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Hallowell Davis

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Hallowell Davis(August 31, 1896 – August 22, 1992) was an Americanphysiologist,otolaryngologistand researcher who did pioneering work on the physiology of hearing and theinner ear.He served as director of research at theCentral Institute for the DeafinSt. Louis, Missouri.

Early life[edit]

Hallowell Davis was born on August 31, 1896, inNew York City,the son of attorney Horace A. Davis, and Anna Norwood (néeHallowell) Davis.[1][2]His great-grandfather wasMassachusetts GovernorJohn Davis,and his grandfather was Civil War OfficerNorwood Penrose Hallowell.He graduated fromHarvard Collegein 1918, where he was the class orator at graduation.[3]He earned his medical degree fromHarvard Medical Schoolin 1922 and then spent a year at theUniversity of Cambridgewhere he was trained as anelectrophysiologistin the laboratory ofEdgar Adrian, 1st Baron Adrian.[1]

In 1925, Harvard named Davis to serve as an official tutor and instructor inpre-medicalsciences, as a means of helping prepare students intending to advance to Harvard and other medical schools to "get the soundest general foundation possible for their medical education".[4]After the year in England, he returned to teach at Harvard and became an assistant professor at Harvard College in 1927 and the school's first tutor in biochemical sciences, later becoming the director of the school's Psycho-Acoustic Laboratory.[1]He was elected to theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciencesin 1929.[5]

Audiology pioneer[edit]

During the 1930s, Davis participated in the development ofelectroencephalographyand was the first person in the United States to have his brain waves scanned by an EEG device. He focused on the physiology of the inner ear, investigating how neurological impulses are transmitted to the brain via thecochlear nerve.His studies led to the development of electrical-responseaudiometry,which allowed diagnosis of hearing difficulties in infants.[1]Robert Galamboscredited Davis with coining the word "audiology"in the 1940s, with Davis saying the then-prevalent term" auricular training "sounded like a method of teaching people how to wiggle their ears.[6]

Davis moved to the Central Institute for the Deaf, where some of his early work was for theVeterans Administrationin the development of improvedhearing aidsfor soldiers who had experienced hearing loss. Combining aspects and research from the fields ofbehaviorism,electroacoustic engineering and electrophysiology, Davis was able to advance the study of the field, which could be seen in his 1947 workHearing and Deafness: A Guide for the Layman,which he co-edited withS. Richard Silverman.In 1948, he was elected to the United StatesNational Academy of Sciences.[7]He was also a professor of physiology at theWashington University School of Medicine,where he lectured on hearing and speech.[1]Research by Davis presented to theBritish Association for the Advancement of Sciencein 1952 showed thathair cellsin the inner ear play a pivotal role in transforming the mechanical stimulus of sound into electrical impulses to be sent to and processed by the brain.[8]

During the 1960s, Davis served on theNational Research Council'sCommittee on theSonic BoomandSupersonic Transport,where he argued that the noise would result in hearing irritation to the public, in addition to being an economic risk.[6][9]He was elected to theAmerican Philosophical Societyin 1965.[10]

Davis was awarded theAcoustical Society of America Gold Medalin 1965 and theNational Medal of Sciencein 1975.[11][12]

Personal life[edit]

He married the former Pauline Allen in 1923 at a refugee camp nearIstanbul,where they were treating those with typhus, smallpox and other diseases. She served as his research partner until her death in 1942. He married Florence Eaton in 1944 and then Nancy Gilson in 1983, three years after the death of his second wife.[6]

Davis was a resident ofUniversity City, Missouri.He died at age 95 on August 22, 1992, at the Bethesda Dalworth Home in St. Louis. He was survived by his third wife, Nancy, as well as a daughter, two sons, four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. He donated his inner ear for scientific research.[1]

References[edit]

  1. ^abcdefSaxon, Wolfgang."Hallowell Davis, 96, an Explorer Who Charted the Inner Ear, Dies",The New York Times,September 10, 1992. Accessed July 15, 2010. Note that this article indicates that he was 96 in the article title and in the text, when a calculation based on the dates of his birth and death supplied by the article indicates that he died at age 95, nine days before he would have celebrated his 96th birthday. The birth and death dates provided in the obituary inThe New York Timesmatch those in the NAS article.
  2. ^Staff."HORACE A. DAVIS, 87, A LAWYER, AUTHOR",The New York Times,October 6, 1957. Accessed July 17, 2010.
  3. ^Staff."HARVARD'S WAR CLASS DAY.; Many Uniformed Men in the Procession Through the Yard.",The New York Times,June 19, 1918. Accessed July 17, 2010.
  4. ^Staff."TO AID PRE-MEDICAL MEN.; Harvard Appoints Graduate Adviser to Guide Their Studies.",The New York Times,October 5, 1925. Accessed July 17, 2010.
  5. ^"Hallowell Davis".American Academy of Arts & Sciences.Retrieved2022-10-06.
  6. ^abcGalambos, Robert.Hallowell Davis: 1896—1992,National Academy of Sciences.Accessed July 17, 2010.
  7. ^"Hallowell Davis".nasonline.org.Retrieved2022-10-06.
  8. ^Staff."HAIRS IN EAR HELD TO CONVEY SOUNDS; Electrically Charged, They Act in Response to Noises as Resisters, Scientist Says",The New York Times,September 11, 1952. Accessed July 17, 2010.
  9. ^Hallowell Davis PapersArchived2010-05-31 at theWayback Machine,Washington University School of Medicine.Accessed July 17, 2010.
  10. ^"APS Member History".search.amphilsoc.org.Retrieved2022-10-06.
  11. ^"Acoustical Society of America Awards".Acoustical Society of America.Retrieved31 Jul2023.
  12. ^National Science Foundation - The President's National Medal of Science
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