Hearing

In this interview organized through the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), former ASA president David Green reflects on his career in psychoacoustics. Green discusses his early education at a small high school with limited course offerings. He then describes his undergraduate studies at the University of Chicago where he earned a liberal arts degree. Green recalls his time at the University of Michigan for graduate school, where Spike Tanner and John Swets were influential to him. He discusses his PhD thesis involving heterodyne signals and then recounts his first teaching position at MIT. Green goes on to summarize his subsequent positions at the University of Pennsylvania, UC San Diego, Harvard, and the University of Florida. He also talks about the two books he wrote during those years. The interview concludes with Green’s reflections on his grad students over the years and their many accomplishments, as well as other peers who have influenced him. 

In this interview organized through the Acoustical Society of America, the discussion begins with Pisoni’s experiences as a member of ASA and the influence of a presentation at a 1980 meeting by Brian Eukel as well as earlier work by the Harvard Psychoacoustics Lab. The interview continues with memories of Pisoni’s youth in New York City and undergraduate education in experimental psychology at Queens College of the City University of New York, including the influence of Lou Gerstman. Pisoni then recalls his doctoral work in psycholinguistics at the University of Michigan and research at Haskins Laboratories, as well as his move in 1970 to his only place of employment, Indiana University, and his sabbaticals at MIT. Other subjects Pisoni discusses include the creation and growth of the IU “Training in Speech and Hearing Sensory Communication” program funded by the National Institutes of Health, some of his most influential books and papers, his participation in the Institute for Defense Analyses’ Summer Camp in Applied Mathematical Problems, and his moves into clinical work and cognitive aging and speech perception.

Interview with Diane Kewley-Port, Professor Emeritus at Indiana University in the Speech and Hearing Department. Kewley-Port recounts her involvement in the Acoustical Society of America over the years, including serving as Chair of the Speech Technical Committee, member of the Executive Council, and Vice President. She describes her childhood in Cleveland and her early interest in science and engineering. Kewley-Port then discusses her undergrad and graduate years at University of Michigan, as well as the year she spent working in Denmark for a Danish computer company. She also talks about her time as a research assistant in the Neurocommunications Lab at Johns Hopkins, as well as at Haskins Laboratories, before pursuing her PhD at City University of New York. Kewley-Port reflects on how important ASA has been throughout her career, especially the mentorship and support she has received. 

In this interview, William Hartmann of the Acoustical Society of American interviews William Yost, Research Professor of Speech and Hearing Sciences at Arizona State University. Yost discusses his graduate work on signal detection at Indiana University, the development of his Fundamentals of Hearing textbook, co-authored with Donald Nielson, and his early research into noise control at the University of Florida. Yost describes his activities with the Acoustical Society of America, his efforts to promote hearing science at NIH and NSF, and the ASA’s relationship with the Association for Research in Otolaryngology. The interview concludes with a discussion of Yost’s research into modulation detection interference and his move to his current position at Arizona State University.

Childhood in Germany and family background — competitive spirit; war years — internment and radar work with Bondi and Hoyle (1942-1945) at Cambridge — development of theory of hearing and steady state theory; at Greenwich (1952-1956) — research on lunar surface and terrestrial dynamics; positions at Harvard and Cornell — involvement with Arecibo; involvement with governmental agencies including NSF and NASA — changes in government funding. A major part of the interview covers the development and reception of the steady date theory.