Utah Inventions: Harvey Fletcher, the father of stereophonic sound

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Editor's Note: This article is part of the Utah Inventions series, which features a different inventor or invention with Utah ties each Wednesday. Tips for future articles can be sent to ncrofts@ksl.com. PROVO — Responsible for pioneering the development of sound, Harvey Fletcher's achievements continue to reverberate in society today.

Known as the "father of stereophonic sound," Fletcher was credited with the invention of the first electronic hearing aid and the artificial larynx. He was also involved in the early development of sound movies and television.

A native of Provo, Fletcher worked his way through Brigham Young University as a grocery delivery man. He later pursued a Ph.D. in physics at the University of Chicago. Upon graduating in 1911, Fletcher returned to BYU to head its physics department. In 1916, he accepted a job offer from the Western Electric Company, which later became Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Fletcher made the hearing aid at the behest of industrialist Alfred duPont, who was seeking a way to improve his hearing during business meetings. It was constructed using vacuum tubes and contained two microphones that were connected to telephone receivers in a headband. The experiment was successful, improving duPont's hearing. Fletcher later made one for fellow inventor Thomas Edison.

Fletcher conducted several stereophonic test recordings. One such recording took place in March of 1932, with Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra participating. The group used two microphones that were linked to two styli cutting two separate grooves on the same wax disc. The first, of Scriabin's "Prometheus: Poem of Fire," is the earliest known surviving intentional stereo recording.

In 1933, Stokowski again joined with him in an attempt to successfully demonstrate the transmission of stereophonic sound of a live performance from the Philadelphia Orchestra in Philadelphia to Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. The sound was divided into three channels to achieve greater authenticity.

The same system was expanded five years later onto film recordings and used to transmit sound from Philadelphia's Academy of Music to the recording labs at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey in order to record the Walt Disney film "Fantasia."

After a teaching stint at Columbia University, Fletcher returned once again to BYU to help put together a new Department of Engineering and the College of Physical and Engineering Sciences. He remained active in science circles until shortly before his death from a stroke in 1981 at the age of 96.

All in all, Fletcher published over 60 major scientific works throughout his life and held more than 40 patents relating to acoustical devices.

Ryan Curtis is a proud seventh-generation Utahn and also writes for Utah Political Capitol. In his spare time, he enjoys doing family history research and listening to '70s and '80s music. You can contact him at ryancurtis4218@gmail.com.