Erwin Hochmair

Erwin Hochmair 2000 as a lecturer at the University of Innsbruck

Erwin Hochmair (* 1940 in Vienna ) is an Austrian electrical engineer. Together with his wife Ingeborg Hochmair-Desoyer, he developed the first electronic multi-channel cochlear implant and founded the MED-EL company in Innsbruck with her in 1989 for marketing purposes .

Live and act

Hochmair studied electrical engineering at Vienna University of Technology with a diploma in 1964 and his doctorate at the Institute of Physical Electronics 1967. From 1970 to 1972 he was at the Marshall Space Flight Center of NASA , where he met with CMOS became familiar technology for integrated circuits. After his return he became a university assistant again at the Vienna University of Technology. Here he met his wife Ingeborg Desoyer, with whom he began the development of electronic devices for cochlear implantation, in collaboration with the otologist Kurt Burian . Her first multi-channel cochlear implant was inserted in late 1977. Pioneering work in this area had previously been carried out in the 1960s by William F. House (only on one canal) and in Australia by Graeme Clark . By the beginning of the 1980s they rebuilt the device in such a way that a wide range of options in the hearing stimuli enabled the deaf to learn language in a targeted manner. In 1980, Hochmair completed his habilitation in electronics (including applications in medicine). After the couple initially wanted to work with the 3M company for the production of the implant, they founded their own company, MED-EL, in 1989. In 2008 the company had a turnover of 73 million euros and employed 850 people. In 1985 he became full professor for applied physics and microelectronics at the University of Innsbruck . From 1993 to 1995 he was dean of the natural science faculty and from 1995 to 2006 he headed the Institute for Applied Physics.

In 1972 he was visiting professor at Stanford University . He has produced over 100 specialist publications (electronics, circuit design, cochlear implants) and is involved in over 40 patents.

Awards

In 2003 he received the Erwin Schrödinger Prize and the Holzer Prize of the TU Vienna. In 2004 he and his wife received an honorary doctorate from the Technical University of Munich. In 2014 he was awarded the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art 1st Class and the Russ Prize of the National Academy of Engineering . For 2016 he was awarded the Eduard Rhein Prize together with Blake S. Wilson and Ingeborg Hochmair-Desoyer .

In 2015 he was awarded the Johann Joseph Ritter von Prechtl Medal by the Vienna University of Technology . He has been an honorary member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences since 2018 .

Web links

• Office for public relations and cultural service: Hearing implant pioneer Erwin Hochmair says goodbye. University of Innsbruck, September 25, 2009, accessed on March 15, 2014 . 
• Rachel Chaikof: Journey to Developing MED-EL's Cochlear Implant: Interview with Dr. Ingeborg and Professor Erwin Hochmair. Cochlear Implant Online, December 19, 2012, accessed March 15, 2014 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Academic dignitaries of the Vienna University of Technology ( Memento of the original from February 21, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved February 3, 2016.