Sound Reproduction

Floyd E. Toole studied electrical engineering at the University of New Brunswick and at the Imperial College of Science and Technology, University of London where he received a Ph.D. In 1965 he joined the National Research Council of Canada where he reached the position of Senior Research Officer in the Acoustics and Signal Processing Group. In 1991 he joined Harman International Industries Inc. as Corporate Vice President - Acoustical Engineering. In this position he worked with all Harman International companies and directed the Harman Research and Development Group, a central resource for technology development and subjective measurements, retiring in 2007. He is currently a consultant to Harman.


Dr. Toole's research has focused on the acoustics and psychoacoustics of sound reproduction in small rooms, directed to improving engineering measurements, objectives for loudspeaker design and evaluation, and techniques for reducing variability at the loudspeaker / room / listener interface. For papers on these subjects he has received two AES Publications Awards and, for service to the society, the Board of Governors Award. For his achievements he has been recognized with both the AES Silver Medal (1996) and Gold Medal (2013) Awards. He is a Fellow and Past President of the AES, a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America and a Fellow of CEDIA (Custom Design and Installarion Association). He has been awarded Lifetime Achievement awards by CEDIA and ALMA (Association of Loudspeaker Manufacturing & Acoustics International). He has recently written a book: "Sound Reproduction: the acoustics and psychoacoustics of loudspeakers and rooms." (Focal Press, 2008).