GEORGE C. MALING JR. (1931-2022)

BY ROGER SCHMIDT AND
ROBERT D. HELLWEG, JR

GEORGE CROSSWELL CRESSY MALING Jr., a global leader in noise control and in the development of widely adopted national and international standardized methods for noise evaluations, passed away peacefully on June 9, 2022, at his home in Brunswick, Maine. He was 91. Surrounded by family and connected with his colleagues until the end, Geroge leaves behind a legacy of scientific rigor, public service, and collaborative leadership.

Born Feb. 24, 1931, in Boston, Massachusetts, George grew up in Glenolden, Pennsylvania, and was the son of George Croswell Cressy Maling and Marjorie Bell Maling. He graduated from Glen-Nor High School in 1948 and attended Bowdoin College for three years, majoring in both mathematics and physics. He then transferred to the Electrical Engineering Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), earning both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree there, in addition to his Bowdoin degree — all conferred in 1954. From 1955 to 1957, he served in the U.S. Army, working on air defense systems. George later returned to MIT and received an additional electrical engineering degree in 1958. He went on to pursue a doctoral degree in physics with a focus on acoustics and received his Ph.D. from MIT in 1963. His thesis was titled “Wave Propagation in Inhomogeneous Media.”

During his final two years at MIT, he shared an office with Bill Lang (NAE 1978), who recruited him to start the International Business Machines (IBM) Acoustics Lab in Poughkeepsie, New York. There, they worked on controlling noise generated from mainframe computer cooling systems, typewriters, and printers, while also contributing to foundational acoustical measurement standards. George remained with IBM, from 1965 until his retirement in 1992 as a senior engineer. He worked on a wide array of projects related to noise control engineering, including air-moving device noise, psychoacoustical impacts of noise, and the development of acoustical measurement and control standards, in addition to IBM product design. One notable assignment was for the U.S. Navy. Analysis revealed that a submarine sonar system being offered to the Navy would not meet its noise specification. George, along with a heat transfer engineer, traveled to a company facility in upstate New York where they redesigned the cooling system — developing a new fan design that brought the system into compliance. Within hours of completing the report, George was flown to Washington to present the new design to the Navy which accepted it. He was especially excited, as it was his first ride on an IBM jet.

George became internationally recognized as an authority on the noise emitted by air-moving devices and on the noise emissions of discrete frequency sources. His “sound-transparent box” apparatus for measuring the noise emissions of air-moving devices became an international standard and remains universally used for noise evaluation.

He authored more than 80 technical papers and contributed to several handbook articles, while also serving in governance roles and receiving numerous honors from the industry’s leading professional organizations. In the late 1960s, George quickly recognized the potential of early IBM research on digital signal processing as a breakthrough that could enable the transition from analog to digital signal processing. He organized two symposia on this topic for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), which promoted IEEE leadership to take notice. They asked him to write a foundational paper titled “What is the Fast Fourier Transform?” Working with collaborators from Bell Labs, MIT, and other institutions, George co-authored two seminal papers on the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and digital filtering. These techniques revolutionized signal processing and had a profound impact on electrical, mechanical, and noise control engineering.

He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in 1998. He remained highly engaged in NAE workshops and projects, most notably as chair of the Technology for a Quieter America (TQA) study, which brought together experts from industry, government, and academia to explore improvements in noise abatement across the U.S. From 2005 to 2009, George chaired a series of NAE workshops emphasizing the role of engineering in improving quality of life, particularly the importance of noise control technology in creating quieter environments. This effort culminated in the NAE consensus report, Technology for a Quieter America (The National Academies Press, 2010). Following the 2010 report, George chaired a follow-on program that led to 12 additional TQA workshops and accompanying public information documents. Topics included employee noise exposure, motorcycle noise, national park soundscapes, cost-benefit analysis, technology transfer, consumer and industrial product noise, aviation and airport noise, drone and aerial mobility vehicles, occupational noise exposure risk and controls, and noise control engineering education.

