11 months ago

How Amar Bose's American Dream Led to Noise-Cancelling Headphones

How Amar Bose's American Dream Led to Noise-Cancelling Headphones
How An Indian Immigrant's Son In America Gave The World Its Best Noise-Cancelling Headphones · NDTV

Amar Bose, born in America to Indian immigrant parents, loved sound.

Growing up, he fixed radios, developing a knack for electronics.

At MIT, he was disappointed by high-end speakers.

This led him to start the Bose Corporation.

His goal was to make better sound systems and make them sound more like live music.

Later, while on a noisy flight, he got the idea for noise-cancelling headphones.

After years of work, Bose made headphones that cancelled out unwanted noise.

Bose's inventions revolutionized how we listen to music, on planes, trains, and everywhere.

Key facts

Founder
Amar Bose
Company Founded
1964
Headquarters
Natick, Massachusetts
Primary Innovation
Active Noise Cancellation
Initial Product (1968)
901 Direct/Reflecting speaker system
First Noise-Cancelling Product (1989)
Aviation headset
Donation to MIT
Majority of non-voting shares in 2011
Death
July 12, 2013, age 83

Quotes

Dr Amar Bose

Founder of Bose Corporation and MIT faculty member

“I went and checked the specifications. Like all engineers, I thought specifications meant everything. I brought the system home, and I never was able to play more than three or four minutes of a record to the people there. Something has gone wrong!”
NDTV
“We don't publish specifications on any product today, we don't know of any measurements that actually determine anything about a product, and, measurements are phony, in general, as they are printed.”
NDTV

Sources

Related news