Some personal recollections of early experiences on the new frontier of electroacoustics during the late 1920s and early 1930s
Frank Massa · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1985
During this brief presentation, time will be turned back a half-century to permit some personal recollections of early experiences as we explored the new frontiers in electroacoustics. The availability of the vacuum tube for the amplification of weak signals made possible the practical application of a variety of wide-range, low-sensitivity transduction techniques for the generation and reproduction of sound. Our training in electrical engineering provided an understanding of electrical measurements and design techniques that we could adapt for new specialized uses during our early stages of acoustic measurements and electroacoustic research. The demands of the new talking picture industry for improved electrical recording and reproduction of sound helped finance the costs of electroacoustic research, which resulted in rapid progress in the sound reproduction and recording industry during the early 1930s. In less than a decade the reproduction of sound was transformed from the primitive limited frequency range of the mechanical phonograph to the high quality electrical recording and reproduction made possible by the rapid advances in electroacoustic engineering.