The Psychoacoustics authority - Abstract and Review

Fletcher, Harvey

(b. Sept. 11, 1884, Provo, Utah, U.S.--d. July 23, 1981, Provo),  U.S. physicist,
a leading authority in the fields of psychoacoustics
and acoustical engineering.

Fletcher was graduated from Brigham Young University, Salt Lake City, Utah, in
1907 and received a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Chicago in 1911. In
1916 he joined the staff of Bell Telephone Laboratories, where he worked for 33
years, primarily in the fields of speech, music, and hearing. Much of his work on
the fundamentals of psychoacoustics is described in his book Speech and Hearing
(1922).

Fletcher's research group developed and demonstrated two separate but
related methods for reproducing sound: binaural sound reproduction and
stereophonic reproduction. He and his team gave the first public
demonstration of stereophonic sound in 1934 in New York City. In 1949 he
moved to Columbia University, where he established a department of
acoustical engineering. In 1952 he was appointed director of research at
Brigham Young University, becoming dean of the College of Physical
Engineering Sciences (1954) and professor of physics (1958). In 1974 he
became professor emeritus, continuing his research in acoustics until a few weeks
before his death.
 

This abstract and review was obtained from OnLine subscription services -
courtesy of Charles Turley.