Scott D. Holden
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Scott D. Holden | |
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| Born | April 9, 1931 San Francisco, CA |
| Nationality | American |
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Scott D. Holden is an American entrepreneur, inventor, and engineer who developed numerous instruments designed to help those with speech, language, and hearing impairments. His devices were marketed under the trademarked names Phonic Ear and Phonic Mirror[1]by his company, HC Electronics, Incorporated [2] between 1963 and 1975.
Early life
Holden was born April 9, 1931 in San Francisco, CA. In 1949, he joined the Army Air Force and was trained as a Flight Engineer on the Convair B-36 Peacemaker with assignments at Lackland Air Force Base, TX, Sheppard Air Force Base, TX, and Norton Air Force Base, CA. He completed his enlistment in central France before returning to San Francisco.
Holden attended Healds Engineering College to study mechanical engineering and Reedley Junior College where he earned a commercial FAA license as an Aircraft and Powerplants Mechanic. He went on to work at several companies including Pan American World Airways, Hiller Helicopters, Lenkurt Electric Company, and Sierra Corporation.
In 1961 Holden met Ruth Johnson, a speech pathologist, who he later married.
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. Within a few weeks, Holden had designed and prototyped a device that could record both the therapist and student voices, and then play back their sounds after a four second delay. Using this technique a therapist could speak a word, have the student repeat it, and then compare their utterances during playback. In early testing Holden found that this technique allowed students to modify their speech quickly and effectively. Holden named this new automatic speech playback device the Phonic Mirror (patented in 1968 [3]), and demonstrated it at the 1962 Northern California Speech and Hearing Convention in San Francisco, where it received widespread interest.
Founding of HC Electronics, Incorporated
In 1963, Holden resigned from his job at Sierra Corporation and began to manufacturer the first one-hundred Phonic Mirror playback devices. He formed a company, HC Electronics, Inc., in Tiburon, CA, to produce the Phonic Mirror.
Phonic Ear
Following the success of Phonic Mirror, Holden recognized that he could also manufacture devices 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.
Incorporation of Delayed Auditory Feedback in Phonic Mirror
Holden collaborated with Dr. Bruce Ryan of the Behavioral Sciences Institute in Monterey, CA, to develop a device that employed Delayed Auditory Feedback (DAF), a process that Ryan was investigating for its ability to reduce stuttering. The DAF device would record a speaker’s voice and then play it back a fraction of a second later through an earpiece. DAF was used to help stutterers slow their speech rate and improve their fluency. The principle is still used today. Holden and HC Electronics, Inc. were the first manufacturer of a wearable DAF device, and it was marketed as the DAF Phonic Mirror.
Development of FM Technologies for Phonic Ear
Holden next modified the Phonic Ear to receive audio through it’s 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 their student’s FM Phonic Ear device. 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.[4] Children’s author CeCe Bell utilized Phonic Ear FM, and included her experiences in her book, El Deafo.[5]
Expansion and sale of HC Electronics
Holden ultimately produced more than 20 variants of his Phonic Mirror and Phonic Ear devices 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. (now Sonova A.G.) to be the sole marketer of Phonak’s line of hearing aids in the United States. 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. [6]
Professional Sailor
While establishing the HC Electronics International Division 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
- ↑ California-based Phonic Ear, The Hearing Review, Mar 14, 2008
- ↑ U.S. Patent 3,373,508
- ↑ Bidding Farewell to Personal FM, Canadian Audiologist, Vol 3., Issue 5, 2016
- ↑ 'El Deafo': How A Girl Turned Her Disability Into A Superpower, NPR, 14 December, 2014
- ↑ Former Mt. Jewett Woman is Nominated for Penn State Award, The Kane Republican, 29 December, 1978
External links
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