (founded in 1917).
In 1924, the VDI established the first expert committee dealing with vibrations, which served as a basis for the VDI expert group on vibrations - founded in 1954 - and for the VDI Noise Reduction Commission (VDI-KLM) - founded in 1965.
The first DIN standard giving guidance on noise indicators and recorders was finalized in 1937. In 1953, the Acoustics Standards Committee was founded, which later on would also claim responsibility for the field of vibrations.
In 1990, the Acoustics and Vibrations Standards Committee (FANAK) and the VDI Noise Reduction Commission (VDI-KLM) merged into the Standards Committee Acoustics, Noise Reduction and Vibration (NALS) of DIN and VDI. This new standards committee undertook to keep up and foster the tradition of standardization as well as the technical and scientific activities of the VDI-KLM, and particularly the communication between experts - which is one of the reasons that NALS is a Member Society of the International Institute of Noise Control Engineering (I/INCE). (The VDI-KLM became a member of I/INCE in 1976.
In September 1985, the VDI-KLM organized the very successful INTER-NOISE 85 congress in Munich, which was chaired by the late Eberhard Zwicker.
The scope of the NALS of DIN and VDI is divided into three technical sections:

Section A - chaired by Hans Lazarus, Dortmund - deals with all aspects of acoustics,
Section B - chaired by Dietmar Gebhard, Dusseldorf - is devoted to noise reduction, and
Section C - chaired by Waldemar Stuhler, Berlin - is responsible for vibrations.

In addition, the NALS closely co-operates with the German Electrotechnical Commission (DKE) in the fields of ultrasound and electroacoustics, with the Machinery Standards Committee where machinery safety is concerned, and with the Ergonomics Standards Committee concerning safety at the workplace. Within the DIN, building-acoustics and sound insulation in buildings are under the overall control of the Materials Testing Standards Committee and the Building and Civil Engineering Standards Committee. The activities of the NALS focus on the development of rules of technology, and on International and European standardization in particular. The NALS is in charge of almost 300 DIN standards and 100 VDI Guidelines which are kept up to date by approximately 1300 honorary experts and 13 full-time standardization staff. The NALS is the national partner (mirror committee) for ISO/TC 43, Acoustics, ISO/TC 108, Mechanical Vibration and Shock, CEN/TC 211, Acoustics, and CEN/TC 231, Mechanical Vibration and Shock.
The honorary chairman of NALS is now Dr.-Ing. Ludwig Schreiber, Munich

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