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{{Short description|American Inventor}} |
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{{Draft topics|biography}} |
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{{AFC comment|1=See [[WP:BLP]]. All statements, starting with the date of birth, need to be sourced or removed. [[User:Greenman|Greenman]] ([[User talk:Greenman|talk]]) 19:45, 6 November 2023 (UTC)}} |
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Scott D. Holden is an American entrepreneur, inventor, and engineer with numerous patents for instrumentation designed to help those with speech, language, and hearing impairments, which allowed children to be mainstreamed into regular classrooms. |
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Early life |
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Scott Dalton Holden was born April 9, 1931 in [[San Francisco]]. His parents divorced when he was young, and he attended 13 schools through high school. In 1949, he joined the [[United States Army Air Forces|Army Air Force]], and did his basic training at [[Lackland Air Force Base]] in [[San Antonio]]. After nine weeks, he went to [[Sheppard Air Force Base]] to be trained as an aircraft mechanic. He then went to [[Norton Air Force Base]] in [[San Bernardino, California]]. He was assigned to Flying Safety and investigated aircraft accidents in the United States. After six months, he joined a wing that was sent to central [[France]], where he spent the rest of his enlistment. |
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For college, Holden attended Healds Engineering College, which offered a two-year degree in [[mechanical engineering]]. He also went to a junior college in [[Reedley, California]], where he majored in aeronautical maintenance: there he earned a commercial license as an A&E Mechanic. |
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Scott D. Holden is an American entrepreneur, inventor, and engineer who patented numerous instruments designed to help those with speech and hearing impairments. His devices were marketed under the trademarked names Phonic Ear and Phonic Mirror<ref>[https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=72255883&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch Phonic Mirror Trademark]</ref>by his company, HC Electronics, Inc. <ref>{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=Hearing Review |date=2008-03-14 |title=California-based Phonic Ear |url=https://hearingreview.com/hearing-products/hearing-aids/ite/california-based-phonic-ear |access-date=2024-03-02 |website=The Hearing Review |language=en-US}}</ref>between 1963 and 1975. |
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Holden’s employment included [[Pan Am|Pan American World Airways]], Hillyer Helicopters in Palo Alto, Lenkurt Electric Company, and Sierra Corporation. |
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On a camping trip, Holden met Ruth Johnson, a speech pathologist about to start a master’s degree program at [[Northwestern University|Northwestern University in Evanston]]. They soon fell in love, married, and moved to [[Tiburon, California]], where they had gone sailing many times. |
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Early Inventions |
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As a [[Speech–language pathology|speech pathologist]], Ruth explained to Scott that she would check out two tape recorders from the audio department in the school where she was working as a speech therapist (first in the [[San Francisco Unified School District|San Francisco unified school district]] and then the [[Palo Alto Unified School District]]. She would place the machines together, running the magnetic tape from the first recorder and spooling it on the second machine Then she would start both machines together, speech into the microphone of the first machine, and have it play back on the second machine. In this way, she would speak a word, such as ‘sunshine’ into the microphone, then have the child say the world. The machines would play back both utterances, and the child could compare how they said the word to how Ruth said it. Ruth asked Scott if he could develop a better way to do this, with one machine and a four-second delay, as the dual machines were a visual distraction, as well as being awkward and clumsy to set up and use. |
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Working with a colleague, Scott developed the mechanical design while Curtis designed the electronic circuit. Scott took Curtis’ schematic and produced a printed circuit board. After buying the electronic components he inserted and soldered them into the PC board. In Scott’s design he used a hysteresis synchronous electric AC motor that would pull a small loop of Mylar tape at 15 inches a second. This tape speed would provide the high-fidelity sound, to produce the fricative sounds in speech. Ruth took the instrument to work with her, and found that students were immediately able to modify their fricative sounds – S, CH, TH, and F. |
