3Chapter 1
Audio and Acoustic DNA—Do You
Know Your Audio and Acoustic
Ancestors?
by Don and Carolyn Davis
Introduction................................................................................. 5
Genesis..................................................................................... 5
1893—The Magic Year........................................................................ 6
Bell Laboratories and Western Electric............................................................ 7
Harvey Fletcher (1884–1981).................................................................. 9
Negative Feedback—1927................................................................... 10
Harry Nyquist (1889–1976).................................................................. 10
The dB, dBm and the VI..................................................................... 10
Bell Labs and Talking Motion Pictures.......................................................... 11
Motion Pictures—Visual versus Auditory....................................................... 11
The Transition from Western Electric to Private Companies......................................... 11
Audio Publications........................................................................... 12
The “High” Fidelity Equipment Designers........................................................ 13
Sound System Equalization.................................................................... 13
Acoustics.................................................................................. 14
Professional-Level Audio Equipment Scaled to Home Use........................................... 15
Edwin Armstrong (1890–1954) The Invention of Radio and Fidelity.................................. 16
Acoustic Measurements—Richard C. Heyser (1931–1987)........................................... 17
Calculators and Computers.................................................................... 18
The Meaning of Communication.............................................................. 19
Bibliography................................................................................. 20