Dr. Michael Santucci Receives NHCA Lifetime Achievement Award for Contributions to Hearing Conservation and Music Audiology

The National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA) has honored Dr. Michael Santucci, Au.D., Sensaphonics founder and president, with its Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to hearing conservation and music audiology. Recognizing a breadth of extraordinary accomplishments in hearing loss prevention and in service to the NHCA, this rarely bestowed award was presented to Dr. Santucci during the NHCA 2025 Conference in Charleston, SC, at a ceremony held on February 8, 2025.
 

“It is truly a great honor to receive this award from the NHCA, and I cannot overstate the importance of the progress we have collectively made in hearing conservation,” states Dr. Santucci. “My life’s work, specifically in music audiology, has led to many opportunities to work with a growing number of artists and audio engineers who really understand the importance of hearing health and who are willing to share their experiences. That builds awareness, and that is where we make further progress in increasing awareness and making hearing health a top priority for everyone.”

For over 40 years, Dr. Michael Santucci has been dedicated to protecting the hearing of musicians, technicians, venue staff, and music lovers around the globe. He is the founder and president of Sensaphonics, a leading designer and manufacturer of custom-fit in-ear monitors (IEMs), earplugs and electronics designed to achieve safe, high-resolution audio in mission-critical applications. The company has remained at the forefront of IEM and hearing health solutions for musicians since it was founded in 1985 as a development company committed to controlling the damaging effects of unhealthy listening practices. 

 

As a musician and an audiologist, Santucci migrated naturally to a focus on hearing loss prevention for musicians and within the music industry. This focus has propelled Sensaphonics to continually innovate, with milestones including the patented Active Ambient technology in the 3DME in-ear system as well as the unique real-time safety features of the dB Check Pro in-ear sound level analyzer. Sensaphonics remains the only custom-only earphones manufacturer founded and operated by a practicing audiologist and is a top choice among many of today’s biggest touring acts.

Michael Santucci continues to help empower musicians and listeners to experience music safely, ensuring long-term hearing protection without sacrificing sound quality or performance. His continued work with organizations including the Audio Engineering Society, National Hearing Conservation Association, World Health Organization, American Academy of Audiology, and MusiCares consistently helps to raise awareness of hearing health related issues around the world.

About Sensaphonics

Sensaphonics began solely as a musicians’ hearing clinic, focusing on audiological evaluations, hearing conservation education, and recommending the use of foam earplugs (the only hearing protection available at the time). When it became apparent that musicians were averse to using the foam plugs, Santucci trialed wearing the plugs himself while playing his trumpet. The issues were immediately clear; the foam plugs had poor fidelity and were too occluding to be practical for music performance. This experience led him to collaborate with Etymotic Research to develop the first custom high-fidelity hearing protection: the ER-15 filter embedded in medical-grade silicone. The result was a hit among users, and Sensaphonics began its evolution from a stand-alone hearing clinic to a pro-audio company driven by the mission of hearing health.

In the early 1990s, Santucci turned his focus to the in-ear monitor (IEM). He recognized that existing IEMs used round diaphragm drivers, which required venting in the earpieces in order to pump in adequate sound. This caused the listener to crank up the volume of their in-ear mix in order to hear clearly over environmental ambient sounds, increasing their risk of hearing injury in the process. In response, Dr. Santucci developed the first IEM with balanced armature drivers in custom silicone earpieces (the ProPhonic IV). The result was increased isolation from environmental sounds and improved bass response, both of which allowed musicians to listen to their mix at a lower, safer level. 

The ProPhonic IV was first used on tour in 1992 by musicians and sound engineers for The Grateful Dead, and word of its superior audio clarity and physical comfort quickly spread through the music industry, where bands including Aerosmith, Metallica, and The Rolling Stones were other early adopters of this new technology.

Continued advancements over the next several years helped popularize the use of IEMs and encourage the further refinement of safe-listening standards and practices. Today, the Sensaphonics portfolio includes a range of custom IEMs that have been developed and perfected to meet the various listening needs of music industry personnel, as well as workers in other high-SPL environments, all of which are made in a signature custom silicone material that is exclusive to the company. 

In addition to their highly-popular 2MAX, 2X-S and 3MAX custom-fit IEM models, Sensaphonics has continued to expand the capabilities and usefulness of safety-conscious personal monitoring. One such development is the 3DME Active Ambient IEM system, which utilizes embedded binaural MEMS ambient microphones, allowing the user to mix-in ambient sounds to a comfortable level, as well as providing control of EQ, balance and other processing via a Bluetooth-connected app. 

Santucci’s latest innovation, the dB Check Pro, has made further waves in the hearing health landscape as the only device available that can inform listeners as to how loud they are listening to IEMs or headphones in real time while offering suggested time limits on how long it is safe to listen at those levels based on NIOSH and OSHA guidelines.

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