Niparko received numerous awards, including the Deafness Research Foundation’s Annual Hearing Research Award in 2001. He served as president of the American Otological Society, the oldest specialty society in the field, and on the council of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders of the National Institutes of Health. He also served on the board of the River School of Washington, D.C., an inclusive educational model for children with hearing loss offering full immersion in classes with typical developing, hearing peers.