Page 66 - Spring 2007

With the help of Dr. Bruce Proctor, an Otolaryngologist, Merle obtained funds from the Kresge Foundation to build a separate building devoted to research on the ear and hearing. Merle was appointed as the first director of the The Kresge Hearing Research Institute, a position he held from 1961 to 1983. During this period, among the areas of his research, were those con- cerning the circulation of the inner ear fluids, the physiological causes of Meniere’s disease, blood supply to and the electrical response of sensory cells,
and the influence of noise on the dis- tortion products of the ear.
Merle received many academic awards and honors—the Service Award, American Academy of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology; Award of Merit, Association for Research in Otolaryngology; Gold Medal Award, American Otological Society; Distinguished Service Award, Princeton Class of 1938; Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award, American Academy of Audiology; Guest of Honor, American Otological Society; and oth-
ers. For many years he served as con- sultant for various government agencies: in Aviation Medicine to the Army Surgeon General’s Office, National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness, serving on the Advisory Council to this Institute. He served on the editorial board of the Archives of Otolaryngology, the Journal of Otology and others. He was a member of many Otological societies: among these was the prestigious International Collegium Oto-Rhino-Laryngologicum Amicitiae Sacrum.
ASA has been notified of the recent deaths of the following Society members:
Bradford A. Becken, Portsmouth, RI
A. E. Galef, Beverly Hills, CA George Herman, Las Cruces, NM
D. Kent Lewis, Livermore, CA Noboru Niwa, Tokyo, Japan
Leon H. Sibul, State College, PA
Ivan C. Simpson, San Diego, CA Ronald T. Verrillo, Syracuse, NY Henning E. von Gierke, Yellow Springs, OH Helen M.Walkinshaw, Peapack, NJ
64 Acoustics Today, April 2007