The sound pendulum was originally developed by Christian Heinrich Wolke (1741-1825), who called it the "Akumeter". Together with a pharmacist from Jever, Wolke tried to enable the deaf to hear by means of electrical stimulation. The success of the treatments was to be objectively recorded with the Akumeter.
The invention of the sound pendulum is often attributed to Gustav Theodor Fechner, who wanted to use it to verify Weber's law for the field of hearing.