Ludimar Hermann

Ludimar Hermann (October 31, 1838 – June 5, 1914) was a German physiologist and speech scientist who used the Edison phonograph to test theories of vowel production, particularly those of Robert Willis and Charles Wheatstone.

He opposed the notion, propounded by Emil du Bois-Reymond, that muscles contained an ordered series of "electromotive molecules" in favor of a theory of chemical activity.

[2] He also was the first to explain the digestive process as being a decomposition of protein through acid hydrolysis to obtain the raw materials needed by cells.

An obituarist credited his research success to "his exceptional skill in the design, construction, and use of apparatus as needed for the problems on which he was engaged.

Through his work, he determined that the passage of air through the mouth cavity, modified for each vowel, strongly affected the harmonics of tones from the larynx.