As part of our ongoing commitment to celebrating and preserving the excellence of scientists and others who have gone before, we highlight here the great achievers of the past in our field. These giants are those who have made significant contributions to the field and are held in high esteem, both by their colleagues at the time and by those who now stand on their shoulders. We invite you to review each entry and learn exactly how these people influenced the field of voice and speech and how we are all still learning from them today.
Harvey Fletcher
Known as the father of stereophonic sound, Dr. Fletcher was a key figure in helping to further the understanding and insight into the physics of voice and speech.
Janwillem van den Berg
A dutch physicist who helped to establish the Myoelastic Aerodynamic Theory, Dr. van den Berg was also the key figure in helping to develop a model on how the vocal folds work.
Kenneth Stevens
Head of the speech science department at the Massachusetts Institute for Technology, Dr. Stevens was one of the foremost scientists in the area of acoustic phonetics.
Minoru Hirano
Originator of the voice production model known as the cover-body model, Dr. Hirano was one of the giants of laryngology and was a significant contributor to helping us understand voice production.