Board:
president: Beáta Mesterházy
secretary general: Zsuzsanna Alabárdos
board members: Géza Balogh, Gergely Borsi, Zoltán Horváth, Attila Balázs Nagy
OPAKFI (Scientific Society for Optics, Acoustics, Motion Pictures and Theatre Technology) is the society for professionals from the fields of Optics, Acoustics, Motion Pictures and Theatre Technology, and was founded in 1933. It has 4 departments and 200 professional members from all over of Hungary.
The Department of Acoustics is one of the oldest departments of OPAKFI. Its members are professionals from the fields of building, room, and electroacoustics as well as noise and vibration control. Many professionals are members of Departments of Acoustics and Noise and Vibration Control, too, and participate in both departments’ work. The goal of our department is to promote the aspects of research in all fields of acoustics and to provide a forum for cooperation between colleagues of all fields and to organize professional trainings.
The Department of Acoustics cooperates with several national and international professional societies. Our national partners are: Hungarian Section of Audio Engineering Society (AES), Hungarian Sound Art Society (HSAS, formerly known as HAES), Scientific Association for Infocommunication (HTE, formerly known as Scientific Society for Telecommunication) and Hungarian Society for Theatre Technology (HSTT).
A regular national conference, the Acoustical Professional Day, is successfully organized since 2001. The topics of the annual conferences cover a wider spectrum of acoustics in order to attract professionals from other fields (architects, sound engineers, musicians, theatre technicians). Along with the conferences professional exhibitions are regularly organized.
The Department of Acoustics founded the Békésy György prize in 1977, which was awarded to prominent professionals 30 times since then.
International relationships are high priority, the Department of Acoustics organizes conferences, seminars, exhibitions regularly, and participates in international projects and is represented in European and International organizations such as the European Acoustics Association – (EAA), the International Commission for Acoustics (ICA), the International Institute of Acoustics and Vibration (IIAV), and the Alps Adria Acoustics Association (AAAA).
The Department organized some international acoustical conferences, for example the 7th Congress of International Commission for Acoustics in 1971 (1430 participants), INTER-NOISE 97 (1997 International Congress on Noise Control Engineering), Forum Acusticum in 2005 which was organized on behalf of European Acoustics Association (EAA) (more than 600 participants).
The Department of Acoustics participated in INAD (International Noise Awareness Day) program and IYS2020 (International Year of Sound) events co-operating with the Department of Noise and Vibration Control.
The OPAKFI joined AAAA (Alps Adria Acoustics Association) in December of 2019. The original goal of AAAA was to promote all aspects of research in the field of acoustics in the whole the region. In addition, the Association’s aim was to improve the overall cooperation among the countries and their respective national societies as well. Every two years, one of the three member societies of the AAAA organizes a scientific congress on acoustics. The main goal of these events is to bring together acousticians from Croatia, Hungary and Slovenia, as well as from the other European countries, in order to exchange knowledge, share results of research, and strengthen mutual cooperation among these societies for the benefit of the whole region.
The 9th congress of Alps Adria Acoustics Association was co-organized by the Departments of Acoustics and Noise and Vibration Control of OPAKFI, Herman Ottó Institute Non-profit Ltd. and the regional partner societies: the Acoustical Society of Croatia (HAD) and the Slovenian Acoustical Society (SDA). Normally, the AAAA conference in 2027 will be organized by OPAKFI again.
