Sperian Hearing Protection Establishes Hearing Conservation Department
May 23, 2008
By
OHS
Smithfield, RI — Sperian Hearing Protection, LLC, has announced the formation of a Hearing Conservation Department to act as a focal point for the company’s multi-faceted initiatives in research, training, and education, and to enhance its advisory role in standards regulation.
Headquartered at the Howard Leight facility in San Diego, CA, the new department is headed by Director of Hearing Conservation Brad Witt. Joining the staff as Hearing Conservation Manager, effective May 5, 2008, is Theresa Schulz, PhD, a renowned audiologist and Hearing Conservation specialist.
“Few audiologists in the world have the depth of Theresa’s expertise in hearing loss prevention,” said Witt. “She brings a wealth of experience that will be a cornerstone of our Hearing Conservation team at Sperian.”
That experience includes more than twenty years in the military’s Hearing Conservation program, dozens of articles in scholarly publications, and more than thirty professional presentations to professional conferences. She has served as president of the Council for Accreditation in Occupational Hearing Conservation (CAOHC) and just completed her tenure as president of the National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA).
Her role, and the new Hearing Conservation Department’s mission, said Witt, includes the following:
Provide training and hands-on global implementation of VeriPRO, Howard Leight’s new industry-changing fit verification system for hearing protectors.
Create educational tools and training materials in support of safety and hearing professionals for use in their Hearing Conservation efforts.
Expand the role of Sperian Hearing Protection in regulatory and standards committees, as well as professional organizations and safety industry groups.
Support the Company’s hearing protector offerings (both in product and services), especially to military and government customers.
Dr. Theresa Schulz began her career in Hearing Conservation as an audiologist for the U.S. Army for three years, and continued in the U.S. Air Force for eighteen years.
Since her retirement from the military in 2004, she has worked in positions such as Vice President of Professional Operations for Sonomax, and most recently at NIOSH where she was team leader of the Hearing Loss Prevention Branch.
She is a Certified Professional Supervisor for Audiometric Monitoring (CPS/A), a certified member of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, and a fellow in the American Academy of Audiology. Theresa received her BS (1981) and MA (1983) degrees from the University of Texas at Austin, and her PhD (l994) from The Ohio State University.
Theresa was nominated by the Air Force for the 2003 National Public Service Award and received the military’s Outstanding Volunteer Medal in 2004 for her extensive work to prevent noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) both in the military and in the public sector.
Brad Witt has been an Industrial Audiologist for more than 25 years. He has degrees from Brigham Young and Northwestern Universities, and has practiced throughout the United States and the Middle East. For 14 years he managed Pacific Audiologics, providing Hearing Conservation services at 175 locations in the western United States.
He is also a past president of the National Hearing Conservation Association (USA) and has been with Sperian Hearing Protection since 2004. Most recently, Witt has been recognized as Outstanding Lecturer in 2006 and 2007 at the National Hearing Conservation Association.
About the company:
Since its beginnings as a one-man operation more than 30 years ago, Howard Leight by Sperian has grown into one of the largest global manufacturers of hearing protectors in the industrial market and the recognized innovator in protection and people-oriented fit. Howard Leight offers the widest variety of hearing protection devices and technology. Visit Howard Leight online at http://www.howardleight.com.
With nearly 6000 employees worldwide, Sperian Protection is resolutely geared towards international markets. The world leader in personal protective equipment (hearing, eye, respiratory and fall protection, gloves, clothing and footwear), the Group offers innovative products adapted to high-risk environments so that all workers in the manufacturing and services industries can work with confidence. Sperian Protection is listed on Euronext’s Eurolist and on the SBF120.
For additional information, contact:
Sperian Hearing Protection, LLC
7828 Waterville Road
San Diego, CA 92154
Tel: 800/430-5490
Fax: 401/232-3110
email: rbessette@SperianProtection.com
http://www.howardleight.com
Media Contact:
THOMAS RANKIN ASSOCIATES
Thomas R. Rankin, APR
(401) 884-4090
tomr@trankin.com
