The National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA), Westminster, Colo., will recognize audiologist and educator Col Richard W. Danielson, PhD, US Army (ret), with its Outstanding Hearing Conservationist Award in Las Vegas next month. The prestigious award, established in 1990, recognizes outstanding contributions and achievements in the field of hearing conservation. The NHCA is honoring Dr. Danielson for his distinguished career as an enthusiastic educator and his productive contributions to national efforts to prevent noise-related hearing loss. 
Dr. Danielson is an Associate Professor at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, with dual appointments in the Department of Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery and in the Center for Space Medicine. Since 2003, he has been the manager for Audiology and Hearing Conservation at NASA-Johnson Space Center. There, he leads a NASA program aimed at preventing noise-induced hearing loss (during spaceflight and ground-based missions) among NASA’s astronauts, pilots, and other employees. He also collaborates with NASA and international partners toward the resolution of auditory and acoustic issues on the International Space Station.
Prior to his work with NASA, Col. Danielson held several senior leadership positions in the US Army during his 28-year military career. His career included serving during Operation Desert Storm as the Officer-in-Charge of the first Audiology Task Force ever deployed to a combat theater. In addition to his exceptional military career, Dr. Danielson has held numerous national leadership roles in several audiology-related professional organizations. He has chaired the Council for Accreditation in Occupational Hearing Conservation (CAOHC) and served for 13 years on its national council, where he was instrumental in revising CAOHC’s curricula for certification and recertification of course directors and professional supervisors of audiometric monitoring. Dr. Danielson recently served as chair of the American Academy of Audiology Foundation board of trustees, and has been the president of the Texas Academy of Audiology, the Washington Society of Audiology, and the Military Audiology Association, He has held faculty appointments at 11 universities, where he has taught, supervised research, published, and mentored doctoral candidates, graduate students, medical residents, and audiology interns.
NHCA’s presentation of the Outstanding Hearing Conservationist Award recognizes Dr. Danielson’s lifelong campaign to persuade others to become, what he calls, “evangelists for hearing conservation,” sharing a truly devoted enthusiasm for hearing loss prevention.
Dr. Danielson’s acceptance of the Outstanding Hearing Conservationist Award will take place at an awards luncheon during the NHCA’s 39th Annual Conference in Las Vegas. Many of his colleagues and associates will be on hand to honor and recognize this prestigious achievement.
For more information about the NHCA Conference, “Stop Gambling With Your Hearing,” click www.hearingconservation.org..
