Max Mathews directed the Acoustical and Behavioral Research Center at Bell Laboratories from 1962 to 1985. This laboratory carried out research in speech communication, visual communication, human memory and learning, programmed instruction, analysis of subjective opinions, physical acoustics, and industrial robotics.
Mathews' personal research is concerned with sound and music synthesis using digital computers and with the application of computers to areas in which man-machine interactions are critical. He developed a program (Music V) for the direct digital synthesis of sounds and a program (Groove) for the computer control of a sound synthesizer. Music V and its successors are now widely used in the United States and Europe. His past research included development of computer methods for speech processing, studies of human speech production, studies of auditory masking, and the invention of techniques for computer drawing of typography. He is currently investigating the effect of resonances on sound quality.
He was Scientific Advisor to the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM), Paris, and is currently and is Professor of Music (Research) Emeritus at Stanford University. He holds a Silver Medal in Musical Acoustics from the Acoustical Society of America, and the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres, République Française.
