Established in 1990, the Award for Outstanding Hearing Conservationist is awarded to a person whose work is exemplary in our field. It is the pleasure of the National Hearing Conservation Association to announce that this year’s award recipient is William (Bill) Murphy, Ph.D., for his outstanding research, programmatic influence, publications, and other contributions in the area of hearing loss prevention.

Bill Murphy (Captain, U.S. Public Health Service) has served the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) as a vigorous contributor in research and hearing loss prevention initiatives since 1992. Currently, he is the co-leader of NIOSH’s Hearing Loss Prevention Team in Cincinnati, where he serves as an exemplary scientist, technical expert, and supervisor in America’s principal agency for making recommendations for the prevention of work-related injury and illness.

Capt. Murphy earned his Ph.D. in Physics from Purdue, and, over the past 22 years, he has used his exceptional ability to translate basic and applied scientific findings (both from his own research and from other labs) into comprehensible documents that form the core of numerous national standards used today. He has authored or co-authored over 50 peer-reviewed papers and articles, six book chapters, 27 government publications, 100 conference papers, and 38 posters for conferences. He is the co-inventor of three software programs for fit-testing hearing protection devices, which earned him the 2013 NIOSH Bullard-Sherwood Award for Technology Transfer. Capt. Murphy is a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America, and has earned numerous individual awards from the Public Health Service.

His colleagues in the NCHA recognize Capt. Murphy’s contribution to our understanding of noise hazards through a year-long study of noise-exposed auto workers, numerous evaluations of gunshot noise and bystander noise exposures, many training programs and surveys, and standards development.

The NHCA is truly grateful for Capt. Murphy’s gifts of service, teaching, encouragement and leadership. His outstanding professional record is a rich contribution to our field.

Capt. Murphy’s acceptance of the Outstanding Hearing Conservationist Award will take place at an awards luncheon during the NHCA’s 40th Annual Conference to be held February 19-21 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Many of his colleagues and associates will be on hand to honor and recognize this prestigious achievement. For more information about the NHCA Conference, "Celebrating Hearing Loss Prevention," go to http://www.hearingconservation.org.

About the National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA)

The mission of the NHCA is to prevent hearing loss due to noise and other environmental factors in all sectors of society. NHCA's membership includes audiologists, researchers, industrial hygienists, physicians and occupational health nurses, educators, professional service organizations, safety professionals, engineers, audio professionals, students, and others who have dedicated their work to the advancement of hearing loss prevention. Visit the NHCA online at http://www.hearingconservation.org or call 1-303-224-9022. Follow the NHCA on Twitter at www.twitter.com/nhcaorg, on Facebook at http://bit.ly/vLRg5, and on LinkedIn at http://bit.ly/3X2DfT.

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