Interview with Wayne Staab American Auditory Society
AO/Beck: Good Morning Dr. Staab. Thanks for your time today. I think many of the readers know your name from your vast and varied professional activities. Nonetheless, if you don't mind, why don't we start with a brief overview of your professional background?
Staab: Thanks, Dr. Beck. It's a pleasure to address the AO audience. My doctorate was completed in 1971 in audiology from Michigan State University. I was in university teaching for a number of years at the University of North Dakota, Michigan State University, and at the University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire. I was recruited into the hearing aid industry with Telex Communications in Minneapolis as a Director of Education. Nonetheless, I always wanted to move further west and eventually moved to Audiotone in Phoenix, Arizona, where for many years I served as Vice-President of Marketing. When Audiotone was purchased in 1988 by Dahlberg, I became Corporate Vice-President and commuted for a year from Phoenix to Minneapolis, coordinating the efforts of Miracle Ear, the Retail Stores Division (Sears), Audiotone, and the International Division. My position was to coordinate the efforts of sales, marketing, engineering, and new product development for all the groups into the corporate structure. Not wanting to move to Minneapolis, we parted ways and I started my own company in 1988.
AO/Beck: And that's why we often identify you on Canterbury Lane in Phoenix?
Staab: Yes, I was there for 25 years, even before I started my own company, and I suspect that is the address most people associated with the American Auditory Society (AAS). I have been involved with the Society since its inception. In fact, I was present for the very first organizational meeting in Dallas in 1972 (I believe) and AAS was actually established in 1973. By the way, in the early days, it was called the American Audiology Society and changed to the American Auditory Society in 1978. I served first on the Executive Board, then as president for three years. I've been the Secretary-Treasurer of the AAS since 1994, which has now undergone a title change to Executive Director.
AO/Beck: What is the mission of the American Auditory Society?
Staab: The goal of the Society is to increase knowledge and understanding of the ear, hearing, and balance; disorders of the ear, hearing, and balance, and the prevention of these disorders; and facilitation and rehabilitation of individuals with hearing and balance dysfunction.
AO/Beck:Very good. Before I forget, would you please tell me the website address for the AAS?
Staab: The website is www.amauditorysoc.org.
AO/Beck: How many members are in the AAS?
Staab: We have approximately 1600 members, making us, I believe, the third largest audiology-based organization. It is the only interdisciplinary, non-political organization in the profession. We have members from 30 different countries representing otolaryngology, audiology, hearing science, industry, engineering, and the Society includes the recognized leaders in each of these disciplines. The Executive Board is represented by each of the disciplines, and the Presidency rotates between the disciplines as well.
AO/Beck: Wayne, I know you have two excellent publications. Can you please tell me about those?
Staab: One is the scientific research publication, mandated by our bylaws, called Ear and Hearing. It is one of the most referenced and respected publications in the discipline of hearing. The current editor is Mario Svirsky, but it has had many excellent editors over the years such as Ross Roeser, Bob Keith, and Susan Jerger. The journal has an editorial board with different section editors representing the disciplines in the Society. The journal is an online journal as well, allowing members to search and have full article downloads, in addition to a hard copy journal. It is published bi-monthly and it is a peer-reviewed publication.
The other journal is also mandated by our bylaws, and is The Bulletin of the American Auditory Society. Originally it was titled Audio News and was edited by Bob Briskey when we first started the organization. Later it was called Corti's Organ when Marion Downs, Suzanne Kos, and Virginia Berry were involved with it, and then we changed it to The Bulletin of the American Auditory Society when I started working on it about 1990. The Bulletin is also a membership directory, it provides information about meetings and events, it serves as an in-house publication for members to inform them about things relative to the Society, and it carries non-peer-reviewed materials.
AO/Beck: If you're a member of AAS, do you get Ear and Hearing as a member benefit, essentially for no additional fee?
Staab: Yes. Ear and Hearing can be obtained a number of ways. Members of AAS get Ear and Hearing as part of their membership fee. Membership is still $55 a year for individuals in the US. In Canada and Mexico, individuals pay slightly more for postage, and international members pay still a little more for postage. The $55 membership has remained the same for some time. With regular membership you get the Bulletin and Ear and Hearing, a reduced fee to the annual meeting, and the online version also. Nonmembers can obtain subscription to Ear and Hearing through the publisher, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins. Another point that may be interesting for your readers is there are no organizational or company memberships. Membership is available to individuals only. Students in the USA and Canadian audiology graduate programs are eligible for sponsored subscriptions at no charge. However, student memberships are not available for distance-learning students. These are for non-employed residential full-time students working towards their first graduate degree in audiology.
AO/Beck: Please tell me about the annual meeting?
