The Dutch Sound Foundation (Nederlandse Geluidstichting) was established in 1934 by scientists and engineers at the Society for Materials Research and the Royal Academy for Engineers, who also invited representatives of local and national government, car drivers, housewives, architects, aircraft manufacturers, and clergy to participate. At a time when noise levels were increasingly causing nuisance and affecting people’s ability to work, the Foundation—chaired by a professor of technical physics, Adriaan Daniël Fokker—aspired to become a center for scientific research to promote and disseminate knowledge related to public sound issues. The organization’s founders compared its aims to those of the Heinrich Hertz Institute for Oscillation Research and the noise abatement committee in Germany, the National Physical Laboratory and the Anti-Noise League (established 1933) in Britain, and the Acoustical Society of America (established 1929) in the United States. It conducted research and materials testing with the aim of proposing sound levels and design standards, and also offered noncommercial advice and educational publications. The Foundation later set up its own Anti-Noise League, partly as a source of income and partly to support local noise-abatement committees.

Compiled by staff on the basis of: Bijsterveld, Karin. Mechanical Sound: Technology, Culture, and Public Problems of Noise in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2008.