S. S. Stevens's contributions to an understanding of hearing

Stevens contributed in many ways to hearing science, to what he named psychoacoustics. He published, alone or with others, ground-breaking studies on pitch, loudness, localization, masking, electrical stimulation of the ear, and frequency mapping on the basilar membrane. Many of these, some more than half a century old, are still widely cited. The book, Hearing, its psychology and physiology, published in 1938 with Hallowell Davis summarized everything known about hearing so clearly and so cogently that it is still in print. Having founded in 1940 what was probably the first laboratory devoted exclusively to the scientific study of normal hearing, he gathered there a remarkable group of hearing scientists. He continued until his death to attract outstanding collaborators and students, many of whom were or became leaders in psychoacoustics, speech, audiology, auditory physiology, and related fields.