Staab: We never had a separate meeting until the year 2000. Prior to that we met in conjunction with the American Academy of Otolaryngology, ASHA, and then after AAA came into existence, with them. However, meeting with other organizations seemed to result in us loosing our identify. As a result, we were encouraged to have a separate meeting. At the Executive Board meeting in 1999, Frank Musiek and Don Worthington, Program co-chairs, recommended that we have our own stand-alone meeting. The Board accepted the recommendation, and the first meeting was scheduled a mere 6-months from then in Scottsdale, Arizona. To our surprise, the first meeting broke even and the rest is history. The Board decided to have the meeting in the same location each year, and at about the same time of the year, so people could plan and get used to the timing. We thought one of our strengths was that we could bring people together without political agendas and have a good interdisciplinary scientific meeting. It was much more successful than we had anticipated, and each year the meeting gets better. Many individuals now say this is their annual meeting of preference because of the content and quality of the presenters.
The meeting features the Carhart Memorial Lecture, Translational research presentations, special sessions, submitted platform papers, technology updates, research poster sessions, and more. Having been granted a NIH education grant, we also provide funding for 15 graduate audiology doctoral students or medical residents to attend the meeting and present a poster session on research they're conducting. The meeting has no exhibits.
CEUs are offered from AAA, ASHA, IIHIS, and the State of Arizona. CMEs are offered under the sponsorship of Washington University School of Medicine.
AO/Beck: When and where was the meeting this year?
Staab: It was held at the Holiday Inn SunSpree in Scottsdale, Arizona, March 13-15th. We had approximately 270 in attendance.
One of the meeting highlights was the Carhart Memorial Lecture by Brian C.J. Moore, Ph.D. of Cambridge, England (Using Psychoacoustics to Explore Cochlear Function: Basic Mechanisms and Applications to Hearing Aids). Translational Research presentations were given by Richard J. Smith, M.D. Director of Molecular Otolaryngology Research at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (Advances in our Understanding of Genetic Deafness), Andrew J. Oxenham, Ph.D. Research Laboratory of Electronics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Listening Through the Cochlear Amplifier: Perceptual Consequences and Behavioral Measures of Auditory Nonlinearities), Eric D. Young, Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University (The Degraded Neural Representation of Speech Following Acoustic Trauma - Implications for Hearing-Aid Signal Processing), and John K. Niparko, M.D. Director of Otology/Neurotology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (Neurobiologic Considerations in Early Cochlear Implantation).
The meeting also featured a Special Session on Pediatric Cochlear Implantation: The Present and the Future. Speakers for this were Terry Zwolan, Ph.D. the University of Michigan (Clinical Results With Cochlear Implants), Paul J. Abbas, Ph.D. The University of Iowa (Clinical Applications of Physiological Measures in Pediatric Cochlear Implantation), and Jay Rubinstein, M.D., Ph.D. The University of Iowa (Signal Processing for Cochlear Implants).
A Life Achievement Award was presented to Murray B. Sachs, Ph.D., Director of the Whitaker Biomedical Engineering Institute, Massey Professor and Director of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Professor of Neuroscience, Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, The Johns Hopkins University. The Life Achievement Award was established by the AAS in 1991 to recognize individuals who had made distinctive and long-lasting contributions to the disciplines of hearing and balance, and whom AAS wanted to honor in a special way. The Award is for distinctive contributions made by an individual over their lifetime, not for a singular event.
Additionally, 15 graduate audiology doctoral and medical residents were awarded NIH travel grants for their research and were given the opportunity to present these to attendees via a poster session. This special research session was introduced by Harry Levitt, Ph.D., and allowed poster presenters and attendees to meet with NIH personnel to discuss research and funding opportunities and procedures. Added to all these events were 50 outstanding submitted platform papers and 16 innovative technology updates. An awards luncheon and final evening event help to highlight the meeting.
AO/Beck: Wayne, can you please tell me the dates of the 2004 meeting, and the other conmtcat information too?
Staab: The 2004 American Auditory Society meeting will be held March 11-13th at the Holiday Inn SunSpree Resort in Scottsdale, AZ. The format will be similar to that of the 2003 meeting.
For more information about the meeting, including he Call for Papers, Mentored and other poster submissions, contact: Wayne J. Staab, Ph.D., Executive Director, American Auditory Society, 352 Sundial Ridge Circle, Dammeron Valley, UT 84783. Phone: 435-574-0062; FAX: 435-574-0063; Web site: www.amauditorysoc.org; E-mail: aas@amauditorysoc.org or amaudsoc@aol.com.
AO/Beck: Very good. Thanks again for your time and the informtion. Perhaps I'll see you at the 2004 meeting.
Staab: Thank you too, Doug.