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Within five weeks of developing their new instrument, the Northern California Speech and Hearing Convention held their annual convention at the [[Palace Hotel, San Francisco|Palace Hotel]] in San Francisco, and Ruth and Scott demonstrated their new instrument there. They named it the Phonic Mirror and drew a crowd with their invention. |
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⚫ | |||
With $1,500 in their bank account, a year of marriage, and Ruth having a stable job, Scott quit his job at the Sierra Corporation and they founded HC Electronics Inc. and made the equipment in their apartment. Scott redesigned the HC 100 to play back at 4 DB louder, and to have only one knob for ease of use. A speech therapist could play back the sounds once or several times to reinforce the child’s learning progress. The Holden’s offered Curtis shares in the new company, many of Ruth’s colleagues invested in the new corporation, and [[Wells Fargo]] provided a $10,000 line of credit. |
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The Holden’s displayed their equipment at every state and national audiology and speech pathology convention. Within the first year, they had contracts with 18 companies in the U.S. They found an office building in Tiburon, hired an electronic technician and two production personnel. |
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⚫ | |||
While employed as a speech pathologist in Palo Alto, CA, Ruth Holden often used multiple recording devices to teach her students. She asked Holden if he could develop a device that would perform the same task as multiple recorders. Holden designed and prototyped an instrument that could record both the therapist and student voices, and then play back their speech after a four second delay.<ref>{{Cite news |date=26 March 1965 |title=Palo Altan Designs Speech Therapy Device |work=Palo Alto Times}}</ref> Using this technique a therapist could speak a word, have the student repeat it, and then compare their utterances during playback. Holden named this new automatic speech playback device the Phonic Mirror<ref>{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=Hearing Review |date=2008-03-14 |title=California-based Phonic Ear |url=https://hearingreview.com/hearing-products/hearing-aids/ite/california-based-phonic-ear |access-date=2024-03-02 |website=The Hearing Review |language=en-US}}</ref> (patented in 1968 <ref>[https://image-ppubs.uspto.gov/dirsearch-public/print/downloadPdf/3373508 U.S. Patent 3,373,508]</ref>), and demonstrated it at the 1962 Northern California Speech and Hearing Convention in San Francisco, where it received widespread interest. More than 20,000 Phonic Mirrors were sold.<ref>{{Cite news |date=29 December 1978 |title=A Leader for Help in the Deaf |work=The Kane Republican}}</ref> |
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== Founding of HC Electronics, Inc. == |
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In 1963, Holden resigned from his job at Sierra Electronics Corporation and began to manufacturer the first one-hundred Phonic Mirror playback instruments. He formed a company, HC Electronics, Inc., in Palo Alto, CA, to produce the Phonic Mirror.<ref>{{Cite news |date=12 November 1965 |title=The Phonic Ear |work=The Ebb Tide}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=Hearing Review |date=2008-03-14 |title=California-based Phonic Ear |url=https://hearingreview.com/hearing-products/hearing-aids/ite/california-based-phonic-ear |access-date=2024-03-02 |website=The Hearing Review |language=en-US}}</ref> |
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== Phonic Ear == |
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Following the success of Phonic Mirror, Holden recognized that he could also manufacture instruments to provide high-quality sound amplification for hearing impaired children in the classroom. Phonic Ear was a body worn system containing microphones and an amplifier that transmitted sound to ear inserts at a volume and clarity that allowed hearing-impaired children to hear more normally than they were able to with typical hearing aids.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Holden |first=Scott |date=July 1975 |title=The Hearing Aid - An Engineer's Perspective |journal=Hearing Aid Journal |pages=26, 50–51}}</ref> |
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== Incorporation of Delayed Auditory Feedback in Phonic Mirror == |
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Holden, at the urging of Dr. Bruce Ryan of the Behavioral Sciences Institute in Monterey, CA, next invented an instrument that incorporated [[Delayed auditory feedback|Delayed Auditory Feedback]] (DAF)<ref>{{Cite news |date=29 December 1978 |title=A Leader for Help in the Deaf |work=The Kane Republican}}</ref>, a process that Ryan was investigating for its ability to reduce stuttering. The DAF instrument would record a speaker’s voice and then play it back a fraction of a second later through an earpiece. DAF, a technique still in use today, is used to help stutterers slow their speech rate and improve their fluency. Holden and HC Electronics, Inc. were the first manufacturer of a wearable DAF device, and it was marketed as the Phonic Mirror HC DAF.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Phonic Mirror© HC DAF R-Player HC Electronics, Inc.; Palo Alto CA {{!}}Radiomuseum.org |url=https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/hcelectron_phonic_mirror_hc_daf.html |access-date=2024-03-02 |website=www.radiomuseum.org}}</ref> |
