NHI Seminar Report

National Highway Institute’s Traffic Noise Seminar
at Columbia College a Tremendous Success!

Between August 18th and 20th 2009, the Audio Arts & Acoustics Department hosted the National Highway Institute’s (NHI) Highway Traffic Noise seminar.  An overwhelming success, this three-day seminar attracted thirty-one professionals from Germany, Canada and from twelve states including Vermont, Washington, Utah, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, New York, Pennsylvania and Nebraska, not to mention Michigan, Indiana and Illinois.

The course instructors and representatives of NHI were impressed at our ability to attract such a diverse group of participants, both geographically and in terms of expertise.  In addition to three Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) staff, we had highway and tollway professionals from two states, eleven engineering and environmental consultants, one lawyer, five noise control manufacturing representatives, and a developer of noise analysis software. 

Dean Doreen Bartoni, School of Media Arts, particularly valued the fact that, in addition to Dominique Chéenne, Director of our Acoustics Program, we hosted five of his current students and alumni.  The group’s breadth of representation and expertise was highlighted as a basis for future collaboration in a welcoming message delivered by Provost and Senior Vice President Steven Kapelke.

Aside from the fact that “The facilities were excellent, and the setting – overlooking Grant Park and Lake Michigan – would be hard to beat,” the attendees concentrated for eighteen hours on the basics of acoustics, federal and state legislation, noise measurement and modeling including FHWA’s Traffic Noise Model (TNM) software application, acoustical barriers, and highway-project related noise abatement.  The diversity of the session’s participants made the hands-on noise analysis and abatement exercises all the more informative thanks to the variety of expertise each student could bring to bear on the problems at hand. 

The session’s three instructors were able to visually and aurally demonstrate the physical and, more importantly, the perceptual aspects of sound, using the multimedia Interactive Sound Information System (ISIS).  Visual and auditory models were skillfully managed by William Bowlby, President, Bowlby & Associates, Inc., Franklin, Tennessee; Adam Alexander, Noise Team, FHWA’s Office of Human & Natural Environment, Washington, DC; and Roger Wayson, John Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration, Cambridge, Massachusetts.  Sean LaDieu, Senior Project Engineer for Huff & Huff, Inc. joined the team to present the State of Illinois Department of Transportation’s policies and procedures on highway noise measurement and mitigation.

On the final day of the seminar, participants took a 20-question certification exam. In what was a first in the instructors’ experience, everyone passed the exam.  As Adam Alexander remarked, “You have set the bar very high!”

Mila Plosky, NHI’s Training Program Manager acknowledged the seminar’s success: “You are – by far – the MOST conscientious HOST I’ve ever encountered … Since you’ve done such an outstanding job with this August session, why not sign up to Host another session in March?”  Encouraged by the overwhelmingly positive feedback from the seminar instructors and participants, we are proceeding to act upon the sentiment expressed by Pantelis Vassilakis, Chairman of the Audio Arts & Acoustics Department: “We look forward to this event marking the beginning of a long-term and mutually rewarding relationship.”  We therefore plan to host another session in 2010 so that Columbia College Chicago can, in NHI’s words “…illustrate what a fine job an enthusiastic, non-traditional (i.e. non-State) host can do in working with NHI.”

Summary of Follow-up Survey of all participants available.

From the left: Carolyn.Eberhard (NHI), Adam Alexander (FHWA, Office of Human & Natural Environment), Roger Wayson (John Volpe National Transportation Systems Center), William Bowlby, (Bowlby & Associates, Inc), Ron Elling (AA&A, Operations Manager), Dominique Chéenne (AA&A, Acoustics Program Director), Pantelis Vassilakis (AA&A, Chairman), Benj Kanters (AA&A, Associate Chairman).