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Elizabeth Cohen (engineer)

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For other people named Elizabeth Cohen, see Elizabeth Cohen (disambiguation).
Elizabeth Cohen
Alma materStanford University
Scientific career
ThesisThe influence of nonharmonic partials on tone perception (1980)

Elizabeth Ann ("Betsy") Cohen is a Brooklyn-born California-based acoustician and engineer for the arts. She is known as a scholar of music perception, digital archiving, and advocate for music therapy.

Education and career

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Cohen grew up in Flatbush, Brooklyn where she attended Brooklyn Quaker Friends School. While there, she met Mickey Hart, later a drummer for the Grateful Dead, through a family friend.[1] Cohen received her B.A. in Music and Physics from Bennington College in 1975, where she studied instrument building with Gunnar Schonbeck and composition with Otto Luening. She then worked at Bell Labs for two years[2] before moving to Stanford University where she earned an M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering and Ph.D. in Acoustics.[3] As of 1985, she was an assistant professor at Stanford University,[4] and started her own company to do acoustical engineering.[5] She was a professor of Film and Information studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.[6]

She was selected to serve as the ASA Congressional Science and Engineering Fellow 1993–94[7] and was assigned to the White House Economic Council where she pioneered Arts and Culture and Humanities outreach on the Internet and also focused on accessibility issues.[8]

In 1996 Cohen was inaugurated as the first female president of the Audio Engineering Society.[9][10] In 2009 she joined the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Technology Council,[11] thereby becoming the first woman to serve in the group.[12]

Work

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As an acoustician, Cohen is known for her work on architectural acoustics and pitch perception.[13] She led Cohen Acoustical Inc. for over 25 years providing acoustical design and technology assessment for clients including the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, CBS Television,[4] Dolby Laboratories, Fraunhofer Labs, The Grateful Dead, NASA-Ames, Paramount, Sony, and Walt Disney Imagineering.[14][6] She served for 5 years as the acoustician for the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl[15][16] and as the lead acoustician for the Joan and Irving Harris Concert Hall in Aspen, Colorado.[17][18][19] In the 1990s, Cohen worked to increase the bit rate allotted to sound so as to preserve the quality of sounds shared through the internet.[20] Cohen has collaborated with Nobel Laureate, George Smoot, on outreach efforts to expand student understanding of the role of science and technology in the creative arts.[21] In 2007, Smoot and Cohen attended the Oscars together.[22]

Awards and honors

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In 1995, Cohen was elected a fellow of the Acoustical Society of America for “For application of acoustic science to the entertainment industry”[23] and the Audio Engineering Society for “contributions to understanding the acoustics and psychoacoustics of sound in rooms”.[24] She was elected as a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1996[6] and received the Touchstone Women in Music Award in 1998.[25] In 2001, Cohen was presented with the Audio Engineering Society's Citation Award for “pioneering the technology enabling collaborative multichannel performance over the broadband internet”.[26] She was elected a fellow of the Television Academy in 2016.[6]

Selected publications

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  • Cohen, Elizabeth; Weir, Robert H.; Hasselberger, Jeff (1982-04-01). "The influence of signal processing devices on the timbre perception of electric guitars". The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 71 (S1): S26–S27. Bibcode:1982ASAJ...71...26C. doi:10.1121/1.2019303. ISSN 0001-4966.

References

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  1. ^ Flynn, Laurie J. (1997-10-06). "Over the Din of New Media, a Voice for the Audio Arts". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-09-08.
  2. ^ Kaplan, Karen (1997-07-14). "The Sounds Inside Our Heads". Los Angeles Times. pp. [1]. Archived from the original on September 8, 2022. Retrieved 2022-09-08.
  3. ^ Traiman, Steve. "AES Head Elizabeth Cohen Has Sound Advice For The Future" (PDF). WorldRadioHistory. Studio Action.
  4. ^ a b Paull, Linda (1985-11-20). "Picture if you will Twilight Zone's new 'spacial reverberation'". The San Francisco Examiner. p. 89. Retrieved 2022-09-08.
  5. ^ Fabricant, Florence (November 5, 1989). "STYLE MAKERS; Elizabeth Cohen: Acoustical Engineer". The New York Times.
  6. ^ a b c d "Guide to the Elizabeth Cohen Collection". OAC. Online Archive of California.
  7. ^ "Cohen, Elizabeth, selected to serve as Congressional Science and Engineering Fellow". The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 94 (6): 3523. 1993-12-01. doi:10.1121/1.407168. ISSN 0001-4966.
  8. ^ "Fellows of the Society". Acoustical Society of America. ASA.
  9. ^ Traiman, Steve (November 9, 1996). "President Liz". Billboard; New York. Vol. 108, no. 45. p. 40 – via ProQuest.
  10. ^ Traiman, Steve (1995-11-11). AES' Cohen advocates future media. Billboard.
  11. ^ Kapko, Matt (November 25, 2009). "Academy's Tech Council Adds Four". Animation World Network. Retrieved 2022-10-18.
  12. ^ "10 Incredible Women in AV History". Avixa Portal. Retrieved 2021-07-12.
  13. ^ Cariaga, Daniel (11 July 1988). "Sound Improvements for Bowl's Acoustics". Los Angeles Times.
  14. ^ "Cohen, Elizabeth, selected to serve as Congressional Science and Engineering Fellow". The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 94 (6). The Journal of Acoustical Society of America: 3523. 1993. doi:10.1121/1.407168.
  15. ^ Epstein, Robert (1992-07-07). "The Bowl's Sentinel of Sound". The Los Angeles Times. pp. [2], [3], [4]. Retrieved 2022-09-08.
  16. ^ Cariaga, Daniel (1988-07-11). "Sounds improvements for Bowl's acoustics". The Los Angeles Times. pp. [5], [6]. Retrieved 2022-09-08.
  17. ^ Shulgold, Marc (August 24, 1993). "Pleasing Opening for Aspen's Concert Hall: Music: Some 500 concert-goers descend 40 feet underground to hear Beethoven and Barber in a bright, high-ceilinged room that is an acoustic marvel". Los Angeles Times.
  18. ^ Christiansen, Richard (1993-08-24). "It's truly a grand opening for Aspen's Harris Hall". Chicago Tribune. p. 56. Retrieved 2022-09-08.
  19. ^ Oestreich, James R. (1993-08-24). "Review/Music; A Tuneful Inauguration for a New Concert Hall". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-09-08.
  20. ^ Santo, Brian (September 22, 1997). "Audio Engineering Society chief sounds off on quality". Electronic Engineering Times; Cambridge. No. 972. p. 147 – via ProQuest.
  21. ^ "Mickey Hart and George Smoot Talk Rhythms of The Universe". MickeyHart. Mickey Hart News. 22 June 2015.
  22. ^ Mason, Betsy (2007-02-25). "Nobel scientist to attend Oscars". The Bellingham Herald. p. 2. Retrieved 2022-09-08.
  23. ^ "Fellows of the Society – Acoustical Society of America". Acoustical Society of America. 2018-06-13. Archived from the original on 2018-06-13. Retrieved 2022-09-08.
  24. ^ "AES Citation Award » Elizabeth Cohen". www.aes.org. Retrieved 2021-07-12.
  25. ^ "Folk Heritage Collections in Crisis" (PDF). CLIR. Council on Library and Information Resources.
  26. ^ "AES Awards". AES. Audio Engineering Society.
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