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== Development of FM Technologies for Phonic Ear == |
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Holden next modified the Phonic Ear to receive audio through a built-in microphones and by way of FM transmissions. The FM Phonic Ear was designed for use in the classroom where teachers wore a microphone that transmitted their voice to the student’s FM Phonic Ear instrument.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hart |first=Steve |date=5 November 2006 |title=Easy Listening |url=https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/easy-listening/#:~:text=Phonic%20Ear%20was%20founded%20in%201963%20by,developed%20playback%20recorders%20for%20speech%20clinicians%20and |archive-url= |access-date=2024-03-02 |work=The Press Democrat}}</ref> This allowed the students to clearly hear their teacher anywhere within range of the FM receiver. In 1972, based largely upon Holden’s efforts, the FCC allocated a band of FM frequencies specifically for the education of the hearing impaired.<ref>[https://canadianaudiologist.ca/bidding-farewell-to-personal-fm-feature/ Bidding Farewell to Personal FM, Canadian Audiologist, Vol 3., Issue 5, 2016]</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Vaughn |first=Gwyneth |date=February 1987 |title=ALDS Pioneers: Past and Present |journal=Hearing Instruments}}</ref> Children’s author CeCe Bell utilized Phonic Ear FM, and included her experiences in her book, ''El Deafo''.<ref>[https://www.npr.org/2014/12/14/369599042/el-deafo-how-a-girl-turned-her-disability-into-a-superpower 'El Deafo': How A Girl Turned Her Disability Into A Superpower, NPR, 14 December, 2014]</ref> Phonic Ear FM expanded beyond the classroom and was also used in theaters and other venues to help immerse the hearing impaired.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hochman |first=David |date=1 March 1979 |title="Ear" Amplifies Music |work=Santa Barbara News Press}}</ref> |
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== Expansion and sale of HC Electronics == |
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Holden ultimately produced more than 20 variants of his Phonic Mirror and Phonic Ear instruments and expanded the reach of HC Electronics, Inc. internationally. Between 1963 and 1975, HC Electronics, Inc. opened sales offices in nineteen US locations, established an international headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark, and opened twelve additional offices throughout Europe and Canada. While in Europe, Holden partnered with Phonak A.G. to be the sole marketer of Phonak’s line of hearing aids in the world. The hearing aids were marketed under the Phonic Ear brand name. In 1975 Holden sold his interest in HC Electronics, Inc. to American Hospital Supply.<ref>{{Cite news |date=29 December 1978 |title=A Leader for Help in the Deaf |work=The Kane Republican}}</ref> |
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== Professional Sailor == |
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While establishing the Phonic Ear International A/S in Copenhagen, Holden lived aboard his sailing vessel Phonic Mirror. He spent two years sailing the Baltic and North Seas; transited his ketch, Phonic Ear, from England to the Mediterranean Sea; spent several years cruising the Mediterranean; and ultimately completed a twenty-day trans-Atlantic crossing from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean Sea. |
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== References == |
== References == |
Latest revision as of 20:33, 3 March 2024
Comment: See WP:BLP. All statements, starting with the date of birth, need to be sourced or removed. Greenman (talk) 19:45, 6 November 2023 (UTC)
Scott D. Holden is an American entrepreneur, inventor, and engineer who patented numerous instruments designed to help those with speech and hearing impairments. His devices were marketed under the trademarked names Phonic Ear and Phonic Mirror[1]by his company, HC Electronics, Inc. [2]between 1963 and 1975.
Phonic Mirror
While employed as a speech pathologist in Palo Alto, CA, Ruth Holden often used multiple recording devices to teach her students. She asked Holden if he could develop a device that would perform the same task as multiple recorders. Holden designed and prototyped an instrument that could record both the therapist and student voices, and then play back their speech after a four second delay.[3] Using this technique a therapist could speak a word, have the student repeat it, and then compare their utterances during playback. Holden named this new automatic speech playback device the Phonic Mirror[4] (patented in 1968 [5]), and demonstrated it at the 1962 Northern California Speech and Hearing Convention in San Francisco, where it received widespread interest. More than 20,000 Phonic Mirrors were sold.[6]
Founding of HC Electronics, Inc.
