By Gerry Everding
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| Ira Hirsh |
The symposium, "Honoring the Contributions of Ira J. Hirsh," was co-sponsored by the society's sections on Psychological and Physiological Acoustics and Speech Communication. It featured 10 presentations extolling Hirsh for pioneering research in human hearing, auditory perception, communication, speech, language and communication disorders.
"In a career that spans some 54 years to date, the name of Ira J. Hirsh has been associated with significant scientific contributions to psychoacoustics, outstanding mentoring of research scientists, and dedicated service to the fields of acoustics, audiology and psychology," said Janet M. Weisenberger, Ph.D., symposium co-chair and a professor of speech and hearing science at Ohio State University.
Hirsh's career includes 41 years (1951-1992) as a scientist at the Central Institute for the Deaf (CID). He was among the first to recognize that more-normal speech development could be encouraged in deaf children by maximizing use of their limited residual hearing.
This "auditory approach" formed the basis for the modern approach to auditory oral education for deaf children.
A central theme of the symposium was Hirsh's ability to make important contributions in diverse fields of study, including psychoacoustics, speech perception, deaf education and aural rehabilitation.
Hirsh also was praised for his dedication and skill in mentoring young research colleagues, many who went on to make important research contributions of their own.
Hirsh, a member of the National Academy of Science, joined the University in 1951 as assistant professor of psychology in Arts & Sciences. He served as dean of the faculty of Arts and Sciences (1969-1973) and chair of the Department of Psychology (1983-87), and he became a Mallinckrodt professor in 1984.
He is both director of research emeritus and director emeritus at CID and remains active in the CID-based Department of Speech and Hearing and as a member of the CID board of managers.