Interview with William F. Carver Ph.D., President and Founder, Auditec of St. Louis
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Topic: Auditec, Philosophy and SeboTek Hearing Aids
Beck: Good Morning Bill. Thanks for your time this morning.
Carver: Hi Doug. Nice to be with you again.
Beck: You know Bill, even after all these years, sometimes late at night, if the moon and stars are properly aligned, and if it's a perfectly quiet night, I can still hear the phrase...
"Auditec of Saint Louis."
Those four words must be among the most famous words in the profession!
Carver: Yes, that phrase does tend to linger.
Beck: Bill, I believe the "Auditec" brand name is well recognized in hearing sciences as the standard of quality for many of the recorded tests used daily in audiology and throughout the hearing healthcare professions. Nonetheless, I think the readers are probably less familiar with the man behind the brand. Would you please tell me a little about your education and your professional career?
Carver: Sure, Doug. As you may recall from your years in Saint Louis, I attended the University of Southern California and earned my Ph.D. there in 1960.
Beck: What was your dissertation on?
Carver: It had to do with interaural time and intensity differences and how we might modify the speech Stenger test.
Beck: I recall you went to work at Beltone as an audiologist, way before audiologists were allowed to dispense? Is that right?
Carver: That's right. I was hired with the understanding that I would not be doing any selling. I was allowed to work in professional relations and did some research too. I was there 8 years and then I did a post-doc fellowship at Northwestern University.
Beck: How did you get from research and academic pursuits to founding Auditec?
Carver: I always thought there was a real need to have a source focused on products similar to what Auditec offers. In fact, I suggested it to Beltone while I was there, but they weren't interested at that time. So in 1971, I had the time and ability and I thought I'd take a shot at it. I opened Auditec with a partner and we made recordings in his basement and distributed the product from my house. I bought out my partner in 1978, and it's been very interesting and a lot of fun.
Beck: What sort of things are you creating these days? That is; what takes the majority of your time at this point?
Carver: The recent emphasis has been on central processing and we've done a lot lately with a speech compression test. I create quite a lot of custom made products for audiologists these days.
Beck: Bill, what tests are on Auditec's basic audiometric test recording?
Carver: The standard Auditec test CD has Children's Spondees, the WIPI test, NU-6s, W-22s, PB-Ks, sentences for obtaining MCLs and cold running speech, too. We also have multi-talker noises so the signal-to-noise ratios can be varied during certain tests. It's a comprehensive test CD with all the basic audiometric tests and it has terrific utility for the clinician.
Beck: Thanks Bill. I appreciate your time and skill in providing these recordings and working to standardize the test themselves as well as the test protocols. On a different subject entirely, with a 40 year professional career and perspective, I wonder what your thoughts are as to the most significant strengths and weaknesses of our profession?
Carver: One major weakness has been that audiologists have tended to give away their services in the past and that was a terrible mistake. We really should be charging for professional services, and not depending so much on selling hearing aids and other products. Another important issue has been the sales approach itself. In some respects, it seems some of us have gone back to retail sales approaches, rather than depending on a professional body of knowledge, research and outcomes-based studies to lead us to the best alternatives for individual patients. Lastly, I think that although our national associations have done a lot of good, particularly with respect to legislative and legal issues, in some respects, as they get larger and larger, they seem to act similarly, and that means less of a voice for the individual practitioner, and it's unfortunate to lose that.
Beck: Thanks Bill. I know you've been very generous with your time here today, but before I let you go, can you tell me a little about your recent experience as a hearing aid patient?
Carver: Well, that's a long story, but I'll give you the brief version! I knew I needed hearing aids, and like many other people with presbycusis and noise induced high frequency hearing loss -- I ignored the hearing loss for a long time! Of course, that didn't work, so I eventually tried a few different hearing aid products. The first thing I tried was a disposable product and that was just awful. After that, I tried expensive custom made ITEs. They were OK, but not great. We adjusted the vents and the programs, but my voice sounded terrible. I couldn't tell how loud I was speaking and they were not good in noise. So I was the typical patient, with all the typical complaints! It was frustrating.
Beck: So what did you do?
Carver: At the AAA conference in 2004, I saw an old friend of mine, and so I walked into the SeboTek booth to say hello. As we were catching up a little, I complained about the hearing aids I was wearing. I told him my hearing aid experiences and he suggested I try the SeboTek Post-Auricular-Canal (PAC) hearing aids, which I did. He adjusted the hearing aids and placed them in my ears -- and I was blown away. The noisy sounds of the convention center dropped significantly, and yet I was able to converse normally, and my voice was fine, no occlusion! I was really surprised at how good they were. It was mind boggling.
Beck: That's fantastic. How was the overall sound quality?
Carver: It was the best hearing aid sound quality I had ever heard. The other fellow's voice was fine, and my voice was fine. Just fantastic.
Beck: Bill, any advice for the young clinicians out there?
Carver: Listen to your patients! If you listen carefully, you can obtain all the information you'll need to work with each of them successfully.
Beck: Thanks Bill. It's been great catching up with you.
Carver: Thank you too, Doug.
