Starkey Sound Bites: Hearing Aids, Tinnitus, and Hearing Healthcare

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Dave Fabry and Henry Wong unpack Auracast and why it’s fundamentally different from the old Bluetooth routine: no fiddly pairing, just a simple search and select flow that feels more like joining a Wi‑Fi network than connecting a gadget. The headline is bold but practical a single transmitter can broadcast high quality audio to unlimited nearby listeners at the same time, stra...

Send us Fan Mail Connectivity plays a critical role in helping people hear their best, and few innovations are generating more excitement in hearing healthcare than Auracast™. In this episode of Starkey Sound Bites, Dr. Dave Fabry welcomes Henry Wong, Director of Market Development for the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (Bluetooth SIG), for a discussion about Auracast Broadcast Audio, Bluetooth...

Send us Fan Mail Men’s Hearing Health is often overlooked, but it should not be. In this episode of Starkey Sound Bites, host Dr. Dave Fabry sits down with athlete, coach, and hearing health advocate Tyson Gillies to talk about living with hearing loss, overcoming stigma, and why so many men delay getting help. Tyson shares his personal journey from childhood hearing loss and adversity to competin...

Send us Fan Mail A hearing clinic can buy the same equipment as everyone else, but it cannot copy trust. That is the thread running through our conversation with Dr. Zack Miller, a private practice owner who now leads Midwest Hearing Aids across 31 locations in Kansas, many of them in small towns where your reputation travels faster than your advertising.  We talk about the real work behind practi...

Send us Fan Mail The biggest risk in hearing aid innovation is not dreaming too small, it’s shipping a promise that doesn’t survive real life. Starkey Sound Bites host, Dave Fabry, PhD, sits down with Dr. Maddie Olson, Starkey’s Manager of Clinical Product Research, to unpack how clinical research, verification, and product validation protect patients and providers when new hearing aid technology...

Send us Fan Mail Auracast for Hearing Aids: What It Means for the Future Chief Hearing Health Officer Dr. Dave Fabry sits down with Dr. Heike Heuermann, Starkey’s Vice President of Product Integration, to explore the transformational impact of Auracast™ assistant and Google Fast Pair™ on hearing technology.  With more than two decades of experience across hearing science, engineering, systems desi...

Send us Fan Mail Reality TV star Gerry Turner gets real about hearing loss. After he proudly wore hearing aids while looking for love on national television, Turner says no one should be embarrassed to wear them. In this episode, he talks about how hearing aids have positively impacted his life and urges others with hearing loss to stop letting stigma get in the way of being connected to the ones...

Send us Fan Mail At Starkey, our mission is to serve our customers better than anyone else. Our team answers 2,000 calls a day within five seconds. Those calls are answered by a live voice, and our operators know most of our customers by name. In this episode, Starkey’s Chief Customer Officer Chris Van Guilder explains why these statistics are so important for the success of our business, and why...

Send us Fan Mail Rockstar legend Alice Cooper is back on tour and not letting hearing loss get in his way. He talks with Dave about how hearing loss is an unfortunate reality for many professional musicians — particularly rockers from his generation — and shares stories from his long and storied career, including working with Johnny Depp and Paul McCartney. A proud wearer of “clearing aids,” Alice...

Send us Fan Mail As up-and-coming NASCAR driver William Sawalich prepares for his first Xfinity race, he sits down with Dave and his dad, Brandon, to talk about his racing career and why he’s passionate about hearing protection, especially at his young age. It’s a loud sport, and as we observe Protect Your Hearing Month this October, we hope this episode offers motivation to make hearing protectio...

Send us Fan Mail Starkey’s latest hearing technology has arrived! Chief Technology Officer and EVP of Engineering Achin Bhowmik, Ph. D., sits down with Dave to share what excites him most about Edge AI. The highlights include: 30% more accuracy at identifying speech, 6 dB additional reduction in low-level noise, and 100 times the processing power, all while maintaining Starkey’s industry-leading 5...

Send us Fan Mail Research shows people with mild hearing loss are three times more likely to have a history of falling than peers with normal hearing. In this episode, during National Falls Prevention Awareness Week, Dave chats with Dr. Patricia Gaffney, an audiologist with a specialty in vestibular diagnostics and treatment. They talk about emerging research, as well as the important role hearing...

