Tony - In his 20’s, Tony was playing guitar in a rock band and assumed that his hearing loss was due to exposure to loud music. By his mid-30s, Tony’s hearing had deteriorated and became a concern. He was a surfer, living in Hawaii, and assumed that increased hearing loss was a result of chronic “surfer’s ear” - a condition of the ear canal where lumps develop on the bony lining under the skin, eventually causing blockage of the ear canal. <
Sig Soli, Ph.D.
Vice President, Technology Transfer
Sigfrid Soli is Vice President, Technology Transfer, and Head, Department of Human Communication Sciences and Devices. Dr. Soli’s laboratory develops and evaluates hearing diagnostics, procedures, and devices for individuals for hearing impairment. Dr. Soli was previously a member of the research staff of the Biosciences Laboratory, 3M Company, where he developed cochlear implant and hearing aid technologies. He was also on the faculty of the Department of Psychology, University of Maryland before his work at 3M.
Mr. Soli is a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America, and a previous Chair of the Speech Communication Technical Committee of that Society. His published research and patents are in the area of speech communication, and the effects of hearing impairment on speech communication. He has served as consultant to the National Institutes of Health and to several private industries on issues related to the design, development, and evaluation of diagnostics and prosthetic devices for hearing impaired individuals.
Dr. Soli received his Ph.D. in experimental psychology from the University of Minnesota. He and his staff have recently developed a state-of-the-art diagnostic test procedure, the Hearing In Noise Test or HINT, to measure functional hearing ability. ThisHRI research team is also developing other test procedures for screening applicants and incumbents in hearing-critical jobs.
