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Comment by pflats | Hacker News Reader

While I don't mean to make light of the effort and prestige behind earning a PhD, I can't be the only one who expected this article to be about how a medical doctor originally invented the technology behind AutoTune, possibly to help people who had trouble hearing certain types of audio.

Still an interesting background for the tech, mind you, but not what I was expecting from Dr. Andy Hildebrand (rather than Hildebrand, PhD).

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That's interesting. I work with many PhDs and always refer to them as Dr so-and-so in formal settings or introductions. Most of the doctors I know aren't MDs.

I do see your point though. There are quite a few doctorate degrees, and even in the professional field they aren't all referred to as Doctor (take a DDS for instance, Doctor of Dental Surgery).

I do too, when I'm speaking aloud. In my experience, though, when writing, the actual degree is listed(PhD, MD, EdD, JD, DDS, etc.), rather than the more generic "doctor".

edit: Just checked; the AP and Reuters style guides both seem to recommond only using Dr for Medical Doctors. That's probably where my memory comes from.

http://www.sandiego.edu/web/pdf/brief_ap_style.pdf http://handbook.reuters.com/index.php/D#doctor

My mistake, apologies. PhD would have made more sense.

I thought the guy's background was interesting. It shows the utility of software/computing for solving such diverse problems as oil exploration and poor pitch using similar techniques. I find that amazing.

The rule I was taught was that PhDs use the title Doctor in contexts related to their professional expertise, but not in generic social situations. Going by that rule, Doctor Hildebrand is perfectly correct in this instance.

FWIW, in the US JDs do not use the title of Doctor.

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