Product Development Engineer, Theatrical Lighting Products
“David’s seemingly limitless skills, solid problem-solving abilities, and unhesitating willingness to tackle uncharted territory have made a profound and lasting contribution to NASA’s space program and ground-based research activities. “
Beth A. Cooper, PE, INCE.Bd.Cert., Fellow INCE/USA
NASA Acoustical Engineer and Agency Hearing Conservation Consultant (retired)
It was the first time in my long career as a sound and light guy that I felt like someone had put a handle on perceived noise that made sense and was relatable to the real world.
We used Nelson Acoustics to help us understand our consumers reaction to a range of complex noise issues, this study crossed a wide range of cultural and architectural factors. David helped us understand the practical aspects of noise and enabled us to make intelligent business decisions. If you’re looking for a Senior Acoustic Engineer, I can – and do – recommend David as the right resource.
Global Product Development Engineer – Retail Refrigeration
It was definitely one of the most useful short courses that I have attended during my career.
Senior Engineer, Aerospace Industry, about courses “Noise Emission and Control – Fundamentals” and “Noise of Fans – Quiet by Design” presented at Semi-Therm 30, March 2014
March 7th, 2014
To whom it may concern,
To whom it may concern,
I have had the pleasure to work with David Nelson on two occasions. The 1st was to develop an acoustical data acquisition and analysis system based on National Instruments reasonably priced hardware platform and their Labview programming language. David’s measurement and analysis package was revolutionary for its time. Sound pressure, sound power, measurement quality, and sound quality could all be done in an automated routine from one data set in a very user friendly
package. That system went on to become the workhorse measurement system in most of IBM’s acoustical labs.
The 2nd project was even more interesting. As an IT equipment supplier we had seen several of our customer’s servers and storage taken off line by “inert gas fire suppression systems.” We formed a joint research agreement with a leading suppression system supplier and I was relieved when David was hired as the acoustical consultant, knowing that he had the deep skills necessary to tackle such an unusual problem. The team essentially built a small data center where the inert gas would be released while computers and storage were operating. The performance of each hard disk drive (HDD) was monitored as were gas pressures, acoustical noise, and vibration.
David’s measurements and analysis confirmed that issue was acoustical immission to the HDDs, but David also went on to identify suppression system variables and IT system variables that reduced the impact to the HDDs. Best of all, David developed a much better nozzle that eliminated acoustical tones that created most of the HDD issues. Those results would not have been obtainable without David on the team.
I can wholeheartedly recommend David as an acoustical consultant. He has very deep skills in acoustics as well as several related disciplines, he is very professional, and he never loses sight of the business objective of his client.
Kent Green
Senior Technical Staff Member
Acoustics/Vibration
IBM
Our group has worked with David Nelson of Nelson Acoustics on a number of successful projects. Over the past 15 years, he has delivered some of the highest quality products in filling some of NIOSH’s short term project needs. His high level of ability, thoroughness and attention to detail have shortened our learning curves and provided turnkey solutions having international impact, potentially reducing U.S. worker’s noise induced hearing loss injuries for decades to come.
He developed the complete Buy Quiet program initiative that our organization then coupled to a Global Database for Noise Levels. This effort provides industry a pathway to share machinery noise levels with existing and potential customers and provides those same customers with web tools to promote, document, and track the effectiveness and cost benefit of their organization’s Buy Quiet program. If there’s a “father of Buy Quiet”, David Nelson is it. While others may have already been talking about it, David developed the guidelines and tools leading and encouraging an organization to actually do it… to Buy Quiet.
He also provided quality training seminars in noise control engineering to all NIOSH personnel involved in reducing workplace noise emissions. This greatly shortened the organization’s learning curve, as the 2-days seminars detailed the current state of opportunities and obstacles in noise control engineering. This allowed us to maximize limited human and financial resources in developing our noise control projects to best effect reducing occupational noise induced hearing loss through reducing workplace noise emissions on a national scale.
As an informal aside, David made our organization bigger than we actually were, smarter than we could ever hope to be, and more efficient in our work than we would have been otherwise. Also, it never hurts to say you have an MIT engineer on your team!
Captain Chuck Hayden, M.S., P.E.
Research Acoustical Engineer, Division of Applied Research and Technology (Retired)
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
David has been my go-to source of technical acoustics expertise for 20 years. His mastery and thorough understanding of complex theoretical concepts, combined with extensive practical hands-on experience, have resulted in innumerable novel solutions and practical applications for NASA’s unique problems. In particular, David’s hallmark ability to reduce complex problems into simple parametric relationships helps transform otherwise overwhelming information into flowchart-driven decision trees that even the most casual user can follow.
In addition to providing robust turnkey solutions to complex theoretical and applied problems, David is an exemplary collaborator. His ability to access the talents of an elite network of equally talented colleagues has enabled successful collaborations on numerous projects that required an extensive and broad collection of skills. Together, we have produced an impressive array of highly popular publicly available resources that have energized the practice of hearing conservation and industrial noise control. From laboratory design and operation to custom software applications to tailored technical training, David’s seemingly limitless skills, solid problem-solving abilities, and unhesitating willingness to tackle uncharted territory have made a profound and lasting contribution to NASA’s space program and ground-based research activities.
In addition to providing robust turnkey solutions to complex theoretical and applied problems, David is an exemplary collaborator. His ability to access the talents of an elite network of equally talented colleagues has enabled successful collaborations on numerous projects that required an extensive and broad collection of skills. Together, we have produced an impressive array of highly popular publicly available resources that have energized the practice of hearing conservation and industrial noise control. From laboratory design and operation to custom software applications to tailored technical training, David’s seemingly limitless skills, solid problem-solving abilities, and unhesitating willingness to tackle uncharted territory have made a profound and lasting contribution to NASA’s space program and ground-based research activities.
Beth A. Cooper, PE, INCE.Bd.Cert., Fellow INCE/USA
NASA Acoustical Engineer and Agency Hearing Conservation Consultant (retired)
