Title: Corporate Vice President of Acoustical Engineering (Retired)
Company: Harman International Industries, Inc.
Location: Oak Park, California, United States
Floyd Edward Toole, PhD, Retired Corporate Vice President of Acoustical Engineering at Harman International Industries, Inc., has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Scientists and Engineers for dedication, achievements, and leadership in acoustic research and engineering.
Drawing upon an innate interest in how materials worked and natural instinct for asking questions, Dr. Toole integrated his curiosity with his love for music in order to understand fully and reproduce acoustics. He attended the University of New Brunswick in Canada, receiving a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering in 1960. From there, he was awarded a Lord Beaverbrook Overseas Scholarship to Imperial College in London, where he completed research in sound localization and received a Doctor of Philosophy in electrical engineering in 1965. Ultimately, Dr. Toole’s research led him to secure a position with the National Research Council of Canada in Ontario, serving as a research scientist from 1965 to 1991. During his tenure, he focused his research on loudspeaker measurements, room acoustics, and methods for double-blind listening tests. As a result of his research, he discovered the psychoacoustic relationships between what was measured and what was heard by humans.
Dr. Toole joined Harman International Industries in Northridge, California, in 1991, where he served as vice president of acoustical engineering until his retirement in 2007. While serving the institution, he excelled in myriad areas of research, including the acoustics and psychoacoustics of sound reproduction, in order to develop methods for the evaluation of loudspeakers. Dr. Toole’s end goal was to have individuals hear recorded sound as it was initially created, and as time progressed, his research was applied to venues such as home sound systems and cinemas.
For his esteemed research and accomplishments, Dr. Toole authored or co-authored numerous peer-reviewed journal papers and other publications, and he frequently served as an invited lecturer. Notably, he penned the third edition of “Sound Reproduction: The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers and Rooms” in 2017, a book that detailed measurement methods to attain optimal sound quality, as well as methods for meshing them for use in professional and casual environments.
As a testament to his success, Dr. Toole received Silver and Gold Medals from the Audio Engineering Society, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association, and the Beryllium Lifetime Achievement Award from Audio and Loudspeaker Technologies International. Likewise, he was inducted into the prestigious Hall of Fame of the Consumer Technology Association, as well as earned the Peter Barnett Award from the Institute of Acoustics. He is a fellow and past president of the Audio Engineering Society and a fellow of the Acoustical Society of America and Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association.
For more information, please visit:
Contact Dr. Toole:
