Union of the
European
Phoniatricians
The Medical Specialty for Communication and Swallowing Disorders

In memoriam Prof. Dr. Harm K. Schutte

On August 18, 2024  Prof. Dr. Harm K. Schutte passed away at the age of 82 years.

After the secondary school, he studied electronics at Philips in Eindhoven for one year. Thereafter he studied medicine in military service and completed the ENT training at the University of Groningen. The city of Groningen remained his home base. In Groningen he was ENT specialist and phoniatrician in the Ear, Nose and Throat Department of the University Hospital. He focused on language disorders, speech science (speech and language processing, speech production measurement, acoustic phonetics) and voice physiology (voice aerodynamics, acoustic analysis, imaging).

His contribution to clinical practice and science is huge. In 1980 he completed his groundbreaking PhD thesis called “The efficiency of voice production” under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Jw van den Berg and Prof. Dr. P. Hoeksema. He was a pioneer in the development of the voice button in larygectomised patients and Videokymography (in cooperation with ass. Prof. Dr. F. Sram and Dr. J Svec). Together with Prof. Dr. W. Seidner he made phonetography useful for clinical phoniatric practice. He researched the singing voice (a.o. in cooperation with Dr. D. Miller) and contributed to fundamental new insights into this field.

He was member of several societies. In the European Union of Phoniatrics (UEP) he served as Treasurer and as Chairman of the Aerodynamics Working Group. He was president and honorary member of the International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics (IALP). He was member of the Pan European Voice Conference (PEVOC) and Collegium Medicorum Theatri (CoMeT).

He significantly contributed to phoniatrics and science at global scale through numerous discussions, lectures, courses and 157publications, and was editor in chief of the international journal Folia Phoniatrica and Logopaedica. He received the Manuel Garcia Prize. Together with ass. Prof. Dr. F. Sram and Dr. J Svec he received the silver medal for the Best Scientific Video: “Introduction to Videokymography” at the World ENT Congress in Sydney. He was appointed Ridder in de Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw, a royal award.

After his retirement, he remained committed to voice science by giving advice and writing. He played several musical instruments (a.o. saxophone) and conducted choirs. He was an active member of the Sint Maarten Loge in Groningen and was President Master of the Loge 15. He was board member of the section Groningen of the Vereniging voor Experimenteel Radio Onderzoek in Nederland (VERON) and the Vereniging van Radiozendamateurs (VRZA), and received the Golden Pin. In this field he coached young researchers with great enthusiasm.

Harm K. Schutte was a family man. He was proud of his family and enormously loved the presence of and playing with his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Dear Harm, thank you for the many things you meant for phoniatrics and science. We lost with you a passionate researcher, a dedicated clinician, a dearest friend and above all a devoted husband, father and grandfather. May you rest in peace, dear friend.

Felix de Jong

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