Robert W. Young’s eminence in musical acoustics

Abstract

Interest in musical sound led Robert W. Young into physics graduate study at the University of Washington, where his 1934 doctoral thesis reported on standing waves within the Boehm flute. During subsequent research at C. G. Conn Ltd., Young and co-inventor Hugo Schuck developed the Conn Chromatic Stroboscope. It was the most precise frequency measuring instrument for acoustical research in the audio frequency range. Young’s book of tables for instrument users, From Frequency to Cents [1939; 2nd ed. (1952)], related frequency to cents deviation from the equally tempered musical scale. Research in musical acoustics, musical instruments, and pitch perception was especially benefited for decades, before computers became available. Young’s 63 research publications in musical acoustics concerned tuning of wind instruments, vibration of piano strings, temperature and humidity effects upon timing, inharmonicity of string vibration modes, and the resulting stretched scale of piano tuning. He was the associate editor for musical acoustics for the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America for 45 years, exerting a positive, and often creative, influence on research by authors around the world. He also served as associate editor for the acoustical patent review section of this Journal from 1943 to 1977, and personally reviewed thousands of patents, many on musical sound.