Wayne Staab

Dr. Staab is an internationally recognized authority in hearing aids. As President of Dr. Wayne J. Staab and Associates, he is engaged in consulting, research, development, manufacturing, education, and marketing projects related to hearing. His professional career has included University teaching, hearing clinic work, hearing aid company management and sales, and extensive work with engineering in developing and bringing new technology and products to the discipline of hearing. This varied background allows him to couple manufacturing and business with the science of acoustics to bring innovative developments and insights to our discipline. Dr. Staab has authored numerous books, chapters, and articles related to hearing aids and their fitting, and is an internationally-requested presenter. He is a past President and past Executive Director of the American Auditory Society and a retired Fellow of the International Collegium of Rehabilitative Audiology. Interests engaged in outside of the above include: fishing, hunting, hiking, mountain biking, golf, travel, tennis, softball, lecturing, sporting clays, 4-wheeling, archery, swimming, guitar, computers, and photography. These are great topics of discussion away from business.

Featured image for “A Case for Mid-frequency Amplification?”

A Case for Mid-frequency Amplification?

Most individuals with hearing loss are affected mostly in the high frequencies. And, because consonants–those phonemes (distinctive speech sounds) that are believed to enable humans to differentiate one word from another–are high-frequency sounds, hearing aid fitting formulas universally call for high-frequency amplification. This continues to be a take-off of the old “audiogram fitting” approach (although with less gain, but still tending to

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Old MacDonald Had a Farm

Many of us in the discipline of hearing speak frequently about the adverse effect of noise on hearing – often assuming that farm workers are very susceptible to hearing loss because of the noise levels of their machinery. But, I wonder. In fact, I have felt for years that farm workers currently may have no greater hearing loss than the general

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Ear Canal Dimensions

Ear Canal Dimensional Measurement Summary of Previous Five Posts The previous five posts on the ear canal contained detailed published measurements and methods for making those measurements. This post takes those data and provides a summary illustration that shows the complete ear canal and highlights the locations of those dimensional measurements (Figure 1). The data highlighted in black text is a summary of

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Hearing Through the Eyes

Hearing Through the Eyes – This Does Sound Weird You’ve Got to be Kidding, Right? Can a person actually hear through their eyes? Color me among those shaking their head, seriously questioning if I had read, and heard, this correctly. But, such was suggested by the title of a presentation I attended at the American Auditory Society meeting in Scottsdale,

Featured image for “Hearing Aid Evolution VI – Hearing Aid Coupling”

Hearing Aid Evolution VI – Hearing Aid Coupling

Hearing Aid Coupling From an historical point of view, the history of coupling a hearing aid processor to deliver sound to the ear might be ordered as follows: (1) stock ear coupling, (2) custom earmolds, (3) imaging, and (4) same-session coupling. The purpose of an earmold/earpiece is to direct sound to the tympanic membrane without feedback; it should fit the

Featured image for “Hearing Aid Evolution V”

Hearing Aid Evolution V

Hearing Aid Evolution – A Ride Through History This post will review implantable hearing devices in this hearing aid evolution ride through history. In what has now become a six-part series, the first week focused on factors that drive hearing aid development, and then highlighted some of the major developments (primarily hardware) that shaped the changes to hearing aid design. The second

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Hearing Aid Evolution: IV

Hearing Aid Evolution: Part IV Technology and Techniques – A Hurried Ride Through History An overview of approaches that have been used to select and fit hearing aids is the focus of this week’s post on this “ride through history” of the evolution of hearing aid technology and techniques. As with many other posts, detailed procedures are best left to

Hearing Aid Evolution: III

Hearing Aid Evolution – A Ride Through History Last week’s post was the second of what has now become a five-part series on the “Evolution of Hearing Aid Technology and Techniques – A Ride Through History.” The first week focused on factors that drive hearing aid development, and then highlighted some of the major developments (primarily hardware) that shaped the changes

Featured image for “Hearing Aid Evolution: II”

Hearing Aid Evolution: II

Hearing Aid Evolution: Technology and Techniques – Part II Last week’s post was the first part of a three-part series on the “Evolution of Hearing Aid Technology and Techniques – A Ride Through History.” Last week focused first on factors that drive hearing aid development and then highlighted some of the major developments (primarily hardware) that shaped the changes to hearing

Hearing Aid Technology Evolution

Evolution of Hearing Aid Technology and Techniques – A Ride Through History Factors that Drive Hearing Aid Development Starting with the first hearing aids developed, and continuing today, three factors have driven hearing aid technology and development. These three factors, in their historical ranking, are: Cosmetics Technology leading to miniaturization, and Packaging Cosmetics Patients have always been interested in