Ronald R. Hoy is Professor of Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. His research interests include the acoustic communication in insects, which encompasses the biophysics and neurophysiology of hearing, as well as an analysis of the behavioral response to acoustic signals. In particular, Hoy and his colleagues study the mate calls, rivalry calls, and courtship calls that are produced by crickets and katydids.

In addition, Hoy and his colleagues are also investigating new mechanisms of directional sensitivity that are a characteristic of some insect hearing organs. In particular, the hearing organ of the parasitic tachinid flies, which locate their host crickets by homing in on their mating calls. In collaboration with Dr. Ron Miles, at Binghamton University, Hoy has developed a model of the fly's ear on which the researchers hope to base a directionally-sensitive, minuscule microphone. This innovation could confer the first directional sensitivity to hearing aids.