The 2022 virtual TQA workshop, Noise Around Airports: A Global Perspective, was hosted by the Institute of Noise Control Engineering (INCE) Foundation and the NAE. The final report, released in 2023 was dedicated to George. During the workshop, George’s son Jeff spoke about his father’s lifelong passion for noise control. He shared that George never viewed these projects as “work,” but rather as “a great time” spent with his good friend and longtime colleague, the late William Lang (NAE 1978). Sundays spent organizing conferences, reading though huge piles of papers, and planning meetings were, for them, an ideal way to relax. In fact, they often used their vacation time from IBM to attend conferences, chair sessions, and present papers. Jeff noted, “They were just tremendously passionate and that rubbed off on the whole family.” The recent hybrid TQA workshop, Occupational Noise Exposure - Risks and Controls, was held Oct. 23-24, 2023, at the Keck Center in Washington, D.C.

With his wife Norah, George would unpack and distribute printed conference proceedings to libraries and individuals who had ordered them. “It was a fantastic team effort for both families,” Jeff recalled. “We really benefited from seeing that level of collaboration and passion they displayed.”

One example of the tangible impact of George’s efforts is the airport in Santa Ana, California, which exemplifies the meaningful changes that have resulted from dedicated work in noise control. Jeff said, “Today it is amazing to see the impact the two of them had over all these years, and I say thank you for all the recognition of that impact.”

George dedicated his career to reducing noise pollution and improving public health and quality of life. From 1976 to 1979, he headed the American National Standards Committee S1, Acoustics, which developed standardized methods for assessing sound emissions. A member and fellow of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), George received the 1992 ASA Silver Medal in Noise for “outstanding leadership in noise control and in the development of widely used, internationally and nationally standardized methods for noise evaluations.” He also served for six years as associate editor of the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. He was a life fellow of IEEE, chairing the Systems Subcommittee of the IEEE Standards Committee of the Group on Audio and Electro-acoustics, and a fellow of the Audio Engineering Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Institute of Noise Control Engineering of the USA (INCE-USA). He received the Rayleigh Medal from the Institute of Acoustics (United Kingdom) in 1999 and the INCE Distinguished Noise Control Engineer Award in 2001. In 2018, INCE-USA renamed its top engineering honor the George C. Maling Award for Excellence in Noise Control Engineering.

As co-founder and past-president of the INCE-USA and its longtime managing director, he was instrumental in establishing noise control engineering as a recognized discipline. He launched the newsletter Noise/News in 1972 and served as managing editor for 20 years. The publication later became Noise/News International, the official magazine of the International Institute of Noise Control Engineering (I-INCE). George also co-founded and served as past-president of the nonprofit INCE Foundation, which continues to fund students and professional awards in noise control engineering.

George married Norah Horsfield on Dec. 29, 1960. They had two children, Ellen and Barbara, before moving to Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1965, where their third child, Jeffrey, was born. In 2002, they moved to Maine, living in Harpswell and, most recently, in Brunswick. He was active in the Rotary Club and enjoyed participating in Bowdoin College events as an alumnus. A loyal Bowdoin football fan — regardless of the win-loss record — he also appreciated a cold beer and lobster dinner. George was a longtime season ticket holder at Maine State Music Theater and pursued photography as a lifelong hobby. An avid skier, he skied throughout the U.S. and Europe, passing that love on to his children and grandchildren.

George and Norah were an accomplished traveling duo, a passion Norah will continue to share with their children and grandchildren. George is survived by his beloved wife of 62 years, Norah; his brother, Bill; his three children, Ellen, Barbara, and Jeffrey; and his four grandchildren, Andrew, Ian, Cayen, and Aamycia. George’s 50-year effort to establish noise control as a recognized engineering profession was truly a family affair. Norah served as membership secretariat for INCE-USA and provided enormous ongoing support to the organization. In 2009, George and Norah were jointly awarded the INCE-USA Distinguished Service Medal for their exceptional dedication and service to the Institute.

The greatest legacy anyone can leave is the impact made on the lives of others. Jean Tourret of INCE/Europe, France, remarked at the workshop dedicated in George’s honor that he was “above all, one of the greatest figures of our noise control engineering community, to which he devoted a great part of his life with a permanent mix of kindness and efficiency.” George will be deeply missed by many.

Note
Some of the information in this tribute was from the 2022 report of the “A Technology for a Quieter America (TQA) Virtual Workshop” held Nov. 1-4, 2022. All TQA reports are available at https://www.inceusa.org/publications/technical-reports/. In addition, a memorial session honoring George Maling was held at NOISE-CON 2024 in New Orleans on June 11, 2024. Matt Nobile provided some updates to this tribute.