In 1963, Holden resigned from his job at Sierra Electronics Corporation and began to manufacturer the first one-hundred Phonic Mirror playback instruments. He formed a company, HC Electronics, Inc., in Palo Alto, CA, to produce the Phonic Mirror.[7][8]
Phonic Ear
Following the success of Phonic Mirror, Holden recognized that he could also manufacture instruments to provide high-quality sound amplification for hearing impaired children in the classroom. Phonic Ear was a body worn system containing microphones and an amplifier that transmitted sound to ear inserts at a volume and clarity that allowed hearing-impaired children to hear more normally than they were able to with typical hearing aids.[9]
Incorporation of Delayed Auditory Feedback in Phonic Mirror
Holden, at the urging of Dr. Bruce Ryan of the Behavioral Sciences Institute in Monterey, CA, next invented an instrument that incorporated Delayed Auditory Feedback (DAF)[10], a process that Ryan was investigating for its ability to reduce stuttering. The DAF instrument would record a speaker’s voice and then play it back a fraction of a second later through an earpiece. DAF, a technique still in use today, is used to help stutterers slow their speech rate and improve their fluency. Holden and HC Electronics, Inc. were the first manufacturer of a wearable DAF device, and it was marketed as the Phonic Mirror HC DAF.[11]
Development of FM Technologies for Phonic Ear
Holden next modified the Phonic Ear to receive audio through a built-in microphones and by way of FM transmissions. The FM Phonic Ear was designed for use in the classroom where teachers wore a microphone that transmitted their voice to the student’s FM Phonic Ear instrument.[12] This allowed the students to clearly hear their teacher anywhere within range of the FM receiver. In 1972, based largely upon Holden’s efforts, the FCC allocated a band of FM frequencies specifically for the education of the hearing impaired.[13][14] Children’s author CeCe Bell utilized Phonic Ear FM, and included her experiences in her book, El Deafo.[15] Phonic Ear FM expanded beyond the classroom and was also used in theaters and other venues to help immerse the hearing impaired.[16]
Expansion and sale of HC Electronics
Holden ultimately produced more than 20 variants of his Phonic Mirror and Phonic Ear instruments and expanded the reach of HC Electronics, Inc. internationally. Between 1963 and 1975, HC Electronics, Inc. opened sales offices in nineteen US locations, established an international headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark, and opened twelve additional offices throughout Europe and Canada. While in Europe, Holden partnered with Phonak A.G. to be the sole marketer of Phonak’s line of hearing aids in the world. The hearing aids were marketed under the Phonic Ear brand name. In 1975 Holden sold his interest in HC Electronics, Inc. to American Hospital Supply.[17]
Professional Sailor
While establishing the Phonic Ear International A/S in Copenhagen, Holden lived aboard his sailing vessel Phonic Mirror. He spent two years sailing the Baltic and North Seas; transited his ketch, Phonic Ear, from England to the Mediterranean Sea; spent several years cruising the Mediterranean; and ultimately completed a twenty-day trans-Atlantic crossing from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean Sea.
References
- ^ Phonic Mirror Trademark
- ^ Staff, Hearing Review (2008-03-14). "California-based Phonic Ear". The Hearing Review. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
- ^ "Palo Altan Designs Speech Therapy Device". Palo Alto Times. 26 March 1965.
- ^ Staff, Hearing Review (2008-03-14). "California-based Phonic Ear". The Hearing Review. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
- ^ U.S. Patent 3,373,508
- ^ "A Leader for Help in the Deaf". The Kane Republican. 29 December 1978.
- ^ "The Phonic Ear". The Ebb Tide. 12 November 1965.
- ^ Staff, Hearing Review (2008-03-14). "California-based Phonic Ear". The Hearing Review. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
- ^ Holden, Scott (July 1975). "The Hearing Aid - An Engineer's Perspective". Hearing Aid Journal: 26, 50–51.
- ^ "A Leader for Help in the Deaf". The Kane Republican. 29 December 1978.
- ^ "Phonic Mirror© HC DAF R-Player HC Electronics, Inc.; Palo Alto CA |Radiomuseum.org". www.radiomuseum.org. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
- ^ Hart, Steve (5 November 2006). "Easy Listening". The Press Democrat. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
- ^ Bidding Farewell to Personal FM, Canadian Audiologist, Vol 3., Issue 5, 2016
- ^ Vaughn, Gwyneth (February 1987). "ALDS Pioneers: Past and Present". Hearing Instruments.
- ^ 'El Deafo': How A Girl Turned Her Disability Into A Superpower, NPR, 14 December, 2014
- ^ Hochman, David (1 March 1979). ""Ear" Amplifies Music". Santa Barbara News Press.
- ^ "A Leader for Help in the Deaf". The Kane Republican. 29 December 1978.