courses. Both should serve to e,•pand the student's understanding of the place of speech science in the broader context of-human be- havior and development.

JAMES F. CURTIS

Professor Emeritus Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology University o f lo wa Iowa City, Iowa Current address: 9650 Grant Creek Road, Missoula, Montana 59801

Handbook of Psychonomics

John A. Michon, Eg G. J. Eijkman and Len F. W. de Klerk, Eds. North Holland Publishing Company, Amsterdam, New York and Oxford, 19 79

In English Vol. 1: +653pp, Vol. 2: +657pp. Price per set: $244.00.

Psychonomics is the subject which investigates the human being as a system exchanging information with its environment. It is the branch of psychology which has gained increasing importance as the role of information transmission and processing has assumed ever larger significance in human affairs. The purpose of the present two volume handbook is to provide a thorough review of the present state of the subject, its nature and content, as well as of its many ap- plications, both actual and potential.

The editors are well-known Dutch scientists in the fields of psy- chology and biophysics. All contributors, save one, are located at universities in the Netherlands, the one exception being from Lou- vain.

The 20 chapters in this monumental work cover the whole field in thorough fashion, including such topics as: Methods of measure- ment, system theories, physiology of the nervous system, psycho- physics, sensory and perceptual functions, activation, conditioning, memory, learning of deterministic and probabilistic concepts, prob- lem solving and decision making, language, performance theory, and man machine systems. The editors provide informative prologue and epilogue chapters summarizing in very readable fashion the nature and power of psychonomics.

The acoustical scientist will find material of interest in these vol-

umes, though here the total specific coverage is not extensive. Some 100 pages are devoted to the analysis from the standpoint of psy- chonomics of auditory functions, speech perception, and linguistics. The perceptive reader will, of course, note that many of the general considerations presented can be applied to all sensory mechanisms, including the auditory.

All articles are clearly written and in most cases indeed presented in such a way as to be comprehensible even to the nonexpert in the field. Each article is accompanied by a copious bibliography, with special emphasis on recent literature. A very elaborate index to both volumes is printed in each volume, thus much increasing the value of the set as a work of reference.

It is unfortunate that the high price of this handbook will deter many individuals from its purchase, but it may be safely predicted that its library circulation will be large.

R. BRUCE LINDSAY

Brown University Providence, R. I. 02912

In Re-Review of "Environmental Noise Control"

[J. Acoust. $oc. Am. 62, 803 (1977)]

The Journal is pleased to print the following letter referring to a recent book review...

The September 1977, issue of The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America contained a review of Environmental Noise Con- trol by Edward B. Magrab, published by John Wiley & Sons in 1975. Since publication of that work, John Wiley & Sons has learned that it contained material reproduced without permission of the copy- right holder from: (a) Handbook of Noise Control, C. M. Harris, Ed., 1st ed., McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1961 (2nd ed., 1979);and (b) Shock and Vibraa'on Handbook, C. M. Harris and C. E. Crede, Eds., 1st ed., McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1961 (2nd ed. 1976).

In all, a total of 7¬ pages of text and 7 pages of illustrations were copied without permission. Text was copied line-by-line under the following headings in the Magrab book (the percentage of text in the headings in Environmental Noise Control copied from the above Handbooks is given within parentheses): Effects of Atmos- pheric Conditions on Sound Propagation (35%); Introduction, Silencers and Mufflers (65%); Attenuation in Lined Ducts (50%); Basic Vibration Theory (35%); Several Degree-of-Freedom System (40%); Auxiliary Mass Dampers (100%); Isolation of Shock (85%); Introduction, Transmission Loss and Impact Isolation (60%); Coin- cidence Effect (55%); Sound Transmission Loss (85 %); Laboratory Measurement of Transmission Loss (55%). In addition, 12 illustra- tions were copied from the above Handbooks.

As publishers, John Wiley & Sons was not aware of this use of material under copyright, which we regret.

TREV LEGER

Editor

Wiley-In terscience New York, New York 10016

1909 J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 68(6), Dec. 1980; 0001-4966/80/121909-01500.80; ¸ 1980 Acoust. Soc. Am.; Book Reviews 1909

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