Auditory research pioneer dies

LA JOLLA, Calif., July 16 (UPI) -- Dr. Robert Galambos, the neuroscientist whose work on how bats navigate led to implanted devices to help the deaf hear, has died, his family says.

Galambos,96, died of congestive heart failure on June 18 at his home in La Jolla, Calif., The New York Times reported Friday.

Galambos' research into how bats navigate in total darkness revealed the code by which nerves send messages about sound and led to practical results like cochlear implants to provide a sense of sound to the profoundly deaf, the newspaper said.

Galambos, the author of more than 200 scientific publications, was "one of the giants of auditory research," Steven A. Hillyard, a professor of neuroscience at the University of California -- San Diego, said.

Galambos, born in 1914, earned bachelor's and master's degrees in zoology from Oberlin College and received a doctorate from Harvard, writing his dissertation on his work with bats.

He is survived by his wife, Phyllis Johnson, three daughters from a first marriage, five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, the Times reported.