Burris-Meyer, Harold, 1902-1984

Harold Burris-Meyer (1902-September 27, 1984) was a twentieth century American scientist who investigated the use of sound as a tool for emotional and physiological control and played a critical role in the emerging fields of sound design for theater, productivity music for industry, and applied psychoacoustics for warfare. He was a professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology, in Hoboken, New Jersey. He was also an author, a U.S. Navy commander, and a theatrical consultant. During a long and varied career, Burris-Meyer worked at the Muzak Corporation, directed the first stereophonic recordings for Bell Labs in 1941, experimented with the Vocoder, and served as sound designer on thirteen Broadway shows, as well as on productions for the Metropolitan Opera and the Federal Theater Project. Burris-Meyer pioneered the use of "infrasound (sound with a frequency below the lower limit of human audibility)" in theater settings to "manipulate audiences' emotions subconsciously," wrote historian Prof. Gascia Ouzounian. "Following a demonstration [by Burris-Meyer] of 'subsonics' in 1935, journalists speculated on the possibilities of mind control and mass hysteria."