Nothing is known of the criminal who became known as Dr. Silence prior to his appearance in New York City in the summer of 1943.  He first came to attention as part of a robbery at the First National Amalgamated Bank in New York, which was effected in dead silence.  Gunfire and the screams for help of the tellers vanished into an eerie veil of soundlessness which Silence and his men used to loot the cash trays of the bank.  Soon thereafter, Silence used his device to disrupt a court case that witness, lawyers, the judge or the jury could hear nothing, prompting a mistrial and freeing of a notorious criminal Silence hoped to recruit to his gang.

In the days the followed, a number of crimes were committed, all in dead silence.   The police are baffled and eventually Air Wave decided to intervene.  Use the extensive radio coverage at his command, he notices a dead spot around the Second National Bank and when he investigates, find Dr. Silence and his men quietly breaking in.  He and his parrot Static engage the men in fisticuffs, with Static eventually grabbing the small box holding the sound nullifer by the handle and taking off.    While Air Wave fights below, Static drops the box into some electrical wires, shorting out its components and restoring sound.  Silence pulls a gun and fires at Air Wave at close range, missing with the bullet but stunning him with the sudden loud bang, allow the criminals to escape.

Bereft of their soundless cover, Silence re-strategizes.  Rather than dead silence, they will act in places so loud that their crimes still go unheard. Meanwhile, Air Wave has dissected Silence's sound nullifier and used it to tune into matching frequencies back at his hideout, hearing all of their scheme.  Soon thereafter, Dr. Silence and his men rob the payroll at a boiler plant, using the extreme noise to cover their explosion of the safe.  Having been on patrol of parts of town known for excessive noise, Air Wave comes across the crime scene and reveals that he has restored the nullifer, reducing sound to zero.  Unable to coordinate their actions. Silence and his men are short work for the Wizard of Wireless and are carted off to jail once the police arrive (Detective Comics #77).

The fate of Dr. Silence on Earth-Two or what became of his technology is unknown.