Send us Fan Mail Loud noises are part of the job for first responders, but protecting their hearing is tricky because they must always maintain situational awareness. In this episode, a 40-year law enforcement veteran talks about the importance of hearing protection, and how SoundGear has been a game changer for the Arizona State University police department.   To learn more about SoundGear, visit...

Send us Fan Mail As Starkey’s R&D team celebrates nearly 300 years of collective work experience in the field of artificial intelligence, Dave sits down with Starkey’s Vice President of Advanced Development, Amit Shahar. They talk about Starkey’s journey to becoming the industry-leader in AI and DNN, including the strategic decision to establish a global R&D presence, with key operations i...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we turn the tables on our host, Dave Fabry. For the first time, Dr. Fabry finds himself on the other side of the Sound Bites microphone, to take our listeners on a deep dive into Starkey’s industry-leading hearing technology. From artificial intelligence (AI) to deep neural networks (DNN), learn how this technology is making life better for patients and how hearin...

Send us Fan Mail Three up-and-coming hearing healthcare professionals share their thoughts on the future of the industry and what excites them the most about it. Recorded during Starkey University week on the Starkey campus, Dave talks with Andrew Setrum, Janna Hines Orr, Hailey Kingsbury and Starkey’s own Cassie Billiet. We encourage hearing healthcare professionals of any age to take a listen an...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Sheryl Figliano shares easy, yet powerful, ways for hearing health providers to improve patient experiences and drive better business outcomes. One of her tips was a lightbulb moment for many private practitioners attending Starkey’s CEO Circle earlier this year. In this episode, Dave gets the inside scoop, as well as her thoughts on helping patients get on board with new tech...

Send us Fan Mail In this summer rerun of one of our more popular episodes, Dave interviews Dr. Seth Dobrin, an expert in artificial intelligence (AI) and a hearing aid user. They discuss Dr. Dobrin's journey to getting hearing aids, the stigma associated with hearing loss, and the positive impact that hearing aids have had on his life. They also delve into the topic of AI, including the poten...

Send us Fan Mail In this special episode, we're celebrating a big milestone. Starkey President and CEO Brandon Sawalich is marking 30 years in the hearing industry this month. To commemorate the anniversary, Dave asked Brandon 30 questions—one for each year he's dedicated to this field. Brandon shares insights from his experience across various roles within Starkey, all of which have giv...

Send us Fan Mail World-renowned tinnitus research scientist Dr. James Henry shares key insights from decades of testing and validating methods for evaluation and management. His work at the Veterans Health Administration has played a pivotal role in identifying tinnitus relief for veterans, which is the number one service-related disability. Listen in as Dr. Henry offers practical tips for anyone...

Send us Fan Mail Let’s dive into the world of fitting formulas! In this episode, Dave chats with Dr. Andrea Hannan Dawkes, a Starkey expert who frequently trains professionals on best practices. They discuss how fitting formulas have changed over the years, why they’re important for patient satisfaction, proprietary fitting formulas, and the benefits of Starkey’s own Pro Fit fitting software . Hop...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the SoundBites podcast, host Dave Fabry compiles answers from various guests to three personal questions about hearing. The first question asks what sound the guests would miss the most if they couldn't hear their best. Answers range from the sound of heels clicking on tile to children's laughter and the music of family. The second question asks for me...

Send us Fan Mail Join us for the continuation of our insightful conversation with Dr. Gyl Kasewurm, a seasoned audiologist and business owner with over 30 years of experience. Dr. Kasewurm shares her wealth of knowledge on all things audiology and business, discussing the evolution of technology, patient care, and key performance indicators (KPIs) essential for building a successful practice. In t...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Starkey SoundBites, Dr. Dave Fabry interviews Dr. Gyl Kasewurm, a renowned audiologist and small business owner. They discuss the challenges of running a small business in the hearing care industry and the importance of providing excellent patient care. Dr. Kasewurm shares her experiences and insights on building a successful practice, including the need to focu...

Send us Fan Mail In a special episode of Starkey Soundbites, we welcome two hearing aid industry legends: Starkey's founder and chairman, Bill Austin, and Karl Strom, Editor-in-Chief of Hearing Tracker, for an enlightening discussion hosted by Dr. Dave Fabry. The episode outlines the journey of innovation that led hearing aids to have all of the remarkable capabilities they have today and rec...