BOSTON – Acoustics pioneer Amar Bose, founder and chairman of the audio technology company Bose Corp., known for the rich sound of its small tabletop radios and its noise-canceling headphones popular among frequent fliers, has died at age 83.

Bose’s death was announced Friday by the company’s president, Bob Maresca, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where Bose began his acoustics research and was on the faculty for more than 40 years.

Additional Photos

In this Aug. 23, 2005 file photo Amar Bose, founder and chairman of Bose Corp., the audio technology company, pauses during an interview with The Associated Press in his office in Framingham, Mass. The company announced Friday, July 12, 2013, that Bose has died. He was 83. (AP Photo/Chitose Suzuki, File)

Bose founded the company, based in Framingham, just outside Boston, in 1964. Maresca said the company will remain privately held.

“Dr. Bose founded Bose Corporation almost 50 years ago with a set of guiding principles centered on research and innovation,” Maresca said. “That focus has never changed.”

The company’s products include elegant Wave system radios boasting “lifelike, room-filling sound,” cushioned QuietComfort headphones for reducing background noises such as airplane engines, home theater accessories and computer speakers.

In 2011, Bose gave MIT the majority of Bose Corp. stock in the form of non-voting shares whose dividends are used to support education and research. MIT does not participate in management or governance of the company.

Bose, who was born and raised in Philadelphia to parents who were natives of India, received his bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and doctorate from MIT, all in electrical engineering.

Bose was asked to join the faculty in 1956, and he accepted with the intention of teaching for no more than two years, the university said. He continued as a member of the MIT faculty until 2001.

The university said Bose made his mark in research and in teaching.

Bose started a research program in physical acoustics and psychoacoustics, leading to the development of patents in acoustics, electronics, nonlinear systems and communication theory.

MIT President L. Rafael Reif called Bose “an extraordinarily gifted leader.”

“He made quality mentoring and a joyful pursuit of excellence, ideas and possibilities the hallmark of his career in teaching, research and business,” Reif said in a statement.

Bose was a Fulbright Postdoctoral Scholar, an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

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