Acoustics is a field that thrives on diverse perspectives, and the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is steadfast in its commitment to fostering inclusivity. In alignment with this vision, the ASA asserts that everyone, regardless of their racial identity, ethnic background, gender, age, disability, religion, or national origin, deserves equal opportunities in the realm of acoustics, including access to published research. As a celebration of Black History Month, the ASA Publications Office is making select JASA articles authored by Minority/James West Fellows free to read throughout the month of February. ASA established a Minority Fellowship in 1992 with the goal of supporting minority students in their pursuit of graduate-level degrees in acoustics. The fellowship was renamed the James E. West Fellowship in 2018.

• Mauricio Villa (2016-2018 Minority Fellow)
  • Auxiliary superfield method for statistical predictions of complex, structural acoustics systems: Saddle point approximation for the mean field

• Steven P. Sandoval (2014-2016 Minority Fellow)
  • Characterizing the distribution of the quadrilateral vowel space area

• Robert Valtierra (Minority Fellow 2012-2014)
  • Using multipath reflections to obtain dive depths of beaked whales from a towed hydrophone array
  • Calling depths of baleen whales from single sensor data: Development of an autocorrelation method using multipath localization

• Bobby Gibbs, II (2005-2007 Minority Fellow)
  • Effects of better-ear glimpsing, binaural unmasking, and spectral resolution on spatial release from masking in cochlear-implant users
  • Glimpsing speech interrupted by speech-modulated noise
  • Modulation masking and glimpsing of natural and vocoded speech during single-talker modulated noise: Effect of the modulation spectrum

• David T. Bradley (2002-2003 Minority Fellow)
  • Effect of boundary diffusers in a reverberation chamber: Standardized diffuse field quantifiers
  • Optimum absorption and aperture parameters for realistic coupled volume spaces determined from computational analysis and subjective testing results
  • The effects of simple coupled volume geometry on the objective and subjective results from nonexponential decay

• J. Sean Allen (1997-1999 Minority Fellow)
  • Listener sensitivity to individual talker differences in voice-onset-time
  • Individual talker differences in voice-onset-time
  • Effects of syllable-initial voicing and speaking rate on the temporal characteristics of monosyllabic words

These articles not only contribute valuable insights to acoustical research, but also highlight the exceptional accomplishments of Minority/James West Fellows. The ASA looks forward to fostering continued inclusivity, collaboration, and dialogue within the acoustics community beyond Black History Month. Help us highlight the voices of black acousticians!