Decibel by Decibel, Reducing the Din to a Very Dull Roar

At RH Lyon Corp, noise-busting engineers tackle everything from leaf blowers to ticking clocks in their search for the right sound

In Cambridge, Massachusetts, MIT professor emeritus Richard H. Lyon and his staff of engineers are breaking new ground in the science of applied acoustics. He and his ten full and part-time noisebusters are busy disembowling clothes dryers and pulling vacuum cleaners apart, developing state-of-the-art techniques for making appliances quieter. The Lyon Corp is helping companies like Ford, Raytheon, General Motors, Nissan and Xerox to get their products to pipe down.

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