THE MYSTERIES OF SOUND

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 191, 15 May 1928, Page 12

THE MYSTERIES OF SOUND

YOUNG NEW ZEALANDER’S INVENTION

(By

C.J.M.)

It is said that a prophet is without

honour in his own country. Inventors may be placed in the same category, lor the public is never very sure whether an inventor is a crank or a genius. His biggest handicap is the spirit of scepticism which hardens as the world grows more material. In this sceptical spirit the writer visited on a recent Sunday the sound reproduction studio of a young Wellington inventor, Mr. A. E. Hod, of Day’s Bay. He was accompanied by Mr. Gordon Short, the well-known musician, also inclined to be sceptical. Mr. Rod claims to have invented a new method of sound reception. It would be hopeless to attempt to explain the technical principles of his invention to the lay public. The writer himself could not do it. All he knows is that whatever Mr. Rod has invented he has patented, and that what was heard in the Day’s Bay studio that Sunday evening was infinitely superior to anything he had previously heard either from gramophone or radio. On that point Mr. Short and he were in complete agreement. Mr. Rod has been working on his idea for the last ten years, “mostly in the clouds,” he said. He began by inventing a new type of gramophone, but that did not come up to expectations. Then lie delved into the mysteries of radio, and sound reproduction generally, always with his basic theory at the back of bis mind —a theory constituting a radical departure from the accepted principles which govern sound reception through the telephone, the gramophone, and the radio loudspeakers. The result is his present invention, which he is taking with him to Britain and America this month. The impression produced upon the listener is of the presence in the room of the actual voice or instrument, whether it came from the local radio station or Sydney. The difference between the tone and that received through the present types of receivers is something like the difference between the roundness of a stereoscopic photograph and a flat picture, and it is. a striking and arresting difference. This can be affirmed in all sincerity quite apart from, the expert question as to whether the invention, as Mr. Rod is himself convinced, can be converted into a practical and universal utility. At all events one may hope that Mr. Rod will succeed in having his name added to the list of successful New Zealland inventors.