-------------------
For more information on Auditec, visit the Auditec website.
For more Information on SeboTek, visit the SeboTek website.
Carver: Hi Doug. Nice to be with you again.
Beck: You know Bill, even after all these years, sometimes late at night, if the moon and stars are properly aligned, and if it's a perfectly quiet night, I can still hear the phrase...
"Auditec of Saint Louis."
Those four words must be among the most famous words in the profession!
Carver: Yes, that phrase does tend to linger.
Beck: Bill, I believe the "Auditec" brand name is well recognized in hearing sciences as the standard of quality for many of the recorded tests used daily in audiology and throughout the hearing healthcare professions. Nonetheless, I think the readers are probably less familiar with the man behind the brand. Would you please tell me a little about your education and your professional career?
Carver: Sure, Doug. As you may recall from your years in Saint Louis, I attended the University of Southern California and earned my Ph.D. there in 1960.
Beck: What was your dissertation on?
Carver: It had to do with interaural time and intensity differences and how we might modify the speech Stenger test.
Beck: I recall you went to work at Beltone as an audiologist, way before audiologists were allowed to dispense? Is that right?
Carver: That's right. I was hired with the understanding that I would not be doing any selling. I was allowed to work in professional relations and did some research too. I was there 8 years and then I did a post-doc fellowship at Northwestern University.
Beck: How did you get from research and academic pursuits to founding Auditec?
Carver: I always thought there was a real need to have a source focused on products similar to what Auditec offers. In fact, I suggested it to Beltone while I was there, but they weren't interested at that time. So in 1971, I had the time and ability and I thought I'd take a shot at it. I opened Auditec with a partner and we made recordings in his basement and distributed the product from my house. I bought out my partner in 1978, and it's been very interesting and a lot of fun.
Beck: What sort of things are you creating these days? That is; what takes the majority of your time at this point?
Carver: The recent emphasis has been on central processing and we've done a lot lately with a speech compression test. I create quite a lot of custom made products for audiologists these days.
Beck: Bill, what tests are on Auditec's basic audiometric test recording?
Carver: The standard Auditec test CD has Children's Spondees, the WIPI test, NU-6s, W-22s, PB-Ks, sentences for obtaining MCLs and cold running speech, too. We also have multi-talker noises so the signal-to-noise ratios can be varied during certain tests. It's a comprehensive test CD with all the basic audiometric tests and it has terrific utility for the clinician.
Beck: Thanks Bill. I appreciate your time and skill in providing these recordings and working to standardize the test themselves as well as the test protocols. On a different subject entirely, with a 40 year professional career and perspective, I wonder what your thoughts are as to the most significant strengths and weaknesses of our profession?
Carver: One major weakness has been that audiologists have tended to give away their services in the past and that was a terrible mistake. We really should be charging for professional services, and not depending so much on selling hearing aids and other products. Another important issue has been the sales approach itself. In some respects, it seems some of us have gone back to retail sales approaches, rather than depending on a professional body of knowledge, research and outcomes-based studies to lead us to the best alternatives for individual patients. Lastly, I think that although our national associations have done a lot of good, particularly with respect to legislative and legal issues, in some respects, as they get larger and larger, they seem to act similarly, and that means less of a voice for the individual practitioner, and it's unfortunate to lose that.
Beck: Thanks Bill. I know you've been very generous with your time here today, but before I let you go, can you tell me a little about your recent experience as a hearing aid patient?
Carver: Well, that's a long story, but I'll give you the brief version! I knew I needed hearing aids, and like many other people with presbycusis and noise induced high frequency hearing loss -- I ignored the hearing loss for a long time! Of course, that didn't work, so I eventually tried a few different hearing aid products. The first thing I tried was a disposable product and that was just awful. After that, I tried expensive custom made ITEs. They were OK, but not great. We adjusted the vents and the programs, but my voice sounded terrible. I couldn't tell how loud I was speaking and they were not good in noise. So I was the typical patient, with all the typical complaints! It was frustrating.
Beck: So what did you do?
Carver: At the AAA conference in 2004, I saw an old friend of mine, and so I walked into the SeboTek booth to say hello. As we were catching up a little, I complained about the hearing aids I was wearing. I told him my hearing aid experiences and he suggested I try the SeboTek Post-Auricular-Canal (PAC) hearing aids, which I did. He adjusted the hearing aids and placed them in my ears -- and I was blown away. The noisy sounds of the convention center dropped significantly, and yet I was able to converse normally, and my voice was fine, no occlusion! I was really surprised at how good they were. It was mind boggling.
Beck: That's fantastic. How was the overall sound quality?
Carver: It was the best hearing aid sound quality I had ever heard. The other fellow's voice was fine, and my voice was fine. Just fantastic.
Beck: Bill, any advice for the young clinicians out there?
Carver: Listen to your patients! If you listen carefully, you can obtain all the information you'll need to work with each of them successfully.
Beck: Thanks Bill. It's been great catching up with you.
Carver: Thank you too, Doug.
-------------------
For more information on Auditec, visit the Auditec website.
For more Information on SeboTek, visit the SeboTek website.
