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.

Defending PSAPs – Part II

Are PSAPs Legal and/or Dangerous? This post on PSAPs is the second in a series of three by Miles Goldsmith, MD. In Part I of this series he commented that he thought the recent FDA Guidance Document was overreaching, and threatened the viability of affordable hearing options – rather than protecting the consumer, the proposed FDA document would create a barrier to access. In

PSAPs – In Defense Of – Part I

Editor’s comment: Discussions of hearing aids versus PSAPs (Personal Sound Amplification Products) have heated up again since the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) issued its Draft Guidance for Industry and Food and Drug Administration Staff on November 7, 2013. The Guidance Document was distributed for comment purposes only, and rapidly became a lightening rod for arguments both in favor of

Featured image for “Bluetooth 101 – Part VI – Bluetooth Architecture”

Bluetooth 101 – Part VI – Bluetooth Architecture

by Wayne Staab and Steve Armstrong This post wraps up our six-part series on Bluetooth 101. The purpose has been to provide a basic understanding of Bluetooth technology, in general. For a detailed understanding, the reader is advised to seek more detailed expert interaction. As a refresher, Bluetooth is a wireless technology standard used to exchange data over short distances,

Featured image for “Bluetooth 101 – Part V”

Bluetooth 101 – Part V

Cocktail Party Physics: A Hop, Skip, and a Jump (or, the Origin of Frequency Hopping) Wayne Staab and Steve Armstrong (Or, the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – for an explanation, read the end of this blog) Frequency hopping has been discussed in this series of posts related to Bluetooth as its underlying foundation. Several persons are credited with

Bluetooth 101 – Part IV

Communication and Connection By Wayne Staab and Steve Armstrong Each Bluetooth system forms its own piconet (network) to “talk” between it (M –master) and its peripheral slave (S). Keep in mind that essentially these Bluetooth-enabled devices are short-distance radios attempting to connect to each other (Figure 1). General steps follow: A Bluetooth-enabled device, when turned on, sends a signal (PAGES,

Readers’ Choice 2013: Whisper Test of Hearing

Strange as it may seem, this post on the Whisper Test was a Reader’s Choice post, among the top read articles on my blog this past year. It is Amazing What One Can Find About Hearing Aids When Looking For Something Else In her post last week on the HHTM blog, Gael Hannan commented on the “whisper game” that

Happy New Year!

Dear Readers: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. The Readers’ Choices are the posts published on each of our individual blogs that drew the most readers out of the 250,000 people who visited HHTM in 2013. During this holiday season, the editors at Hearing Health & Technology Matters (HHTM) are taking a week off. However, we are not leaving you

Bluetooth 101 – Part III

By Wayne Staab and Steve Armstrong In Bluetooth 101 – Part II, the discussion introduced concepts of connectivity of Bluetooth to other devices. This, Part III of the series, will expand on this connectivity: how it occurs, what is required, what happens when Bluetooth devices come in range of each other, and how they connect. Wayne’s background can be seen

Featured image for “Bluetooth 101 – Part II”

Bluetooth 101 – Part II

In Bluetooth 101 – Part I, it was learned that Bluetooth is the global standard that enables convenient and secure connectivity for an expanding range of devices and services. It is built into an untold number of products, from cars and mobile phones to medical devices and computers. Bluetooth technology allows the sharing of voice, data, music, photos, videos, and

Featured image for “Bluetooth 101 – Part I”

Bluetooth 101 – Part I

Bluetooth Technology Is Used With Hearing Aids. Do You Understand It? Hearing aids today employ Bluetooth technology to turn hearing aids into wireless headsets so that those with hearing loss can talk on cell phones with ease and without annoying acoustic feedback. Bluetooth-enabled devices, such as MP3 players, PCs, radios, televisions, and landline telephones can connect wirelessly to the hearing