James West is a U.S. inventor and professor who, in 1962, developed the electret transducer technology later used in 90 percent of contemporary microphones.
West is the co-inventor of the electret microphone used in all of those devices and more. ... He has been inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame and the National Academy of Engineering.
Along with Gerhard Sessler, West invented the foil electret microphone in 1962 while developing instruments for human hearing research. Compared to the previous condenser microphones, the electret microphone has higher capacitance and does not require a DC bias. West and Sessler optimized the mechanical and surface parameters of the system. Nearly 90 percent of more than two billion microphones produced annually are based on the principles of the foil-electret and are used in everyday items such as telephones, camcorders, hearing aids, baby monitors, and audio recording devices among others. West measured the acoustics of Philharmonic Hall in New York City. Recently, West teamed with Ilene Busch-Vishniac and studied the acoustic environment of hospitals showing that hospitals are in general too loud and that the noise levels affect staff and patients. Dr. West has over 250 patents to his name. At age 90 in 2021, he is still an active inventor working on a device to detect pneumonia in infant lungs.
Explanation:
Hope this helps:)