Allan D. Pierce was born in 1936 and spent his early years in Iowa, Kansas, and New Mexico. After receiving a Ph.D. in Physics from MIT, he was employed by RAND (1961-1963) and Avco (1963-1966). His work during these years was concerned primarily with the analysis of infrasonic waveforms generated by thermonuclear explosions, and this broadened into a life-long interest in all aspects of physical acoustics, applied mechanics, vibrations, and wave physics. From 1966 to 2012 he held a succession of professorial appointments - at MIT (1966-1973), Georgia Tech (1973-1988), Penn State (1988-1993), and Boston University (1993-2012). He retired from BU in 2012, and founded the Cape Cod Institute for Science and Engineering in 2017. He is a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America and of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and is a recipient of the ASA Silver Medal in Physical Acoustics and the ASA Gold Medal, the ASME Per Bruel Gold Medal, the Rossing Prize for Acoustics Education, and the Gold Medal of the Acoustical Foundation of India. Over the years he has had many editorial positions, including being the founding co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Computational Acoustics and the Editor-in-Chief of the Acoustical Society of America. He was the founding editor of Proceedings of Meetings in Acoustics.

Features a wealth of end-of-chapter problems and answers

Written by the former Editor-in-Chief of the Acoustical Society of America

Represents essential reading for all practicing and aspiring acousticians

Facilitates instructional flexibility regarding topics covered, length of course, and interests of students

Includes a new foreword and preface speaking to the book's continuing importance

Foreword.- Preface to the Third Edition.- Preface to the First Edition.- About the Author.- List of Symbols.- Chapter 1 The Wave Theory of Sound.- Chapter 2 Quantitative Measures of Sound.- Chapter 3 Reflection, Transmission, and Excitation of Plane Waves.- Chapter 4 Radiation from Vibrating Bodies.- Chapter 5 Radiation from Sources Near and on Solid Surfaces.- Chapter 6 Room Acoustics.- Chapter 7 Low-Frequency Models of Sound Transmission.- Chapter 8 Ray Acoustics.- Chapter 9 Scattering and Diffraction.- Chapter 10 Effects of Viscosity and Other Dissipative Processes.- Chapter 11 Nonlinear Effects in Sound Propagation.- Appendix.- Indexes.- Name Index.- Subject Index.