Sound is power.

A timeline of innovation

At Bose, we are always dreaming up something better than what we created yesterday. To explore how we‘ve contributed to the power of sound through the decades, visit our interactive timeline.

1929: It all begins. Amar Gopal Bose is born.

Dr Bose was born in Philadelphia to a Bengali father (Noni Gopal Bose) and a US-born mother of English and German ancestry (Charlotte).

1956: Meet Dr Bose. Amar earns his doctorate.

Amar Bose graduates with a PhD in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and celebrates by buying himself a new hi-fi stereo system. But the sound quality disappoints him, and leads to him researching acoustics at MIT in his spare time.

1964: It’s on. Dr Bose officially launches Bose Corporation.

Dr Bose launches Bose Corporation. By day, he and his two employees develop power-regulating systems for the military and other government agencies. By night, they explore acoustics and speaker design.

1972: Going global. We sell our first products outside of the USA, starting in Germany.

Through a relationship with an audio retailer in Bad Homburg, Germany, we begin selling Bose products outside the USA for the first time.

1986: Ready for take-off. Our prototype noise cancelling headphones are co-pilots on a historic flight.

Two of our active noise-reducing headsets preserve the hearing of pilots Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager on their record-breaking, non-stop, around-the-world voyager flight.

1987: We’re honoured. Dr Bose and Dr William R. Short are named Inventors of the Year.

Dr Bose and Dr William R. Short win the Intellectual Property Owners Education Foundation’s Inventor of the Year Award for a loudspeaker system employing a folded acoustic waveguide.

1993: Turn the dial. We reimagine radio with the Bose Wave.

Our patented acoustic waveguide speaker technology redefines the concept of a radio by delivering rich, deep sound not previously heard from such a small unit.

2000: Redefining silence. Pioneering Bose technology changes the way people hear quiet.

The QuietComfort® headphones forever change air travel for passengers by drastically reducing noise and providing better in-flight entertainment sound quality than ever before.

2008: A-list. Dr Bose makes the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

For achievements in audio technology that “have significantly influenced the quality of how we live”, Dr Bose is inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Akron, Ohio.

2011: The gift. Dr Bose donates a majority of our non-voting shares to MIT.

Dr Bose donates a majority of Bose Corporation’s non-voting shares to MIT. The dividends on those shares are used to sustain and advance MIT’s education and research mission. The company will remain private and independent.

2013: We mourn. Dr Amar Gopal Bose dies at age 83

“Dr Bose founded Bose Corporation almost 50 years ago with a set of guiding principles centred on research and innovation. That focus has never changed, and never will.” – Bob Maresca, President and newly appointed CEO, Bose Corporation.

2014: Game on. Bose is the official headset/headphones of the NFL.

Bose brings noise cancelling technology to the NFL, improving coaches’ on-field communication and enhancing the in-game experience for fans in the stadium and at home.

2020: Shhh gets smaller. We introduce our QuietComfort® Earbuds

All the quiet of our best-in-class QuietComfort® noise cancelling headphones in a sleek, truly wireless earbud. The QuietComfort® Earbuds deliver big audio quality in a compact, comfortable design, and offer 11 levels of noise control so you can choose how much of the world to let in.

2022: Hear hear. Bose commits to accessible hearing augmentation

Bose was the first to introduce US FDA-cleared, self-fitting hearing augmentation technology for consumers with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss. Our partnership with hearX for a new line of Lexie Hearing Aids Powered by Bose will make affordable hearing aids accessible for millions of adults.

That was yesterday. Here’s to what’s in store for tomorrow.

Today, Bose remains as committed to its founding principles and customers as it was in 1964. We celebrate and humbly thank the millions of people around the world who have chosen Bose. We know this is just the beginning, and can’t wait for you to experience what’s next.