Professor Fritz Sennheiser, audio pioneer and founder of the renowned headphone and microphone company that bore his name has died just a few days after his 98th birthday.
Through his company Professor Sennheiser had a crucial influence on the development of sound transmission technologies and was instrumental in forging many ground-breaking developments in electro-acoustics and transmission technologies.
It was under his guidance the first shotgun microphones and open headphones were created and he oversaw important developments in wireless radio and infrared transmission.
In 1982 he retired from the management of the company, handing over to his son, Jörg. He continued to take a strong interest however in the family firm he founded in summer 1945 in Wedemark, near Hanover in Germany. From modest beginnings in a university laboratory with a staff of just seven, the firm became Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co. KG with a total sales revenue of over EUR 385 million in 2008, and a workforce of more than 2,100 employees based in Germany, USA and Ireland.