Phonetic science is becoming increasingly interdisciplinary. Phoneticians rely on, or at least collaborate with, sociologists, psychologists, biologists, poets, physicists, anthropologists, neurologists and others. A look at the history of phonetics reveals that this seemingly recent trend has deep roots. In fact, it is possible to draw parallels between the nature and direction of interdisciplinary influences on the work done by contributors to phonetics both now and in the past. Several quotations from current journals indicate that the study of phonetics has become interdisciplinary; in many instances phoneticians are contributors to other areas. One example of such research partnerships was developed in the early fifties by Pierre Delattre, phonetician-linguist, Alvin Liberman, psychologist, and Franklin Cooper, physicist. Such collaboration should not be confused, however, with the interdisciplinary nature of phonetic study, which has a long history. Some prominent figures in this history are Alexander Graham Bell, Franz Boas, Edward Sapir, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Ellis, and Christian Kratzenstein. (AMH)