Frederick (Fred) Donald Waldhauer (1927–1993) was an American

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

known for his work in hearing aids and combining art and technology.

Biography

Waldhauer was born on December 6, 1927, and grew up in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, United States. He received his bachelor's degree in

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

and his master's degree in electrical engineering from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. Much of Waldhauer's career was focused on

telephony Telephony ( ) is the field of technology involving the development, application, and deployment of telecommunication services for the purpose of electronic transmission of voice, fax, or data, between distant parties. The history of telephony is i ...

and digital transmission, including work on T1 carrier systems. From 1948 to 1956, he was at

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

. From 1956 to 1987, he was a member of technical staff at

Bell Telephone Laboratories Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mul ...

in Holmdel. He published numerous technical and scientific papers on

feedback Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handled ...

and high-speed

digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Technology and computing Hardware *Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals **Digital camera, which captures and stores digital i ...

transmission Transmission may refer to: Medicine, science and technology * Power transmission ** Electric power transmission ** Propulsion transmission, technology allowing controlled application of power *** Automatic transmission *** Manual transmission *** ...

, as well as writing a book on feedback theory, and early

transistor upright=1.4, gate (G), body (B), source (S) and drain (D) terminals. The gate is separated from the body by an insulating layer (pink). A transistor is a semiconductor device used to Electronic amplifier, amplify or electronic switch, switch e ...

design. He holds more than 14

patents A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

. Waldhauer became a Fellow of the

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

in 1977, and was a longtime member of the

Audio Engineering Society The Audio Engineering Society (AES) is a professional body for engineers, scientists, other individuals with an interest or involvement in the professional audio industry. The membership largely comprises engineers developing devices or products ...

. In addition to his professional memberships, Mr Waldhauer was a

professional engineer Regulation and licensure in engineering is established by various jurisdictions of the world to encourage life, public welfare, safety, well-being, then environment and other interests of the general public and to define the licensure process thro ...

in the state of

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

and a

patent attorney A patent attorney is an attorney who has the specialized qualifications necessary for representing clients in obtaining patents and acting in all matters and procedures relating to patent law and practice, such as filing patent applications and op ...

. In Waldhauer's latter years, at Bell Laboratories, his efforts focused on advanced hearing aid design and technology. After retiring from Bell Laboratories, Waldhauer continuing work on hearing aid designs at what became Resound (acquired in October 2006 by GN (Great Northern) corporation). Waldhauer's work on programmable multi-band

compression Compression may refer to: Physical science *Compression (physics), size reduction due to forces *Compression member, a structural element such as a column *Compressibility, susceptibility to compression *Gas compression *Compression ratio, of a c ...

at Bell Laboratories, and later at Resound, represented a fundamental shift in hearing aid design that still exists today.

Work

9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering

Waldhauer,

Billy Klüver Johan Wilhelm Klüver (November 11, 1927 – March 20, 2004) was an electrical engineer at Bell Telephone Laboratories who founded Experiments in Art and Technology. Klüver lectured extensively on art and technology and social issues to be address ...

and artists

Robert Rauschenberg Milton Ernest "Robert" Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925 – May 12, 2008) was an American painter and graphic artist whose early works anticipated the Pop art movement. Rauschenberg is well known for his Combines (1954–1964), a group of artwor ...

and

Robert Whitman Robert Whitman (born 1935 in New York City) is an American artist best known for his seminal theater pieces of the early 1960s combining visual and sound images, actors, film, slides, and evocative props in environments of his own making. Since t ...

collaborated in 1966 organizing ''9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering'', a series of performances that united artists and engineers. The performances were held in New York City's 69th Regiment Armory, on Lexington Avenue between 25th and 26th Streets, as an homage to the original and historical 1913 Armory show. Ten artists worked with more than 30 engineers to produce art performances incorporating new technology.

Experiments in art and technology

In 1966, Waldhauer,

and

founded

Experiments in Art and Technology Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.), a non-profit and tax-exempt organization, was established in 1967 to develop collaborations between artists and engineers. The group operated by facilitating person-to-person contacts between artists and e ...

(E.A.T.)Kristine Stiles & Peter Selz, ''Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artists' Writings'' (Second Edition, Revised and Expanded by Kristine Stiles) University of California Press 2012, pp. 453-454 a

not-for-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

service organization for artists and engineers. E.A.T. established a Technical Services Program to provide artists with technical information and assistance by matching them with engineers and scientists who can collaborate with them. While working with E.A.T. he helped create the

Moon Museum ''Moon Museum'' is a small ceramic wafer in size,Who is John F.?
' ...

Publications

;Books: * Arthur W. Lo, Richard O. Endres, Jakob Zawels, Fred D. Waldhauer, Chung-Chih Cheng ''Transistor Electronics'', Prentice Hall Inc., 521 pages. * Fred D. Waldhauer, ''Feedback'', Wiley-Interscience, 651 pages, Description: 1982. ;Articles: * Irwin Dorros,

Jack M. Sipress Jack M. Sipress (born April 9, 1935) is an American electrical engineer, former employee of Bell Labs, known for his contributions to the development of submarine communications facilities. Biography Sipress studied Electrical Engineering at t ...

, and Fred Waldhauer. "An experimental 224 Mb/s digital repeatered line." Bell System Technical Journal 45.7 (1966): 993–1043. * Fred Waldhauer & Edgar Villchur "Full Dynamic Range Multiband Compression In a Hearing Aid", ''The Hearing Journal'', September 1988, relates to dynamic range compression. ;List of US Patents (incomplete) *6101258, 5524056, 5278912

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waldhauer, Fred 1993 deaths People from Brooklyn Cornell University College of Engineering alumni Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni American electrical engineers Scientists at Bell Labs Fellow Members of the IEEE 1927 births Engineers from New York City 20th-century American engineers