 VIP, April 1997
Dr. Mead C. Killion
H.E.A.R. is proud to announce their April V.I.P. of the month , Dr. Mead
C. Killion, President of Etymotic Research.
Mead took a job right out of college with Knowles Electronics, a transducer/component
part manufacturer, and worked there under the instruction of Elmer Carlson,
an engineer's engineer who taught him about electroacoustics and engineering.
He was supposed to take engineering courses as part of his employment
agreement, but ended up going on for an M.S. and almost Ph.D. in mathematics.
After
he had been at Knowles for 15 years, he realized that he had become committed
to hearing and hearing aids, but he didn't know enough about hearing,
so he went back to school for a Ph.D. in audiology. His Ph.D. research
-- on high fidelity hearing aids-- led to the question of what would be
high fidelity for someone with a hearing loss. This led to the breadboard
in 1978 of the original K-AMP hearing aid circuit. It took almost 10 years
before he had the opportunity to develop that circuit into a reality:
a tiny integrated circuit chip. Even then, it took several years of work
and an enormous amount of help from several good engineers.
In 1983 he founded Etymotic Research, a company dedicated to research
and product development for the ear. One development in addition to the
K-AMP hearing aid amplifier is the custom-fitted ER-15 and ER-25 Musician's
Earplugs and ready-fit ER-20 HI-FI Earplugs. All safeguard the hearing
of instrumentalists, dance club employees, and others subjected to noise
levels that are higher than health and comfort permit.
Dr. Killion is an adjunct professor of audiology at Northwestern University,
and a visiting professor at Rush University. He has published 40 papers
and 10 book chapters in the fields of acoustics, psychoacoustics, transducers
and hearing aids, and has lectured in over 13 countries.
Dr. Killion is also a dedicated choir director, violinist, amateur jazz
pianist and a consultant to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
H.E.A.R. thanks Dr. Mead C. Killion for all his hard work and dedication
in helping spread the word (and earplugs) to rockers who want to save
their hearing while continuing to rock.
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