Organisation of Activities for the International Year of Sound 2020

A broad range of outreach and educational activities and events are anticipated. Some events will originate centrally with the International Commission for Acoustics (ICA); others will be organised by the International Affiliated organisations of the ICA. Many events will be the result of efforts by national acoustical societies. These possibilities are discussed further below.

The membership of the ICA includes all the major national acoustical societies around the world plus international affiliate organisations which themselves have extensive membership. Thus the ICA is well placed to coordinate central events plus mobilise the extensive membership to organize national events relevant to the particular regions and contributing to the intent of the UNESCO resolution.

Activities organized by ICA

The ICA will undertake at no cost to contributing organisations to provide an IYS 2020 website for posting details of all the events/activities held during 2020 plus reports on the outcomes. All promotional material for events/activities, approved by the Liaison Committee or ICA IYS Steering Committee shall be entitled to use the logo of IYS 2020.

The ICA will provide promotional material and the content for banners for the IYS 2020 that can be displayed at the central and all national events for the IYS 2020 and for La Semaine du Son (The Week of Sound).

The ICA will host an opening of the IYS to be held at Sorbonne University in Paris in January 2020.

The ICA will hold a world-wide competition for students in the category of primary and of secondary schools. The subject of the competition will relate strongly to the goals of the UNESCO Resolution on the Importance of Sound in our World.

The ICA will fund a video to promote the objectives of the IYS 2020 and how sound is important in all aspects of our life and will encourage a greater understanding of opportunities for the use of sound and of careers in acoustics.

Activities organised by ICA International Affiliates

The International Affiliates of ICA host regular international meetings and during 2020 these are well distributed around the world. In addition to the scientific and technical content each of these international events will host an outreach/promotional event to draw attention to the importance of sound in our world. The International Affiliate will be given full autonomy in developing activities appropriate for their organisations and all costs associated with these will be covered by their organization.

The location and timing for these international meetings include:

• FORUM ACUSTICUM Lyon, France, 20-24 April 2020
• 179th Meeting of the ASA, Chicago, Illinois, USA, 11-15 May 2020
• 13th ICBEN Congress on Noise as a Public Health Problem, Stockholm, Sweden, 15-18 June 2020
• ICSV 27, Prague, Czech Republic,12-16 July 2020
• Internoise 2020, Seoul, Korea, 23-26 August 2020.
• FIA 2020, Florianopolis, Brazil, 27-20 September 2020
• 180th Meeting of the ASA, Cancun, Mexico, 9-13 November 2020

… but see the Events Calendar for a full listing.

Events to be organized by the National Societies

All the Member Societies of ICA have some form of annual gathering. During 2020 they will be encouraged by the ICA IYS 2020 Steering Committee to enhance the activities in 2020 with additional outreach and educational events. The National Societies will be given full autonomy in developing activities appropriate for their region and all costs associated with these will be covered by the national organization.

All activities that relate to the mission of the IYS 2020 are relevant. The IYS 2020 provides the opportunity to promote to the world the importance of sound to all aspects of our life. Organisations are encouraged to consider outreach activities and to be innovative. The following are suggestions but it is up to each organisation to consider what my be appropriate for their region/resources:

• Activities related to the annual meeting or conference
• Activities related to relevant ‘days’ throughout the year such as
  • International Noise Awareness Day — Wednesday, 29 April 2020
  • World Hearing Day — 3 March 2020
  • International Mother Language Day — Friday, 21 February 2020
• Activities related to education. These will naturally take longer but the outcome could be long lasting. The package of activities could include produation of any material (digital/video/audio) addressing a particular topic or area or age group. Also it could include specific events dedicated to teachers and students in collaboration with educational institutes and especially with primary and secondary level schools.

Activities organised by La Semaine du Son (Week of Sound)

These activities will be organized in their usual manner throughout the year and throughout the world. The details of the events will be centrally promoted on websites of both La Semaine du Son and the IYS 2020.