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.
Aug. 05, 2012

Early Audiologists in Industry – Wayne Staab Part 5

Wayne Staab
The Scarlet Letter As noted in last week’s post, ASHA was determined  to ensure their personal biases that audiologists would not be employed in the hearing aid industry and functioning as audiologists.  And, then, in September 1973, came….THE infamous mailing from ASHA, identified by many as “The Scarlet Letter,” as it related to audiology and hearing aid involvement. (Comments and underline were
Jul. 29, 2012

Early Audiologists in Industry – Wayne Staab Part 4

Wayne Staab
A Major Obstacle to Early Audiologists in Industry – Or, Harassment With the Intent to Discredit   The ink on my agreement with Telex wasn’t even dry before the hatchet started to fall.  Telex, in keeping with their company policy related to hirings, had sent ASHA an employment opportunity description to be published in the ASHA Trends. To this, ASHA sent
Jul. 22, 2012

Audiologists in Industry – Wayne Staab Part 3

Wayne Staab
From the Academic to the Independent Entrepreneurial World In 1972 I was teaching at the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire.  This was part of my plan to move further west.  (Well, Eau Claire was further west than East Lansing, Michigan).  Being in charge also of the hearing clinic, I was at times contacted by local hearing aid dealers or
Jul. 17, 2012

Learning About Hearing Aids – On My Own

Wayne Staab
Learning About Audiology and Hearing Aids – On My Own I started University teaching at the ripe old age of 24 at the University of North Dakota.  I had been offered numerous interesting jobs, partly because I was one of those rare people who had certification in both audiology and speech pathology, and because of this, some were actually for
Jul. 09, 2012

Audiology – From Dependence to Independence

Wayne Staab
Continued History of the First Audiologists in the Hearing Aid Industry A series of previous blogs featured stories from six of the first seven audiology-trained individuals employed by hearing aid manufacturers and how their backgrounds interacted with their employment positions.  This is information not published previously, but important and not to be lost for historical reasons in order to record
Jul. 01, 2012

Hearing Aid Internet Baffle

Wayne Staab
Send This Hearing Aid Fitting Request to Your Competitor   “Dr. Staab, when you get engineers as hearing aid customers, what’s the best way to handle them?  They often have a better understanding of electronics than I do, I often can’t answer questions they ask, or find at times that they tend to somewhat arrogant or all-knowing.” My response –
Jun. 25, 2012

The Development of Hearing Tests – Using Tones and Noises

Wayne Staab
Development of Hearing Tests No specific event or development can be considered the origin of hearing tests as we identify them today.  Still, in the early 19th century, a couple of separate developments opened a pathway.  On one hand, there was a growing need for improved diagnoses and description of disease entities, and as a result, some simple, but practical
Jun. 10, 2012

Ambient Noise Effect on Hearing – A Primer

Wayne Staab
The Effect of Ambient Noise on the Speech Reproduction of Hearing Aids For the hearing impaired, ambient noise is a greater hindrance to the intelligibility of speech than for those of normal hearing.  Fortunately, contemporary hearing aids incorporate a number of designs and algorithms to reduce the disturbing effects of noise.  Still, in the fitting of hearing aids, the impact
Jun. 04, 2012

Adaptive Feedback VI – Solution #9 Continued

Wayne Staab
Note:  This is a continuation of Adaptive Feedback from a previous blog on Adaptive Feedback V – Solution #9. Adaptive Feedback Cancellation History The literature is filled with varying approaches to adaptive feedback cancellation.  Any attempt to include all of the approaches will fall short, and this blog is no exception.  Still, some of the techniques and time-line are provided
May. 29, 2012

Acoustic Feedback in Hearing Aids

Wayne Staab
Acoustic Feedback Solution #9 – Adaptive Feedback The last blog on hearing aid acoustic feedback was several weeks ago, with promises of a continuation on this topic.  However, a couple of separate, unfortunate deaths to two audiology/hearing aid industry icons resulted in blogs about them.  This blog will continue with the acoustic feedback discussion. Acoustic Feedback in Hearing Aids Because