Richard C. Heyser Collection, 1904-1988 (mostly 1933-1988)

Collection

Identifier: RG 1000.07

Staff Only

About the Collection

The Richard C. Heyser Collection dates from 1904 to 1988 (mostly 1933 to 1988) in 18.0 cubic feet (10 boxes). The collection strength lies in Heyser’s writings with published and unpublished full works, and notes and drafts chronicling ideas and thoughts. Other collection material includes presentations, patent information, and personal papers including schoolwork, manuals, and books.

Dates

1904-1988
Majority of material found within mostly 1933-1988

Creator

Heyser, Richard C. (Richard Charles) (Person)

Terms of Access

The entirety of the Richard C. Heyser Collection is available to all users.

Terms of Use

Materials are the property of Columbia College Chicago. Intellectual property rights of work belong to the original creators. Materials within the collection that are published and copyrighted maintain their copyright protections and must be used according to United States Copyright Law. Use of this collection and its materials is understood to be primarily for research, teaching, and creative study; additional uses, such as publication, exhibition, or other appropriate purposes may be considered upon consultation with the Archivist.

Biography - Richard C. Heyser

Richard (Dick) C. Heyser was born in 1931 in Chicago, Illinois. He attended the University of Arizona, where he received a BSEE degree in 1953. Awarded a Charles LeGeyt Fortescue Fellowship for advanced studies, he earned a MSEE degree from the California Institute of Technology in 1954, and spent two additional years in postgraduate work at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California.

In 1956 he joined the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of the California Institute of Technology where he became a member of the technical staff. His work involved communication and instrumentation design for space programs at JPL, including the conceptual design of America's first satellite, Explorer I, and the application of coherent spread spectrum techniques to improve underwater sound and medical ultrasound imaging.

He maintained a personal laboratory where he conducted research on audio and acoustic measurement techniques. He was awarded nine patents, including time-delay spectrometry (TDS) and Time Energy Frequency (TEF).

Developed in 1967, TDS is a tool for acoustical analysis and design applicable to a variety of applications: medical ultrasound, ocean floor imaging, earthquake measurement and fault mapping, loudspeaker, microphone, amplifier, audio control room, recording studio and concert hall design, and noise identification and reduction in telecommunications. TDS was paired with another of Heyser’s discoveries, Energy Time Curve (ETC), patented under the name Time Energy Frequency or TEF. The Crown company’s division, Techron, unveiled the TEF System 10 in 1983, the first portable TDS analyzer and acoustical measurement system. TEF became an industry standard for all types of acoustical measurement applications from live-sound-reinforcement system design to voice recognition implementations.

At the time of his death on March 14, 1987, Heyser was the president-elect of the Audio Engineering Society, where he had been an active member for more than three decades. He served as a governor of the Society for 1983 to 1984 and was prominent in numerous society activities and committees.

Other roles he held include: senior editor of Audio magazine; member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE.); fellow of the Audio Engineering Society (AES), who further honored him in 1983 with the AES Silver Medal for his development of Time-Delay Spectrometry (TDS); fellow of the Acoustical Society of America; and member of the Hollywood Sapphire Group. He remains the only scientist to-date to have a volume of the AES Journal dedicated exclusively to his research studies about TDS.

The Richard C. Heyser Memorial Lecture series was established in May 1999 by the Audio Engineering Society Technical Council, its Board of Governors, and the Richard Heyser Scholarship Fund to honor his contributions to the field and his ability to communicate new and complex technical ideas with clarity and patience.

Extent

18.0 Cubic Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Introduction

Richard C. Heyser (1931-1987) was a pioneer in research relating to audio and acoustic measurement techniques. This collection of his personal papers contains published and unpublished writings by Heyser as well as notes and drafts chronicling his ideas and thoughts.

Collection Arrangement

The Richard C. Heyser Collection has been arranged into five series and ten subseries by subject:

Series 1: Biographical and Correspondence, 1953-1987
Sub-series 1.1: Biographical, 1953-1987
Sub-series 1.2: Correspondence, 1967-1989
Series 2: Writings, 1959-1986
Sub-series 2.1: Published Writings, 1959-1986
Sub-series 2.2: Unpublished Writings, 1969-1986
Series 3: Presentations and Talks, 1976-1986
Series 4: Patents & Time Energy Frequency (TEF), 1964-1986
Sub-series 4.1: Patents
Sub-series 4.2: Time Energy Frequency (TEF)
Series 5: Personal Papers, 1904-1984
Sub-series 5.1: Schoolwork, 1964-1986
Sub-series 5.2: Items From Books, 1979-1984
Sub-series 5.3: Manuals and Publications, 1950-1955
Sub-series 5.4: Books, 1904-1980

Materials within each series and subseries have been organized in alphabetical and chronological order.

Requirements for Researcher’s Access

All physical materials and reformatted media must be viewed during a scheduled appointment time within the College Archives & Special Collections office. No materials are to be circulated unless otherwise consulted with the Archivist.

An additional linear foot of material is not yet available for research.

Access to some audiovisual media in the collection, such as VHS or audio cassette, may be temporarily unavailable pending digital reformatting.

Technical Requirements for Researcher’s Access

Researchers viewing digitized, online material from this collection may access these materials from home via the World Wide Web 24/7.

Access to reformatted media in the collection, such as VHS, audio cassette, phonographic records, or computer files, must be viewed within the College Archives & Special Collections office during a scheduled appointment. Although reformatted, these items cannot be sent electronically nor can be published in our online database due to copyright restrictions. A computer and other necessary equipment will be provided during the appointment to access these materials.

Initial Acquisition

Gift, July 2010

Accessible Online Material from the Richard C. Heyser Collection

While the entirety of this collection is available for research in person, portions of it have been digitized and made available online including:

Unpublished Writings, 1971-1986
Final or nearly final drafts from a selection of unpublished writings by Richard C. Heyser. This digital library include articles originally intended for publication in AUDIO and Science magazines and the American Journal of Physics. In addition, this series includes Heyser's 1976 presentation, "It's a Great Day Tomorrow" and a variety of additional essay drafts. Overall, Heyser's unpublished writings reflect his philosophies behind the importance of measuring audio and his efforts to create mathematical and physics formulas for measuring sound.

Related Research Resource - Richard C. Heyser Memorial Lecture Series

The Richard C. Heyser Memorial Lecture series, Audio Engineering Society

Richard C. Heyser Memorial Lectures

Separated Materials

Heyser's home laboratory equipment is stored at the Audio Arts & Acoustics department

About this Guide

The material was not in order when received and much identification work was performed by Audio Arts & Acoustics faculty member Doug Jones and consultant Bob Hagenbach.

Earlier collection organization and identification was performed by Jon Prohs, who gathered material into an anthology of Richard Heyser’s work for the Audio Engineering Society in 1988.