Richard Luchsinger

1900-1993

In 1927 Richard Luchsinger received a medical doctoral degree from University of Lausanne in Switzerland. He continued his studies after receiving his medical doctorate, taking a three year training in otorhinolaryngology with F. Nager in Zurich. Richard Luchsinger’s interest in speech and voice research grew out of a 4-month stay in Munich in 1932, during which he worked with Max Nadoleczny, in the division for speech and voice disorders.

Following his training with Nadoleczny, Luchsinger opened a private practice in otorhinolaryngology in Zurich, Switzerland. He established an outpatient clinic in that clinic in 1933, specializing in speech and voice disorders. The clinic was located at the University of Zurich in the Otorhinolaryngology Department. From 1936 until 1954, he directed the University Speech and Voice Clinic.

In 1953, Luchsinger became a professor, lecturing in voice and speech disorders. Luchsinger then moved to the University of Basel, serving as director of the phoniatric division of that university.

Luchsinger became well known in the field for his important text written with Gottfried Arnold called Voice, Speech, and Language. It was published in English in 1965 and went through several subsequent editions. It became a standard handbook for the time.

Luchsinger was active in this new profession, working with colleagues to establish the journal Folia Phoniatrica. He also served as president of the International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics from 1953 through 1959.

A Small Sampling of Large Body of Work by and about Richard Luchsinger, arranged chronologically

Hoff, H., Luchsinger, R., & Trojan, F. (1961). Current problems of phoniatrics and logopedics. A series. Volume 2: Vol. 2. A Mental health and speech. Karger.

Luchsinger, R. & Arnold, G. (1965). Voice, speech and language: Clinical communicology, its physiology and pathology. Wadsworth Pub Co. (Originally published in German in 1949.)

Luchsinger R. Phonetics and pathology. in: Malmberg B, ed. Manual of phonetics. 2nd ed. Amsterdam: North Holland, 502-532.

Luchsinger R. (1970). Inheritance of speech defects. Folia Phoniatrica 1970, 22, 216–30.

Luchsinger R. (1973) Visualization of change of sound characteristics on the level of the vocal cords. J South African Sp Hearing Assoc 20:2--46.

Cooper, D. (1997) Richard Luchsinger (1900-1993) Journal of Voice, 11, 3, 249-253. https://www.jvoice.org/article/S0892-1997(97)80001-X/pdf.

Anonymous. Prof. Richard Luchsinger, 1900-1993. Folia Phoniatrica, 45:152.