[1] Knudsen received his bachelor's degree from Brigham Young University (BYU)[2] with an A.B.

[4] Knudsen then joined the staff of Bell Laboratories where he worked with Harvey Fletcher, who had been one of his professors at BYU.

In 1954, he was made an Honorary Fellow of the ASA, an award given to those who have achieved eminence in acoustics.

He was the recipient of the John H. Potts (Gold) Medal from the Audio Engineering Society (AES) in 1964.

In 1934, Vern Knudsen was made Dean of the Graduate Division of the Southern Section of the University of California, a post which he held for 24 years and during which time the UCLA Graduate Division increased from 287 to 5160.