Mead C. Killion

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 permits.

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 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.